Reading street view • 5th grade • week 19 • jan. 5-6

Building Comprehension:Whether it is connecting to the movies that we watch, connecting to others, orconnecting to the texts that we read, making connections is a natural processthat comes easily to most of us. In teaching, the challenge lies in making ourthinking explicit when we make connections, and teaching our students how toidentify when they are making those connections.In their book, Strategies that Work, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis state:Generally, kids start by making text-to-text connections to more obviouselements of stories, such as characters or problems. Some text-to-textconnections, in order of increasing sophistication, might include:Comparing characters, their personalities, and actionsComparing story events and plot linesComparing lessons, themes, or messages in storiesComparing themes, ideas, issues in fiction/nonfiction text pairsFinding common themes, writing style, or perspectives in the work of asingle authorComparing the treatment of common themes by different authorsComparing different versions of familiar storiesBest Practices (ELPS, GT, Differentiation)Help ELL students by starting with concrete examples and moving to abstract.Ask two students to stand up at the front of the classroom. Begin comparing theirsimilarities and differences: (ELPS 1C-Learning Strategies)Raquel is wearing a purple shirt, Jose is wearing an orange shirt.Raquel is taller than Jose.Both Jose and Raquel have brown hair.Then have the class vote on their two favorite movies. Have students compare andcontrast the two movies. Begin to use the sentence stems that students may see onstate assessments:How were characters same or different?How were the settings the same or different?One way that both movies were the same is….One way that Movie 1 was different from Movie 2 is…..Use this example to help ELL students understand how they will be asked tocompare and contrast stories on the STAAR test.Comprehension Skill Questions:•An idea present in both selections is –• One concept that is important in ___ but not in ___ is that of –•The difference between the article and the story is that the story –•A similarity between these two selections is that both discuss –•How are the stories alike?• What do the selections have in common?•What is a common theme found in both selections?Anchors of Support:Use T-charts for this week’s graphic organizer. Tests sometimes use Venn Diagramsand T-charts to compare things.Have students build the diagram with you by using sentence strips and hula hoops,then manipulate the sentence strips to match up similar things (characters at the top,theme second, setting third etc.)English Language Proficiency StandardsTeacher Tips: Comparing and Contrasting does not have to be limited to Language Arts. Bringing up comparing and contrasting during Science is an excellent way toreinforce this skill. Comparing animal’s adaptations, ecosystems and environments will help students understand how to closely examine things. Using a Venn Diagramor T-chart during Science would help ELL students understand and be more comfortable with the graphic organizers and making comparisons across texts.Language Arts Reading Street View Last Updated: December 19, 2011 Page 19