Reading and Writing Connections
for this selection:
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A Tale of Two Cranes
How Do Wild and Costume-raised Whoopers Compare?
Reading
Strategies:
- Summarize Main Idea and Details
- Compare and Contrast Details from the Text
- Classify Information Described in the Text
- Make Inferences and Draw Conclusions
- Make Text-to-Self Connections
- Ask Questions and Make Predictions to Set a Purpose for Reading
- Connect to Prior Knowledge/Build Background Knowledge
- (About Reading
Strategies)
Vocabulary
aquatic, adapt, captive-bred, wild-bred, environmental factors, predators,
refuge
Read
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Revisit
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Reflect
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Read
To
connect with students? background knowledge, ask them to share
things they have learned from their parents and teachers: learning
to talk, walk, read, write, etc. Have students imagine what kinds
of things young cranes may need to learn to survive in their habitats.
Make a class chart of ideas about what cranes need to learn from
their parents. (Connecting to Prior Knowledge; Building Background
Knowledge)
Introduce the terms: captive-bred and wild-bred. Ask students to share predictions
and questions about these concepts. Prior to reading the selection, ask students
to think about how captive-bred and wild-bred cranes would learn survival skills.
(Asking Questions and Making Predictions to Set a Purpose for Reading)
Research Link:
Read aloud "A Tale
of Two Cranes." Invite students to "mark up the text" by
circling unfamiliar words, highlighting key ideas, and writing notes
in the margins.
Revisit
Revisit the selection to collect details about the life lessons of
young whooping cranes. Have students work with a partner to create
a chart that organizes the facts
they collect from the article. For younger students,
prepare a chart with categories of information for students to complete.
(Summarizing Main Ideas and Details; Classifying
Information)
Revisit the selection to compare and contrast the life of captive-bred and wild-bred
whooping cranes. Create a Venn Diagram chart using details from the article.
(Comparing and Contrasting Details from the Text)
Revisit the selection to collect details about the places included in the article.
Locate Alberta, Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Florida on a map or globe. Research
the wildlife refuges mentioned in the article: Wood Buffalo National Park, Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge, Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center, Necedah National
Wildlife Refuge, and Chassahowitzka
National Wildlife Refuge. (Summarizing Details)
Reflect
Journaling Question
What are some differences and similarities between what the two groups of young
cranes are facing, and how they're dealing with their winter environment?
(Comparing and Contrasting Information Described in the Text; Making Inferences
and Drawing Conclusions)
Making Connections
Learning Lessons for Survival: What are the most important lessons humans need
to learn for their survival? Brainstorm a list of needs. Prioritize the lessons
essential to human survival. (Making Text-to-Self Connections)
Evaluation (Examine
Author?s
Strategies)
1. How did the author organize the facts about the two different groups of
cranes? Did the author separate the facts in different paragraphs?
2. How did the organization of the information help you collect the facts about
the two groups of cranes? |
Writers
Workshop
- Narrative
Write a fictional story about two cranes: a captive-bred
crane and a wild whooping crane. Include researched details about
the wildlife refuge that raised the captive-bred crane.
- Descriptive
Writers
paint pictures with words. Sentences that make pictures for readers
are called "Snapshot Sentences." Write
snapshot sentences to describe a field scientist working with
captive-bred whooping cranes.
- Persuasive
Write a business letter that persuades corporations to
donate funds to wildlife refuges working with whooping cranes,
or to a WCEP partner
such as Operation Migration.
- Expressive
Write
a "Thank You" letter from a captive-bred
whooping crane to field scientists or ultralight pilots who helped
it survive and become a wild, migrating bird.
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