Week Five
ELITE
How to Read
• Break the paragraph down into individual sentences and do
not feel discouraged
• Read the words slowly to yourself
• Read out loud to each other to get used to speaking the words
and to get used to the sounds
• Listen to each other carefully
• Write a one sentence summary for each paragraph to show
your comprehension
Extended Paragraphs
Jackson’s Day
• Jackson is a golden retriever who likes to play and go on walks but hates getting
a bath. Whenever he hears the water running in the tub, he hides behind the
couch and growls at his owner, Jennifer. One day, he even ran out the front door
when it was bath time.
• Jackson ran and ran until he found a huge mud puddle, and he jumped right into
the murky water. He was completely covered in mud. His golden fur was brown
and slimy from head to toe. He continued his journey away from home hoping to
find other dogs in the neighborhood that wanted to play. He did not find any
dogs at the local park or near the elementary school where Jennifer always
walked him at night. He hoped he would at least find a cat to chase, but there
were no dogs or cats in Jackson's path.
• After an hour of playing, Jackson started to get hungry and decided to walk back
to the house. Meanwhile at home, Jennifer was worried and scared that Jackson
might not ever come back. She looked all over the neighborhood and had no
luck finding him. She even checked with her neighbors to ask whether or not
they had seen Jackson. A while later, after Jennifer got home, she heard a bark
coming from the front door. That bark was familiar. It was Jackson! Jennifer was
amazed at how filthy Jackson had gotten in the time he was gone. Before
Jackson could eat his dinner, he had to face the bath he had run away from. This
time, he listened and took his bath without any trouble. Soon Jackson was clean,
but he needed a nap!
How to Infer
• Recognize key words, circle them, and write down why they
are important
• Jackson is a golden retriever who likes to play and go on
walks but hates getting a bath. Whenever he hears the
water running in the tub, he hides behind the couch and
growls at his owner, Jennifer. One day, he even ran out
the front door when it was bath time.
Inferring (Cont.)
• Recognize key words, circle them, and write down why they
are important
• Jackson ran and ran until he found a huge mud puddle,
and he jumped right into the murky water. He was
completely covered in mud. His golden fur was brown
and slimy from head to toe. He continued his journey
away from home hoping to find other dogs in the
neighborhood that wanted to play. He did not find any
dogs at the local park or near the elementary school
where Jennifer always walked him at night. He hoped he
would at least find a cat to chase, but there were no dogs
or cats in Jackson's path.
Inferring (Cont.)
• Recognize key words, circle them, and write down why they are
important
• After an hour of playing, Jackson started to get hungry and
decided to walk back to the house. Meanwhile at home,
Jennifer was worried and scared that Jackson might not ever
come back. She looked all over the neighborhood and had no
luck finding him. She even checked with her neighbors to ask
whether or not they had seen Jackson. A while later, after
Jennifer got home, she heard a bark coming from the front
door. That bark was familiar. It was Jackson! Jennifer was
amazed at how filthy Jackson had gotten in the time he was
gone. Before Jackson could eat his dinner, he had to face the
bath he had run away from. This time, he listened and took his
bath without any trouble. Soon Jackson was clean, but he
needed a nap!
Practice with Complicated
Sentences
• Try to come up with the general meaning for the following
sentences
• He was a quiet man, and he liked to sit on his couch to read a
good book. He enjoyed the morning and the singing birds.
• Underneath the burning sun jogged the woman. She needed
water, and she was hurrying to find it.
• There were a lot of animals in the zoo, but Sharon’s favorite
was the snake. The snake was strong, quiet, and dangerous.
• The hospital was really nice, and the doctors were helpful.
Jake thought he would get better soon and be able to swim
again.
More Complicated Sentences
• John sat, sad and tired, in the corner of the gym. He had tried
his best, but it seemed he would keep losing.
• The cat jumped onto the wall and walked slowly toward the
bird. The bird stared the other way, not knowing the danger
right behind him.
• Mary was a good teacher and could understand her students
well. All her students like her and respect her.
• Inside Elizabeth, there was a storm. She was angry with her
brother when she saw what he had done to her bedroom.
• Peter likes his new phone. There is so much he can do and
there is so much he can look at.
• The internet is a place of discovery. People always find new
things online.
Write One’s Own
• Write down five or your own paragraphs
• Circle the key words in your own paragraphs
• Read each others’ paragraphs
Example Paragraph
• The weather was really bad. There was a lot of rain, and the
wind was really strong. Still, Bob had to walk through this
weather to go to his job. He worked at a place that is far away
from his home, but he liked his job. He helped to plan the
roads and streets in his city. The office was always really busy,
and he always had a project to work on.
• Key Words
•
•
•
•
Weather was really bad
Far away
Liked his job
Really busy
• One Sentence Summary
• Bob has to walk in bad weather to go to work, but he likes his job.
Sentences
• Each sentence represents an idea, and the more meaning you
can place into a sentence, the more interesting your writing
will be
Stories for Children
•
•
•
•
Websites
http://www.magickeys.com/books/
http://www.popularchildrenstories.com/picturestories.htm
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library.htm
• Choose interesting and engaging stories that you can pull the
children into.
• As your English gets stronger, you can make up your own
stories to tell your students.
• Use different tones and hand gestures to make the story
active.
• Have the children read through the stories by themselves
Complicated Parts
• Teach the children to look for key words in a sentence
• Lead the children through breaking up paragraphs and
studying individual sentences and then combining the
sentences back to look at the larger picture
Example Lesson
• Provide a paragraph to all the children
• Lead the children through each sentence and ask the children
to draw a picture for each sentence
• Have the children combine the pictures into a sequenced
comic
• Have the children write down a one sentence summary for the
whole paragraph and have the children say their summaries
out loud clearly and smoothly to each other
• Repeat as many times as you want with new paragraphs
Example Lesson
• Have the children read through a paragraph and draw one
picture to represent the meaning of the whole paragraph
• Then have the children draw as many circles as there are
sentences right below the first picture
• Draw one picture for each sentence in its corresponding circle
• Have the children write down one key word for each circle, for
example “run” if the sentence describes a dog running
• Have the children share their artwork with each other
Reading Activity
• Give each child an interesting short story
• Ask each child to draw one picture that represents the main
idea of his or her story
• Have each child write one single sentence summary for his or
her story
• Have the children make a costume out of paper and other
craft materials (the costume represents the main character in
the story)
• Have the children come up to the front of the class and
present their pictures and summaries, and have each child say
his or her favorite part of the story he or she read
Activities to Engage Children in
Reading
• Create a sticker system in which a child receives a sticker next
to his name if he completes a short story (have the child draw
a picture and write a one sentence summary to show that he
read the story)
• Have the children read a story together as a class in which
each child reads one sentence and draws a picture to
represent his sentence, and then place all the pictures
together to create a giant mosaic
The Paragraph
• A paragraph allows for the readers to better understand the
individual sentences
• There is a main idea, and then the readers can see what role
each sentence plays for expressing that idea