Insect+Life+Cycle

Day 1
LT: I can use the Table of Contents, captions, title, cover, and photos to make predictions about a non-fiction text.
 * 1) Preview the book: remind them about predictions. In non-fiction, there are specific things you look at to make predictions:
 * 2) Table of Contents
 * 3) photos / illustrations
 * 4) headings
 * 5) captions
 * 6) Chart together what we can predict from each of these text features. Model with a think-aloud if necessary. Talk about making connections and how that helps us make predictions.
 * 7) Preview Introduction: "torso" and phonetic pronunciations of words like larva and pupa.
 * 8) Read introduction independently.

Day 2
>> "nymphs?" So I'll write that here. Hmm, a connection I have. Well, I learned about eggs, larva, and pupa in kindergarten, so I'll write that down. What kind of insect did you learn about in K? Mealworms? Great, I'll write down that mealworms have a life cycle that goes through egg, larva, and pupa.
 * 1) Revisit Introduction. Turn and talk: what did you learn?
 * 2) Questioning: what do you wonder? Model with a think-aloud how you come up with questions from specific parts of the text.
 * 3) "... most insects have a few things in common." "//When it says this, it makes me think, "ooh, I wonder what they have in common?" I'd better be looking out for what they have in common. Then my brain is all ready for that information when I get to it.//
 * 4) //"You can find insects eggs everywhere, if you know where to look." So what will I wonder, right away when I read that? What will I be looking for?//
 * 5) Turn to What Are Insects? What do you do when you come to a word you don't know? Sometimes you can infer exactly what it means. Other times you have to infer more or less what it means. For example, go through the list of insects on page 6. I know most of these. But "chiggers?" I don't know what that is. But I can infer that it's a kind of insect because it says that "insects include..." It doesn't really matter what kind of insect they are, as long as I know it's a kind of insect. If it's important, the book will tell me more later.
 * 6) Send students to read the chapter, and to record what they learn and what they still wonder.
 * 7) Model filling out the sheet so they don't copy from the book. Any time they have a connection that helps them understand, they should record it too.
 * 8) I learned that there are 2 kinds of insect life cycles, so I'll write that here. I still wonder, what kinds of insects have

[|nonfiction thinking strategies.doc] (page 1)

Day 3

 * 1) Review: what do all insects have in common? Where can you look if you can't remember?
 * 2) Next chapter: Eggs. Model thinking about what you know (making connections to prior knowledge). "I know eggs are the beginning of the life cycle. I know the female lays eggs." What do you wonder about eggs? Talk to a partner.
 * 3) "dung beetles" -- infer what it means. (doesn't really matter as long as you know it's a beetle.)
 * 4) "cuckoo spit" -- you will find out what this is. Point it out and go over how to read the word.
 * 5) Read the chapter on eggs.
 * 6) Visualizing: Read out loud to them the part about "cuckoo spit" and have them sketch what they visualize.
 * 7) Think about important information you learned. Record it on the sheet.

Day 4

 * 1) Review the chapter on Larva (independent work). How do larva destroy crops? (right-there question)
 * 2) Are all larva worms? (inferring / using the text)
 * 3) Inferring words: maggots, crops, devour
 * 4) Preview Pupa: tell a partner what you already know
 * 5) Find "cocoon" and "metamorphosis."
 * 6) Read independently.
 * 7) Write important facts you learned.