READING STRATEGY:
Possible Sentences
TYLER ANDERSON
EDRD 6530
READING & WRITING IN THE CONTENT
AREAS
Atomic Structure: Key Vocabulary
Individually:
 Think about the definitions for the following terms:
Atom
Proton
Neutron
Electron
Nucleus
Orbitals
Subatomic Particles Element
Positive Charge
Negative Charge
No Charge
Atomic Mass Unit
Atomic Number
Mass Number
Valence Electrons
Ion
 On your worksheet, pair any words that seem to be
closely related.
Atomic Structure: Sentence Generation
With a partner:
 Share pairs that you came up with and explain your
reasoning behind them. Share definitions if your
partner doesn’t know one of the terms.
Atomic Structure: Sentence Generation
With a partner:
 Share pairs that you came up with and explain your
reasoning behind them. Share definitions if your
partner doesn’t know one of the terms.
 Incorporate your favorite matched words into
sentences that you might expect to encounter in the
text. Each sentence must include 2 or more
DIFFERENT terms.
Atomic Structure: Sentence Generation
With a partner:
 Share pairs that you came up with and explain your
reasoning behind them. Share definitions if your
partner doesn’t know one of the terms.
 Incorporate your favorite matched words into
sentences that you might expect to encounter in the
text. Each sentence must include 2 or more
DIFFERENT terms.
 Choose 2 sentences (as a partnership) to share with
the class. Have one person write these on the board.
Atomic Structure: Purposeful Reading
Individually:
 Read the text selection about basic atomic structure,
paying particular attention to those sections in which
the key vocabulary terms occur.
Atomic Structure: Sentence Evaluation
As a class:
 Evaluate the accuracy of the possible sentences on
the board. Keep correct sentences and modify
incorrect sentences so that they are accurate.
Atomic Structure: Further Sentence Generation
As a class:
 Construct additional sentences that express
important ideas not reflected in those that survived
the sentence evaluation phase.
Possible Sentences: Why They Work
 Focuses students prior to reading.
Possible Sentences: Why They Work
 Focuses students prior to reading.
 Allows reflection of prior knowledge.
Possible Sentences: Why They Work
 Focuses students prior to reading.
 Allows reflection of prior knowledge.
 Blends technical vocabulary introduction with
purpose setting.
Possible Sentences: Why They Work
 Focuses students prior to reading.
 Allows reflection of prior knowledge.
 Blends technical vocabulary introduction with
purpose setting.
 Increase students’ level of mental engagement.
Possible Sentences: Why They Work
 Focuses students prior to reading.
 Allows reflection of prior knowledge.
 Blends technical vocabulary introduction with
purpose setting.
 Increase students’ level of mental engagement.
 Stress clusters of related terms and the relationships
among terms.
Possible Sentences: Why They Work
 Focuses students prior to reading.
 Allows reflection of prior knowledge.
 Blends technical vocabulary introduction with
purpose setting.
 Increase students’ level of mental engagement.
 Stress clusters of related terms and the relationships
among terms.
 Improves vocabulary knowledge and comprehension
of material containing targeted words.
Bonus!
 Students get to think like scientists when they read
Bonus!
 Students get to think like scientists when they read
 Easy to set up lesson plan
Research
 Moore, D.W., & Moore, S.A (1986). "Possible
sentences." In Reading in the content areas:
Improving classroom instruction. Dubuque, IA:
Kendall/Hunt.
 Stahl, S.A. & Kapinus, B.A. (1991). Possible
sentences: Predicting word meaning to teach content
area vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 45, 36-45.