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Our Changing Earth Lesson Objectives Our Changing Earth can be used in a shared reading context to introduce and reinforce the following skill: S using specialized vocabulary. Learning Outcomes Students will be able to: • use several methods to find the meanings of specialized words; • use what they already know to make analogies and extend their understanding of a text. Features of the Text • Explanation that tells how and why • Specialized vocabulary – core, mantle, crust • Use of simile • Cause and effect • Photograph and diagrams Connections This extract was taken from the Orbit Chapter Book Our Changing Earth. Orbit Chapter Books at this level that provide opportunities to explore specialized language and a glossary include Hawaiian Magic, News Flash!, Our Changing Earth, Asli’s Story, Finding Your Way, and Remembering the Big Quake. Those students who are interested in natural phenomena and their effects may enjoy Hawaiian Magic and Remembering the Big Quake as well as the fiction Orbit Chapter Book The Scary Day. The Shared Reading Lesson Introducing the topic Explain to the students that the shared reading poster they are about to read is about natural phenomena that change Earth’s surface. Find out what they already know about this by asking: – What is a natural phenomenon? – What natural phenomena do you know about that can change the surface of Earth? – What are some of the specialized words that are used to describe these features or events? Record the students’ responses on chart paper. Tell them that during the shared reading lesson, they will learn more about the vocabulary associated with natural phenomena. Sharing the text Show the students the shared reading poster Our Changing Earth. Read the first paragraph aloud, then check the students’ understanding by asking questions, such as: – What are some of the ways that Earth can change? – Where do these changes often start? – Is Earth solid right through? Which part of the text tells you? Look at the specialized words you recorded on chart paper. – Are there more specialized words in the first paragraph that we can add to this list? (valleys, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, etc.) Read and point out the features of the first labeled diagram. – What do you notice about the way these labels have been set out? (bold type, colon, definition) Explain to the students that this is a kind of glossary. – What other meanings do you know for these words? (core of an apple, crust of bread) 36 – How could you have used this knowledge to work out their meanings if they had not been defined? – Mantle also means a cloak or warm wrap. Can you see any similarities between this meaning and the way it is used here? Explain that sometimes specialized words have a more everyday meaning. We can use the meaning that we are familiar with to help us understand the specialized usage. This is called making an analogy. Read and discuss the second labeled diagram, adding new specialized words to the chart. Read the rest of the poster aloud. Ask the students to explain in their own words how volcanoes form. – What is magma? – How can we work out the meaning of the word from the information in this poster? (Look at the definition for mantle in the first diagram.) – What is lava? – Why do you think lava is called magma when it’s inside a volcano and lava when it bursts out? – How could we find the answer to this question? (ask a scientist, use reference books, search on the Internet) Ask some of the students to look up lava and magma in a dictionary. Compare the definitions they find and discuss when the two words are used. – Can you find the simile in the text that describes how lava moves? Point out that sometimes difficult words are explained by making comparisons to something we are familiar with. For example, the red-hot rock in Earth’s mantle is described as being “runny like molasses.” This is another kind of analogy. It compares something unfamiliar (magma/lava) with something familiar (molasses) to help the reader get a better understanding. – To review our learning, what are some of the ways we can work out the meaning of specialized vocabulary? (context, analogy, glossary, dictionary, Internet, ask a specialist) Using the graphic organizer Show the students the graphic organizer Specialized Vocabulary. Explain that you are going to use it to examine some of the ways that the students can work out the meanings of unfamiliar words. Write “core” in the first column on the graphic organizer. Ask the students to help you complete the remaining columns, referring back to the earlier discussion. Select words from the list of specialized vocabulary that you made earlier and work through the same process to complete the graphic organizer. Note that not all of the words will generate entries for all of the columns. Conclude the lesson by rereading the shared reading poster aloud. Following Up Over several days, use the graphic organizer to analyze the specialized vocabulary in other nonfiction texts to ensure that your students are able to use more than one method to find the meaning of an unfamiliar word. You could extend their learning by studying other aspects of words such as derivations, prefixes, and suffixes. The results of these studies could be displayed as wall charts for reference. The students can: • use individual copies of the graphic organizer to list and analyze the specialized vocabulary that they find in other nonfiction texts. • challenge each other to a word quiz. They could make a list of specialized words and challenge a partner to work out their meanings without using a dictionary. The dictionary can be used to confirm the definitions at the end of the quiz. • research how to be ready for an earthquake and make an earthquake safety poster. • research a natural disaster and present their findings to the class. 37