Reading - Unit 3
Skills Review
Compiled by Terry Sams and Ann
Lindsay, Piedmont Elementary
Genre: Autobiography
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An autobiography tells about a real person’s
life and is written by the person who lived it.
It is written in the first person.
“I lived with my family. . .”
It can tell about a person’s whole life or only
part of it.
Genre: Tall Tales
A tall tale is a story that has these features:
 A larger-than-life, or superhuman, main
character with a specific job.
 A problem that is solved in a funny way.
 Exaggerated details that describe things as
greater than they really are.
 Characters who use everyday language.
Realistic Fiction and Expository
Nonfiction
The Storm
fiction
tells about imaginary
people, places and
events that are like
those in real life
main purpose is
usually to entertain
“Tornado Tales”
nonfiction
tells about something
in the real world
main purpose is to
explain
Genre:
Expository Nonfiction
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Nonfiction is writing that is based on fact
instead of imaginary events. It is a type of
literature that deals with real people,
events, and experiences. It explains the
nature of something, or tells what
something is like. It uses definitions,
examples, classifications, and
comparisons.
Genre: Expository Nonfiction
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Expository Nonfiction is nonfiction
that gives factual information about
the real world.
It explains the nature of something,
or tells what something is like.
It uses methods of expository
nonfiction such as definition,
comparison and contrast, example,
and classification.
Genre: Biography
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A biography is a story of a real person’s
life, written by another person.
It is written in the third-person. The author
writes, “He was free! He found a job with a
printer.”
A biography can cover a person’s whole
life or part of it.
Make a Biography
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction seems like real life with
characters dealing with real life problems. The
action can happen no matter how improbable,
and often takes place in the present time. The
situations are true or could be, but the
characters are made up. Realistic Fiction may
include "real people" characters who have
actually lived.
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Bibliography of Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction Activities
Classic Fiction
Classical literature is a term used to
describe fiction and other works before
the 20th century (?-1800s). This
literature has been passed down through
the ages because of its consistency and
because it reflects the life and times of
society when it was written.
Examples: Oliver Twist, Robinson Crusoe,
Dickens Christmas Carol, and Rikki-tikkitavi
Comprehension Skill:
Generalizing
Sometimes as you read, you are given
ideas about several things or people.
When you make a statement about all of
them together, you are making a
generalization.
A valid generalization is accurate.
A faulty generalization is not accurate.
Comprehension Skill: Generalization
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Generalization
Susanita and I did
everything together that
summer
Susanita was always
ready for an adventure.
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Supporting Fact
She was the one who
showed me how to take
care of horses.
She used to swim in the
creek holding on to La
Baya’s mane.
Comprehension Skill:
Making Judgments
Making judgments means thinking
about and deciding how to react toward
people, situations, and ideas in stories
you read.
Use what you have read and your own
experiences as you make judgments.
Ask yourself if the author is trying to
influence you and whether he succeeds.
Vocabulary Skill:
Homophones
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Words that are pronounced the same but
spelled differently are called homophones.
reins and rains
dear and deer
Homophones also have different meanings.
The understand the difference, look for clues
in the surrounding words and sentences.
Click on the title to practice this skill.
Figurative Language – Simile and
Metaphor
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Figurative language is a language that goes beyond
the ordinary meanings of words. Similes and
metaphors help make the images in the story richer
and clearer.
A simile uses words like or as to compare two things
that are not alike.
“. . . one eye. . . glittered like a blue star. . .”
A metaphor also compares two things that are not
alike but it does not use any words of comparison.
“The shadows were the lumberjacks.”
Research Skills – Locate/Collect
Information
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When you need to locate information on a
topic, where can you look?
To find information about a subject, you can
use resources such as books, magazines,
newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopedias,
videotapes, audiotapes, CD-ROMs, Internet
websites, photographs, drawings, and
diagrams.
Research Skills:
Card Catalog/Library Database
The card catalogue is a set of drawers
containing card filed in alphabetical order
with an author card, a title card, and a
subject card for each book in the library.
 In many libraries, the same information is
located on the computer and it is possible
to search the library database by author,
title, or subject.
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Research Skills:
Card Catalog/Library Database
 Books
in a library are classified by
the Dewey decimal system.
 Each book is assigned a call
number, which is found on the
spine of the book and also on the
card in the card catalog or in the
computer database.
Research Skills: Schedules
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Schedules are specialized charts that list events
and tell when those events take place.
Things to look for in a schedule are:
 What information is shown?
 What system of time does the schedule use?
 When does event occur?
 What happens at certain time in schedule?
Research Skill – Schedules TE 337j
The Birth of a Baby Bird
Time
Day 3 before hatching
Day 2 before hatching
Day 1 before hatching
Day of hatching
Event
Beak pierces inner sac
Egg tooth chips away first
hole.
Bird rests.
Baby bird pushes off cap of
shell and pulls away from
cracked shell.
Plural Nouns
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Adding s
Adding es
Adding ies
This skill shows up in Spelling Unit 3-2 and is on the Reading
Unit Test.
Verbs
Adding –s and -es
monkeys
holidays
delays
flowers
friends
tigers
supplies
enemies
hobbies
memories
Adding –s and -es
mysteries
eyelashes
ashes
beaches
bunches
circuses
glasses
classes
taxes
suffixes