Close Reading of "The Tarantula Scientist" Pages 42-50

1. Reading Unit: 1 Lesson: 6 Module: A • Objectives: • Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what it says explicitly. • Determine the meaning of general academic words. Today we will be doing a Close Reading of pages 42-50. • Essential Questions: • How does a reader consider point of view? • How does a writer use experiences, narration, and description to compel a • reader?

2. First Read Let’s explore the text! Recall what you have read so far in The Tarantula Scientist. Read the heading for this section and page through the text to preview the photographs and captions.

3. Read Aloud Routine Focus: What is the “gist” of the text? I will begin reading while you follow along in your book. Then, you will continue reading up to page 50 silently on your own. Focus on what you learn about what Sam does and what he experiences during his expedition to Les Grottes. Be prepared to discuss the following questions when you are done with the reading: • What details in the text support Sam’s idea that tailless whip scorpions are “the weirdest of the weird”? • What details suggest that Amanda Weigand is a promising student of arachnids? • What questions do you have?

4. Second Read Focus on key details about the experiences Sam has in French Guiana. Be prepared to discuss the following questions when you are done with the reading: 1. What clues help you understand what nodes means in the second paragraph on page 44? 2. What does pollinate mean? Why is it important to the act of pollination that the insects described in the text are tiny? 3. After reading these pages of the text, what do you now know about what scientists do?

5. Focused Reading • Text-Based Vocabulary • retreats, p. 42 • crevice, p. 45 • obstacle, p. 45 • expedition, p. 45 • Vocabulary Routine: • 1. Read the sentence containing the word. • 2. Identify context clues about its meaning within the passage. • 3. Look up the word in a dictionary and read the definition. • 4. Use the word in other ways. • *After we review these words, write your sentences on p. 14 in your Reader’s and Writer’s Journal.*

6. Focused Reading Whole Class Discussion Routine I see on p. 42 that the writer says Sam is interested in all kinds of arachnids and that “happily, in French Guiana, there are all sorts of them everywhere Sam goes.” I can tell that is true, since he can see pinktoe tarantulas right outside the door of the place he is staying. I think the point of Sam’s trip is to find new and interesting arachnids to study. “Why is it important to Sam to travel to Les Grottes?”

7. Focused Reading Team Talk Routine Why might a scientist travel to other places to do his or her work?

8. Language Analysis Craft and Structure Focus on rereading key words and sentences in the text to better understand the author’s particular choices and how these choices shape meaning. Reread key sentences and focus on how the author’s language reveals meaning in the text. Complete p. 13 in your Reader’s and Writer’s Journal.

9. Language Analysis Cite Text Evidence Reread the second and third paragraphs on p. 42. Similes are explicit comparisons using like or as. Focus on the simile, “she’s a black haired beauty who looks as if she’s just had a French pedicure.” 1. How does the writer’s use of the simile affect how you might feel about this tarantula? Reread the fifth paragraph on p.45. Metaphors are comparisons that do not use like or as. Focus on the metaphor “the big cave yawns before them.” 2. What is being compared in the metaphor?

10. Independent Reading Language Analysis Work independently to reread other portions of the text to analyze additional similes and metaphors, explain the meaning and effect of each. Writing in Response to Reading Turn to page 15 in your Reader’s and Writer’s Journal and read the prompt: Pick an example of a simile or metaphor from pp. 42–50 of The Tarantula Scientist and write an expository paragraph analyzing this example of figurative language and explaining how it affects the depiction of a life-like experience. Reading Wrap-Up Share responses

11. Small Groups It’s time to get into our groups! Please see me if you don’t know what group you belong in.

12. Writing • Informative/Explanatory Writing • Objectives: • Demonstrate sequence clearly in writing. W.4.4 • Understand adjectives. L.4.1

13. Writing Informative/Explanatory Writing A well-organized text clearly shows the connections between ideas and details. One way a writer can show connections is by organizing a text according to sequence of events. The sequence of events is the order in which events happen. To signal this order, writers often use linking words, such as first, next, then, or finally.

14. Writing Informative/Explanatory Writing Chapter 6 describes Sam Marshall’s trip to Les Grottes to see unusual spiders. To demonstrate the sequence of events, the author uses linking words such as first, finally, when, and but. You will often use a chronological text structure when writing. In a chronological text structure, events are told in the order in which they happen.

15. Writing Analyze the Model The author uses linking words and phrases to clearly signal sequence of events. Read the following section. Identify linking words. Read the following section. The author includes words and phrases to help show when Sam met student Amanda Weigand.

16. Writing Conventions Focus: Adjectives An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. • Most adjectives have three different forms called “degrees of comparison.” These are the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. • Use the positive form to describe one item or person (as in brave). Use the comparative form to compare two items or people (as in braver). Use the superlative form to compare more than two items or people (as in bravest).

17. Writing Independent Writing Practice Read the prompt on p. 19 of the Reader’s and Writer’s Journal. Write a journal entry from the point of view of a researcher accompanying Sam Marshall on his trip to Les Grottes. Journal entries should clearly show the sequence of events as Sam and his party make their way to the cave and observe animals along the way. Be sure that the sequence of events is clearly shown with linking words and phrases.