February Readers Workshop

Grade 5
Interpretive Literacy Workshop

A Study of Complex Text

Text complexity is an important part of the Common Core Standards. In order to meet this demand we will give students more opportunities to learn from complex texts, and the hope is that by setting these high standards for students to read grade level complex texts “independently and proficiently” students will be ready for future challenges as a reader.

Through modeling, scaffolding, and support from the teachers students will…

•       Read complex texts

•       Notice & ‘name’ what is difficult in the text

•       Learn & practice strategies for getting through the difficult parts

•       Practice repeated & purposeful re-reading of different text

•       Use text-based evidence to answer questions

Work In Action!!!

1.  Students will read articles, mark the parts that are difficult & be ready to explain what made them difficult.

2. Share

–     Come together- Students share parts they found difficult

–     Help students give a name to what is difficult- Make class list of difficult parts

3. Teach Strategies

–     Refer to class list- (Teach strategies)

–     Guided practice of strategy

–     Create on-going list of strategies

4. Write from a prompt

 

Sample of Compiled Strategies from IL/Complex Text Work

Strategies for Getting through TRICKY SENTENCES

What is Tricky	Strategy
1. First sentence is weird; it’s a question-like a riddle	Sometimes writers start with a question to pull the reader in and get them thinking. Connect this to your preview work- what are they talking about?
2. Short, weird sentences	Authors use short sentences because what they are saying is important, they use a short sentence for emphasis.
3. Long, complex sentences with a list of 3 or more things with commas	Find one or two things in the series you understand to help you get the gist or the meaning of the whole list.
4. Long, confusing sentence with lots of commas	Read each part of the sentence slowly, pausing at the commas.
5. Weird sentence that has a comma with words after it	Strategy 1:  Sometimes the author provides you with extra information after a comma. Strategy 2:  Sometimes writers start their sentence by telling when something happened -comma- and then say what happened.  Look for Time Signal Words (that tell us when something happened):  Previously (means before), After, or During

Strategies for WORDS I DON’T KNOW

What is Tricky

Strategy

Hard or tricky words I don’t know

Strategy 1:  Figure out what at part of speech it is.  This will help you better understand the word.  Ask yourself, is the word a noun (person, place or thing) verb (action word) adjective/adverb (describing word) For example:  Here is a tricky sentence - “A world-record coprolite was recently found in…”  Try each part of speech in place of the tricky word, like this: “A world-record thing was recently found in…” OR “A world-record jump was recently found in…” OR  “A world-record pretty was recently found in …”  Which makes sense?  So a coprolite must be a thing- I don’t know what it is, but it is a thing. Strategy 2:  Root Word Strategy.  Look for the root word (take away the prefix/suffix).  You might recognize a word hidden inside.  Use the meaning of the prefix together with the root word to determine the meaning.  Example:  un- dis- in- all mean not, mid- means middle, sub- means under, pre- means before. Strategy 3:  Also known as strategy.  Sometimes the author gives us clue words that the definition of a tricky word is coming up, like this:  “also known as…” or “called…” Strategy 4:  Sometimes, the author gives you the meaning of the tricky word right after it in parenthesis (). It’s almost like the author is whispering the meaning to you.