It’s a feeling….An opinion….An attitude!

It’s a feeling….An opinion….An attitude!

Sentence Power!!!!!Sentence Power!!!!!Sentence Power!!!!!Sentence Power!!!!!

It’s a fact. It’s a fact…. It’s a real fact!

Why Are Sentences So Important?

• The sentence is the basic means of written communication.

• In order to be literate and articulate, students need to master sentence power.

Text Comprehension

Sentences

Words

Sounds

Ten Important SentencesTen Important Sentences

Ten Important Sentences

• Present key events in a story or narrative nonfiction selection such as a biography or autobiography.

• Give the stated main ideas and details in an essay or informational selection.

• Demonstrate a predictable pattern in a selection, for example in a song, poem, or nonsense story.

Ten Important Sentences Build Comprehension

• Recalling facts and details

• Finding and distinguishing between facts and opinions

• Arranging events in sequence

• Recognizing cause and effect relationships

• Identifying main idea and supporting details.

Activity: Locate Sentences

• Read the selection aloud to students or have students read all or parts of the selection silently.

• Have students locate each of the Ten Important Sentences. Discuss whether students agree with the choice of sentences. Which could they add or delete?

Activity: Determine Main Idea

• After reading, focus on the selection and talk with students about the big ideas.

• Have students locate the sentences that provide the five elements of the main idea: Who? Did what? Where? When? And why? Help students as they write the answers to these important question in one sentence of their own.

Activity: The Main Idea Glove

• Use the main idea glove to talk about the five elements of main idea.

FACT AND OPINIONFACT AND OPINION

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Comprehension

Why Teach Fact and Opinion?

• Children should distinguish between statements of fact and statements of opinion to learn to evaluate each and to avoid being misled.

Expectations

• A statement of fact can be proved true or false; a statement of opinion is someone’s belief or idea about something.

• Clue words to statements of opinion include think, believe, probably, best, worst, beautiful, and so on.

• Students explain the difference between statements of fact and opinion.

Expectations

• Students identify statements of fact and cite methods for checking.

• Students identify valid and faulty statements of opinion.

• Students separate statements of fact and opinion found in one sentence.

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• Introduce Basic Terms

– A statement of fact tells something that can be proven true or false.

– A statement of opinion tells a person’s ideas or feelings. It cannot be proven true or false.

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• Model the Skill

– Statements of opinion will usually contain clue words such as think, believe, feel, best, worst, and so on.

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• Provide guided and independent practice.

– Ask students to explain the difference between fact and opinion while providing them with guidance and support.

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• Apply and Assess.

– Check children’s understanding of the skill by providing them with a piece of text.

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• Maintain the Skill.

– Encourage the children to find statements of fact and statements of opinion as they read nonfiction texts.

• Model the process of identifying statements of fact and opinion by thinking aloud and answering these questions:

– Can the statement be proven true or false?

– How can you check the statement of fact?

– Do any of the statements begin with the words I think, I believe, or In my Opinion?

• Check It Out!– Call out statements of fact and have

children tell how they would check them.

• Distinguishing Facts and Opinions– Make statements of fact and opinion

about a subject the class is studying. Have children tell which is which!

Activity: Distinguish Facts and Opinions

• Read the selection aloud to students or have students read all or parts of the selection silently. Discuss the selection, emphasizing sentences that arts and sentences that are opinions.

• Have students mark each of the Ten Important Sentences “F” for fact or “O” for opinion.

SEQUENCETeach Smarter

Comprehension

Why Teach Sequence?

• Identifying a sequence of events helps students understand events and time relationships as they are presented in a selection.

Expectations

• Students identify the sequence of events, using clue words that signal sequential order, such as first, then, finally.

• Students identify the sequence of events in selections that do not have clue words.

Expectations

• Students identify the sequence of events in selections with and without clue words.

• Students recognize simultaneous events signaled with clue words such as meanwhile, while, and during.

Review Basic Terms• Defining Sequence

– SequenceSequence—the order in which things happen. It can also mean the steps we follow to do things

– Clue WordsClue Words—signal words such as first, last, and after that can help you understand the order of events.

– Clue wordsClue words such as while and during signal events that are happening simultaneously.

Model the Skill

• Understanding sequence can help students comprehend and remember important ideas in a text.

• Tell students to visualize what is happening as they put events in order.

• Point out that dates or times are also clues.

Provide Guided and Independent Practice

• Create a sequence chart of time line and work with students to list important events or steps in order on the chart.

Apply and Assess

• Check students’ understanding of the skill by providing them with a new piece of text that includes simultaneous events but that may or may not include clue words.

• Have students use a graphic organizer to list the important events in order and explain how they determine the sequence.

Maintain the Skill

• Encourage students to identify sequence as they read biographies, historical selections, and steps in a process from appropriate nonfiction texts.

• Model the process of identifying sequence by thinking aloud and answering these questions:

– What is the order of events in this selection? How do you know?

– What clue words helped you understand the sequence?

– Are there illustrations or other clues to help you understand the sequence? How can they help?

– Do any events happen at the same time?

• Reinforce Sequence– Clue Words invite volunteers to

tell a sentence with clue words that signal events that happen before or after other events or at the seam time.

– Sequence Fix-Up• Provide students with a list of events

from a selection just read. List the events in the wrong order and have students rewrite them in the correct order.

Activity: Sequence Events

• Read the selection aloud to students or have students read all or parts of the selection silently. Discuss the sequence of events, thoughts, or ideas in the selection.

• Have students cut apart the Ten Important Sentences and mix the sentences in random order. Then have students order them correctly.

Cause and EffectCause and Effect

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Comprehension

Why Teach Cause and Effect?

• Research supports the need for understanding cause and effect as a basic thinking skill in all subject areas including science and social studies.

Expectations

• Children identify what happens and why it happens.

• Children understand that sometimes cause-and-effect relationships are signaled by clue words such as because or so.

• Students define cause and effect.

• Students identify cause-and-effect relationships

• Students speculate on related scenarios and their causes and effects after reading.

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• Review basic terms and previous instruction.

– Defining Cause and Effect

• An effect is something that happens

• A cause is why that thing happens

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• Model the Skill

– Being able to identify and understand cause and effect is an important skill that students will use when they read stories, study school subjects, and watch TV and movies.

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• Provide guided and independent practice.

– Ask students to explain the difference between fact and opinion while providing them with guidance and support.

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• Apply and Assess.

– Check children’s understanding of the skill by providing them with a piece of text.

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• Maintain the Skill.

– Encourage the children to find statements of fact and statements of opinion as they read nonfiction texts.

• Model the process of identifying statements of fact and opinion by thinking aloud and answering these questions:– Can the statement be proven true or false?

– How can you check the statement of fact?

– Do any of the statements begin with the words I think, I believe, or In my Opinion?

• Check It Out!Check It Out!– Call out statements of fact and have

children tell how they would check them.

• Distinguishing Facts and Opinions– Make statements of fact and opinion about

a subject the class is studying. Have children tell which is which!

Activity: Link Cause and Effect

• Read the selection aloud to students or have students read all or parts of the selection silently. Talk about events in the story and what causes them to happen.

• Have students look at the Ten Important Sentences and find one or more pairs of sentences in which one sentence tells what happens and the other tells why it happens.

Sentence Power!!!!!Sentence Power!!!!!