Study and Research: Ages 9-10 by Teacher Superstore

Ages 9â&#x20AC;&#x201C;10

Published by R.I.C. Publications www.ricpublications.com.au 6491RB 5.7/186

STUDY AND RESEARCH Strategies and skills (Ages 9–10) Published by R.I.C. Publications® 2007 Copyright© R.I.C. Publications® 2007 ISBN 978-1-74126-460-9 RIC–6491 Additional title available in this series: Teacher resource: STUDY AND RESEARCH Strategies and skills (Ages 11+)

Copyright Notice Blackline masters or copy masters are published and sold with a limited copyright. This copyright allows publishers to provide teachers and schools with a wide range of learning activities without copyright being breached. This limited copyright allows the purchaser to make sufﬁcient copies for use within their own education institution. The copyright is not transferable, nor can it be onsold. Following these instructions is not essential but will ensure that you, as the purchaser, have evidence of legal ownership to the copyright if inspection occurs.

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Student reference: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO STUDY AND RESEARCH Student guide

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This master may only be reproduced by the original purchaser for use with their class(es). The publisher prohibits the loaning or onselling of this master for the purposes of reproduction.

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Internet websites

In some cases, websites or speciﬁc URLs may be recommended. While these are checked and rechecked at the time of publication, the publisher has no control over any subsequent changes which may be made to webpages. It is strongly recommended that the class teacher checks all URLs before allowing students to access them.

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Foreword Study and research – Strategies and skills is a series of three books aimed at teaching students how to study effectively and approach the task of researching methodically. Titles in this series: Study and research – Strategies and skills – Middle Study and research – Strategies and skills – Upper Study and research – Strategies and skills – Lower secondary (Student booklet)

Contents

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Teachers notes ...................................................................................................................................................iv – vii Comprehension strategies deﬁnitions ........................................................................................................................ vii Text types writing formats .................................................................................................................................. viii – ix Blank writing formats .......................................................................................................................................... x – xv Proofreading and editing checklist ............................................................................................................................ xvi The Dewey decimal classiﬁcation system ................................................................................................................. xvii Individual student evaluation ................................................................................................................................... xviii Sample graphic organisers ...................................................................................................................................... xix Outcome links............................................................................................................................................................ xx Using the library ................................................................................................................................................ 2–13 Resources: Library resources/Parts of a book/Writing and using a bibliography ....................................................... 2–5 Using the Dewey decimal system ....................................................................................................................... 6–9 Using the library catalogue ............................................................................................................................. 10–13 14–25 14–17 18–21 22–25

Preparing for an assignment ........................................................................................................................ Understanding the assignment: Before you begin/In your own words/Asking questions ..................................... Deﬁning the topic: Planning for research/Research planner ............................................................................... Evaluating resources: Choosing resources/Evaluating books/Opinion or fact? .....................................................

26–37 26–29 30–33 34–37

Making notes ................................................................................................................................................. Unexpected visitor: Narrative ➠ Family tree ..................................................................................................... Road safety: Report ➠ Word web .................................................................................................................... Theatre tour: Diary entry ➠ T-chart .................................................................................................................. Setting up a goldﬁsh tank: Information text ➠ Flow chart ................................................................................ Spiders are horrible: Exposition ➠ T-chart ....................................................................................................... Sir David Attenborough: Biography ➠ Timeline ................................................................................................ Water is important: Explanation ➠ Spider chart ...............................................................................................

38–65 38–41 42–45 46–49 50–53 54–57 58–61 62–65

Writing from notes ......................................................................................................................................... The bottlenose dolphin: Concept map ➠ Report .............................................................................................. Ready for launch: Flow chart ➠ Procedure ...................................................................................................... At the movies: Table ➠ Review ........................................................................................................................ Electric music: Timeline ➠ Historical recount ....................................................................................................

66–81 66–69 70–73 74–77 78–81

Planing your study ......................................................................................................................................... What type of learner am I?/Staying motivated/Goal setting ................................................................................... Planning your study: A ‘study-friendly’ environment/When do you study?/Term planner ...................................... Preparing for tests: Memory magic/Tackling tests/Staying calm .........................................................................

82–93 82–85 86–89 90–93

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Using the Internet .......................................................................................................................................... Understanding the Internet: What is the Internet?/Validating sources/Deﬁning keywords .................................... Make the Internet work for you ...................................................................................................................... Internet research ............................................................................................................................................

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Teachers notes Using this book The aim of Study and research – Strategies and skills is to provide students with strategies to enable them to approach their study and research in an organised and methodical way. Students will be given strategies appropriate to a particular aspect of study or research and opportunities to apply these strategies to a given task. It is important for students to understand how a task is done before they are asked to show that they can do it. The activities provided in the book give students the opportunity to: • know how to use the library and Internet effectively • understand what is required in a task • ﬁnd information required to complete the task • evaluate the information to determine its validity and usefulness for the task • make relevant, organised notes from the information • transform these notes into a coherent form, either written or spoken • discover their learner type • plan study periods and prepare for tests.

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These activities can be practised independently to improve a particular aspect of research or they can be used as part of a program teaching students the logical steps for researching effectively. Study and research – Strategies and skills is divided into six sections. Within each section, there are a number of subsections, each with a teachers page and three student activity pages. In all cases, the teachers page provides the same information.

The titles of the section and subsection or text are given.

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Worksheet information details any background information required by the teacher concerning the activities on each student page.

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Background information includes any additional information that may be of use to the teacher when presenting the activities.

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Indicators state the expected outcome(s).

Answers are provided where necessary. Many answers are best checked by the teacher following, or in conjunction with, class discussion.

The main focus of the student pages is to achieve the given task through answering the main question. Generally, the three student pages relate to one task and question but in some cases, each student page has a separate task.

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Teachers notes Using the library • Students determine all the resources available to them and their general location in the library. • They become familiar with the Dewey system of classification, call numbers and how to use the library catalogue. With this knowledge, they are able to find the exact location of specific resources in the library. • A copy of the main groups of the Dewey decimal classification system is provided on page xvii. • In the first section, Library resources, the student pages are separate and can be used independently. In Using the Dewey decimal system and Using the library catalogue, the student pages are linked.

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Using the Internet • Students acquire a general understanding of what the Internet is and how search engines work. They practise using keywords and phrases for an Internet search as these are vital if the websites found by the search engine are to be appropriate for the task. • They learn to check the reliability of sources found on the Internet, as anyone can post material for any purpose. All school and public libraries are on the ‘safe search’ option, preventing any inappropriate material being accessed. • In the ﬁrst section, Understanding the Internet Internet, the student pages are separate and can be used independently. In Make the Internet work for you and River otters, the student pages are linked.

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• Before students begin to make notes, they need to read and understand the information they have gathered. There are a number of speciﬁc comprehension strategies that students use to gain understanding from the text: predicting, making connections, comparing, sensory imaging, determining importance, skimming, scanning, synthesising, paraphrasing and summarising. Deﬁnitions of these strategies are provided on pages vi and vii. • Further practice in these strategies may be gained by referring to the R.I.C. Publications title, Primary comprehension: Literal – Inferential – Applied Applied. • In all sections the student pages are linked, and all follow the same format. Student page – 1 provides an information text from which students are required to make notes.

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Preparing for an assignment • Students develop a clear understanding of the assignment, whether it be one set by a teacher or one chosen by themselves. They determine the keywords used to focus their search for gathering information from the library, the Internet or people. • As the students gather information, they evaluate it and determine its value for the assignment. They develop the practice of keeping account of all resources used for reference in the bibliography. • In the ﬁrst section, Understanding the assignment assignment, the student pages are separate and can be used independently. In Deﬁning the topic and Evaluating resources, the student pages are linked.

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Student page – 2 Finding information, explains how the students can extract relevant information from the text.

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Making notes • Different writing genres have been used to give students practice at making notes for varied purposes. For each piece of text, a question is asked from which students choose keywords, so that relevant information can be found in the text. • Notes are written and arranged logically in a graphic organiser and, from these notes, the answer to the question is written. However, writing a comprehensive answer to the question is not essential at this stage as the focus is on note making. Students are required only to answer a partial question based on the original.

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Teachers notes Student page – 3 Organising information, explains how students can arrange their information using a graphic organiser, from which they can see the information more clearly to begin the writing process.

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Writing from notes An assignment question and a page of relevant notes is provided for the students to study. General descriptions of a number of text types are found on pages viii and ix. Blank writing frameworks for each text type are found from page x to page xv. A proofreading and editing checklist has also been included on page xvi. Further practice in writing in a range of genres may be gained by referring to the R.I.C. Publications title, Primary writing: Read – Analyse – Plan. In all sections the student pages are linked and follow the same format. Student page – 1 provides information in note form in a graphic organiser from which students are required to plan and write a ﬁrst draft, usually in a range of writing genres.

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Student page – 2 Planning, explains the framework students require to write in a speciﬁc genre and where the notes belong in the framework.

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Teachers notes Comprehension strategies deﬁnitions Predicting Prediction involves the student using illustrations, text or background knowledge to help them construct meaning. Students might predict what texts could be about, what could happen or how characters could act or react. Prediction may occur before, during and after reading, and can be adjusted during reading. Making connections Students comprehend texts by linking their prior knowledge and the new information given in the text. Students may make connections between the text and themselves, between the new text and other texts previously read, and between the text and the world.

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Graphic organisers Graphic organisers are a means by which students can collate gathered information and display it in an easy-to-read visual format. There are a number of recognised graphic organisers, but it is quite acceptable to design one to suit a speciﬁc task. Examples of a number of graphic organisers are included on page xix. There are a number of Internet websites which display a range of graphic organisers and include suggestions as to how they may be used. For example: <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers> <http://teachers.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org> <http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/torganiz.htm> • Use a star graphic organiser to investigate many aspects of a single topic. • Use a spider graphic organiser to investigate many aspects of a single topic in more detail. • Use a chain graphic organiser to show a series of events from beginning to end. • Use a T-chart graphic organiser to compare two aspects of a single topic. • Use a KWHL graphic organiser to investigate what you already KNOW about a topic, what you WANT to know about it, HOW you will learn about it and what you will LEARN about it. • Use a cyclic graphic organiser to investigate a cycle of events with no beginning and no end.

Comparing This strategy is closely linked to the strategy of making connections. Students make comparisons by thinking more speciﬁcally about the similarities and differences between the connections being made.

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How to study • To know how to study effectively, it is important that students appreciate which type of learner they are. Dr Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences suggests that there are eight different types of human intelligences or ways of understanding the world. These are verballinguistic, logical-mathematical, naturalist, visual-spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Gardner believes that each person has one or two dominant intelligences and that it is possible to strengthen the rest. • Activities are provided which help the student identify their dominant intelligences. • Students are given strategies for planning study and how to remain focused during study times. Ideas for preparing for tests and tricks for remembering information are suggested. Students consider strategies for developing their own effective ways of studying. • In this section, all the student pages are separate and can be used independently. • An individual student evaluation sheet is provided on page xviii.

Sensory imaging Sensory imaging involves students utilising all ﬁve senses to create mental images of passages in the text. Students use visual, auditory, olfactory, kinaesthetic or emotional images as well as their personal experiences to create these images. The images may help them to make predictions, form conclusions, interpret information and remember details.

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Determining importance The strategy of determining importance is particularly helpful when students are trying to comprehend informational texts. It involves students determining the important theme or main idea of particular paragraphs or passages. As students become effective readers, they will constantly ask themselves what is most important in a phrase, sentence, paragraph, chapter or whole text. To determine importance, students will need to use a variety of information, such as the purpose for reading, their knowledge of the topic, background experiences and beliefs, and understanding of the text format.

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Skimming Skimming is the strategy of looking quickly through texts to gain a general impression or overview of the content. Readers often use this strategy to quickly assess whether a text, or part of it, will meet their purpose. Because this book deals predominantly with comprehension after reading, skimming has not been included as one of the major strategies. Scanning Scanning is the strategy of quickly locating speciﬁc details such as dates, places or names, or those parts of the text which support a particular point of view. Scanning is often used but not speciﬁcally mentioned when used in conjunction with other strategies.

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Teachers notes Synthesising Synthesising is the strategy which enables students to collate a range of information from a variety of sources in order to comprehend text. Students recall information, order details and piece information together to make sense of the text. Synthesising helps students to continually monitor their understanding of the text. Synthesising involves connecting, comparing, determining importance, posing questions and creating images. Paraphrasing/Summarising Summarising involves the processes of recording key ideas, main points or the most important information from a text. Summarising or paraphrasing reduces a larger piece of text to the most important details.

r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S Text types writing formats

– includes: • Title • Classiﬁcation: a general or classifying statement • Description: accurate and detailed • Conclusion: a comment about the content of the report (optional) – uses the following language features: • factual language rather than imaginative • the third person • the timeless present tense • information organised into paragraphs

Narrative – is a framework which tells a story – includes: • Title • Orientation: the setting, time and characters • Complication: involving the main character(s) and a sequence of events • Resolution: to the complication • Conclusion: often showing what has changed and what the characters have learnt – uses the following language features: • a range of conjunctions to connect ideas • appropriate paragraphing • descriptive language • usually written in past tense A narrative may be written in the form of a poem, story, play, imaginative story, fairytale, novel, myth, legend, ballad, science ﬁction story or modern fantasy.

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Report – is a framework which describes aspects of a living or non-living thing in detail

A report may be written in the form of a book review, scientiﬁc report, newspaper or magazine article, eyewitness account or a progress report.

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Recount – is a framework which retells events as they happened in time order

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– includes: • Title • Orientation: all relevant background (who, when, where, why) • Events: signiﬁcant events in detail • Conclusion: often with an evaluative comment

– uses the following language features: • vocabulary to suggest time passing • paragraphs to show separate sections • the past tense A recount may be written in the form of a newspaper report, diary, letter, journal, eyewitness account, biography, autobiography or history.

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Procedure – is a framework which outlines how something is made or done – includes: • Title • Goal: the purpose of the procedure shown clearly and precisely • Materials: a list of materials or requirements under appropriate headings or layout • Steps: the method in a detailed, logical sequence • Test: an evaluation (if appropriate) – uses the following language features: • instructions often with an imperative verb • subject-speciﬁc vocabulary • simple present tense • concise language A procedure may be written in the form of a recipe, instructions for making something, an experiment, an instruction manual, a maths procedure, how to play a game, how to operate an appliance, how to use an atlas or how to deal with a problem.

r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S Text types writing formats

Explanation – is a framework which outlines how something occurs, works or is made – includes: • Title • Statement: precisely what is to be explained • Explanation: a clear account in logical sequence of how and why the phenomenon occurs • Conclusion: an evaluation and comment about what has been explained

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Teachers notes

Exposition – is a framework which argues for a particular position and attempts to persuade the audience to share this view – includes: • Title • Overview: statement of the problem or issue and the writer’s position • Arguments: presented in a logical manner with supporting detail, usually from the strongest to the weakest • Conclusion: a restating of the writer’s position and a summary of the arguments presented – uses the following language features: • a variety of controlling and emotive words and conjunctions • paragraphs to state and elaborate on each point An exposition may be written in the form of an essay, a letter, policy statement, a critical review, an advertisement, an editorial or a speech.

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Title a deﬁnition a description of the components or parts the operation—how it works or is made the application—where and when it works or is applied • special features—interesting comments • evaluation or comment/conclusion – uses the following language features: • subject-speciﬁc terms and technical vocabulary where appropriate • simple present tense is often used • linking words to show cause and effect • information is organised into paragraphs

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An explanation may be written in the form of an essay, or a handbook—for example, how a kite works—a science, health or society and environment text.

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Teachers notes

Blank writing format – Narrative Title

Orientation Who? When? Where?

Complication and events

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Why?

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Conclusion

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Teachers notes

Blank writing format – Recount Title

Orientation Who? When? Where?

Events

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Why?

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Teachers notes

Blank writing format – Procedure Title

Goal

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Materials

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How will you know if your procedure works?

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Teachers notes

Blank writing format – Report Title

Classiﬁcation What is it?

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Description

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What I think about it. W

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Teachers notes

Blank writing format – Explanation Title

Classiﬁcation What is it?

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Description

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Teachers notes

Blank writing format – Exposition Title

Overview What is the topic?

r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S Arguments

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What is my point of view?

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Teachers notes

Proofreading and editing checklist Name:

Date:

Title:

Text type:

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Punctuation I have included: capital letters for: beginning sentences ......................................................................................................................................................... proper nouns .................................................................................................................................................................... titles ................................................................................................................................................................................ question marks ...................................................................................................................................................................... full stops ............................................................................................................................................................................... commas in lists .............................................................................................................................................................................. for pauses ........................................................................................................................................................................ to make meaning clear ..................................................................................................................................................... apostrophes: for grammatical contractions ............................................................................................................................................. to show ownership............................................................................................................................................................ exclamation marks ................................................................................................................................................................ quotation marks .................................................................................................................................................................... colons in titles............................................................................................................................................................................. for offset lists ................................................................................................................................................................... brackets ................................................................................................................................................................................ hyphens ................................................................................................................................................................................

Language features

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I have: checked the spelling of any unknown words ....................................................................................................................... not confused words that sound the same ........................................................................................................................... used the correct ending for plurals .................................................................................................................................... I have included: a variety of different verbs ................................................................................................................................................. correct verb tenses ........................................................................................................................................................... correct verb-subject agreement ......................................................................................................................................... appropriate adverbs to describe verbs................................................................................................................................ suitable nouns .................................................................................................................................................................. appropriate pronouns ........................................................................................................................................................ interesting adjectives ........................................................................................................................................................ suitable conjunctions ........................................................................................................................................................ a variety of prepositions .................................................................................................................................................... paragraphing as appropriate ............................................................................................................................................. no double negatives ..........................................................................................................................................................

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Writing I have read through my writing to check that: it makes sense ................................................................................................................................................................. it is easy to understand ..................................................................................................................................................... there are no repeated or omitted words ............................................................................................................................. there are no errors of fact .................................................................................................................................................

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Teachers notes

The Dewey Decimal Classiﬁcation System Generalities Bibliography Library and Information Sciences General Encyclopedic Works Unassigned General Serials and their Indexes General Organisations News Media, Journalism, Publishing General Collections Manuscripts and Rare Books

100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190

Philosophy and Psychology Metaphysics Epistemology, Causation, Humankind Paranormal Phenomena Speciﬁc Philosophical Schools Psychology Logic Ethics (moral philosophy) Ancient, Medieval, Oriental Philosophy Modern Western Philosophy

200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290

Religion Natural Theology Bible Christian Theology Christian Moral and Devotional Theology Christian Orders and Local Church Christian Social Theology Christian Church History Christian Denominations and Sects Other and Comparative Religions

300 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390

Social Sciences Sociology and Anthropology General Statistics Political Science Economics Law Public Administration Social Services; Associations Education Commerce, Communications, Transport Customs, Etiquette, Folklore

400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 480 490

Language Linguistics English and Old English Germanic Languages, German Romance Languages, French Italian, Romanian Languages Spanish and Portuguese Languages Italic Languages, Latin Hellenic Languages, Classical Greek Other Languages

500 510 520 530 540 550 560 570 580 590 600

Natural Sciences and Mathematics Mathematics Astronomy and Allied Sciences Physics Chemistry and Allied Sciences Earth Sciences Palaeontology, Palaeozoology Life Sciences Botanical Sciences Zoological Sciences Technology (Applied Sciences)

600 610 620 630 640 650 660 670 680 690

General Technology Medical Sciences and Medicines Engineering and Allied Operations Agriculture Home Economics and Family Living Management and Auxiliary Services Chemical Engineering Manufacturing Manufacture for Speciﬁc Uses Buildings

700 710 720 730 740 750 760 770 780 790

The Arts Civic and Landscape Art Architecture Plastic Arts, Sculpture Drawing and Decorative Arts Painting and Paintings (museums) Graphic Arts, Printmaking and Prints, Postage Stamps Photography and Photographs Music Recreational and Performing Arts

800 810 820 830 840 850 860 870 880 890

Literature and Rhetoric American Literature English and Old English Literature Literatures of Germanic Languages Literatures of Romance Languages Italian, Romanian Literatures Spanish and Portuguese Literatures Italic Literatures, Latin Hellenic Literatures, Classical Greek Literatures of Other Languages

900 900 910 920 930 940 950 960 970 980 990

Geography and History World History Geography and Travel Biography, Genealogy, Insignia History of the Ancient World General History of Europe General History of Asia General History of Africa General History of North America General History of South America General History of Other Areas

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000 010 020 030 040 050 060 070 080 090

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Teachers notes

Individual student evaluation Name:

Skill

Strategies

Comments

Locating resource areas Using parts of a book Writing a bibliography

Using the Dewey system

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Using a bibliography

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Using the library catalogue

Deﬁning keywords

Using a search engine

Validating Internet sources Understanding the assignment

Evaluating resources

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Determining information

Finding information

Organising information Planning a framework Writing from a framework

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Deﬁning the topic

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Deﬁning learner type Organising study Preparing for tests

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Teachers notes

Sample graphic organisers

aspect aspect

aspect

detail detail detail

topic

t pec

as detail detail detail

aspect

Star

asp

ect

detail detail detail

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ect

asp

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aspect

detail detail detail asp ect

Spider

introduction

topic

event

supporting ideas

aspect

supporting ideas

event

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conclusion

Chain

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T-chart

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topic K

event

KWHL R.I.C. Publications®

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Cycle Study and research – Strategies and skills

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Teachers notes

Outcome links State NSW

English TS2.1, TS2.2, TS2.3, TS2.4

SOSE N/A

RS2.5, RS2.6, RS2.7, RS2.8 WS2.9, WS2.10, WS2.11, WS2.12, WS2.13, WS2.14

r o e t s Bo r e p ok Vic. u S N/A

ENRE 0301 to ENRE 0308

ENWR 0301 to ENWR 0304

LS3.1, LS3.2 LS3.3 V3.1, V3.2 V3.3, V3.4 R3.1, R3.2 R3.3, R3.4 W3.1, W3.2 W3.3, W3.4

ICP3.1, ICP3.2 ICP3.3, ICP3.4

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4,2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.12

N/A

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ENSL 0301to ENSL 0304

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3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4,3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12

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o c . che e r o t r s super Refer to curriculum documents on http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au

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Study and research – Strategies and skills

xxi

TEACHERS notes

Using the library

Worksheet information • Look through a selection of nonﬁction and reference books. Show the different sections in each and discuss how they are used. • Revise, using a speciﬁc example, how to create research questions from different aspects of an explosion chart, how to determine the keywords and listing synonyms for keywords. Students can use the example provided or a topic of their choice. • Students use the keywords to locate information in each book and orally answer their questions. • Revise skimming and scanning techniques for checking relevance and suitability of material. • Allow students to discuss why they think contents, index and glossary pages are useful.

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Background information • Most students know that fiction and nonfiction books, encyclopedias and Internet access are available in the library. But many do not realise that it also houses other sources of valuable information which can be very useful tools for research. • The most valuable resource in the library is the librarian. While it is essential that students can locate material independently, they should also know that the librarian’s wealth of knowledge and experience can also be used. • All library resources can play a role in research. They may not all be used for one project, but over the year, each will play at least a minor role in research, contributing to the success of projects. • When planning a project for research, the broad view of the topic is studied first and then a particular aspect is chosen to research in detail. Library resources can provide general and/or specific information and so some are more useful for looking at the broad view (general) and others for looking at the detail (specific). • Contents and index pages are essential in larger books and volumes for finding specific information quickly. • When writing a research project, the planning and organisation of the content and presentation is done by the writer but the information used is gathered from a number of different sources, such as those freely available in the library. • These sources must be acknowledged. This is done by compiling a bibliography which is a list of references to all sources used in the research. • The bibliography, listed in alphabetical order of author surname, is included at the end of the project.

Answers 1. title – gives the name of the book blurb – gives a brief outline of the book contents – gives the page numbers and chapters or main topics index – gives a detailed alphabetical list, with page numbers, of names, places and subjects mentioned in the book

Indicator • Locates all facilities within the library.

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Worksheet information • Look at a number of different library resources and locate the call number labels. Discuss the information it contains and why it is important for each item to have a label. • Students walk around the library locating each section. Some sections may need to be deleted and others added to match the exact resources available in the school’s library.

Worksheet information • Explain to the students how a bibliography reference for each type of resource must be written. For ﬁction and nonﬁction books: – author – date of publication – title, underlined – publisher – city

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Parts of a book .......................................... Page 4 Indicators • Defines the different sections of a nonfiction book. • Locates specific information using the contents, index and glossary pages.

Indicators • Compiles a bibliography. • Uses bibliography references to make notes for an oral presentation.

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Library resources ....................................... Page 3

Writing and using a bibliography .............. Page 5

Study and research – Strategies and skills

For reference books, such as encyclopedias: – title of article – date of publication – volume – page number(s) – publisher – city – name of book/journal, underlined For periodicals, such as magazines and newspapers: – author – year of publication – title of article – name of periodical – volume/issue /date – pages

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Library resources 1. (a) Take a walk around your library to discover the different types of resources available for you to use. The call number of a resource is the information on the label. On books, this label is on the spine. The information indicates the exact location of the resource in the library. (b) Choose one example of each type of resource listed and write its title, author and call number.

Call number

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r o e t s B r e Resource Title and author o p ok u ﬁction book S nonﬁction book

encyclopedia atlas

dictionaries

posters

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2. Write any other resources that are available in your library.

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CD-ROMs

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3. Finish the sentence. It is important to have a call number for each item in the library because …

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Parts of a book All books have information on the cover which gives information about its contents. Inside nonfiction and reference books there are specific sections which help us to use the book efficiently when searching for information. 1. Match the part of a book with its meaning. title

•

blurb

•

index

•

glossary •

• gives the name of the book

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contents •

r o e t s B r e oowith deﬁnitions • p gives a list of subject speciﬁc vocabulary u S• gives a brief outline of the book k • gives the page numbers and the chapters or main topics

• gives a detailed alphabetical list, with page numbers, of names, places and subjects mentioned in the book

2. (a) Write the name of a topic you would like to research.

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(b) Write a research question for your topic.

3. (a) Choose two books about your chosen topic. Use the keywords to ﬁnd those pages with information to help you to answer your question.

o c . (b) Did you ﬁnd the contents, index and glossary pages useful? Explain your c e her r answer. o t s super

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Writing and using a bibliography A bibliography is a list of all the resources used in a research project. It is written at the end of the project to acknowledge the work of all the writers whose work has been used in the research. If a bibliography is not written, the writer may be accused of plagiarism; that is, stealing someone else’s work. 1. (a) Write the name of a topic you would like to research.

r o e t s Bo r e p ok Type of resource Bibliography reference u S Fiction

Nonﬁction

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(b) Write one example of each resource that you could use in your research. This will become your bibliography reference. Add details, including author, title, publication date, publisher and city after each reference.

Periodical

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2. (a) Choose a periodical which is of interest to you and includes a bibliography.

o c . (b) Look carefully the titles in the bibliography. cath e r er o (c) How do you think this lists of references could help you if you t s r u e p were to research the subject?

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TEACHERS notes

Using the Dewey decimal system Background information • It is important for students to understand the Dewey decimal system so they can locate nonﬁction and reference books on the shelves. • Most libraries indicate the location of the main groups at the end of the shelves. • For the activities on pages 8 and 9, you will need a detailed classiﬁcation of the 500s main group. This will be available from the librarian. • Pages 6 to 9 are used in conjunction with each other.

Answers 2. (b) (i) 523.1 Universe (ii) 523.2 Solar system (iii) 523.3 Moon (iv) 523.4 Planets (c) (i) 523.41 Mercury (ii) 523.42 Venus (iii) 523.43 Mars 3. Information in the books is more speciﬁc.

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Worksheet information

Using the Dewey decimal system – 1 ........ Page 7 • Revise what students already know about the Dewey system and its creator, Melville Dewey. • Explain how the system works, with all areas of knowledge classified into one of ten main groups. • Copy the Dewey classification sheet from page xvii for the students to study. • Explain that as the subject matter becomes more detailed, the decimal classification extends. • Students study the Dewey system chart to answer the questions. • Using their knowledge of numbers, students order the Dewy numbers in Questions 4 and 5.

Using the Dewey decimal system – 3 ........ Page 9 • Allow students to study the 500s group in more detail. • Students offer suggestions for the answer to Question 1 (a). Mount Everest is a mountain within the Himalayan range and that the Himalayas are one of the world’s mountain ranges so, Mount Everest is the most speciﬁc and Mountains of the world the most general. • Students choose a subject and study how the books about it are more detailed as the Dewey number alters.

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Indicators • Learns how the Dewey decimal system is used to arrange nonﬁction and reference books. • Learns how to use the Dewey decimal system to locate books by subject.

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• Before the lesson, check that the books about the Solar system are available in the library.

Answers 1. (a) Mountains of the world – 1, Himalayas – 2, Mount Everest – 3 (c) As the subject becomes more speciﬁc, the Dewey number has more digits. 2.–3. Teacher check

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Answers 1. (a) reference books (generalities) (b) religion and mythology (c) geography and history 2. (a) bibliography (b) Christian theology (c) home economics and family living 3. (a) 700 (b) 000 (c) 500 4. (a) 000, 030, 032 (b) 200, 240, 247 (c) 600, 690, 691 5. 537,584, 621, 698, 752, 773

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Using the Dewey decimal system – 2 ........ Page 8 • Allow students to study the 500s group in more detail. • Revise the order of decimal numbers with the students to help them understand how the system works. • Work through the example of the Dewey number 523 to explain how the digits relate to the subdivisions. • Again, students should note that as subjects become more speciﬁc, the decimal number extends.

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Using the Dewey decimal system – 1 The Dewey decimal system has ten major groups, the 100s, from 000 to 900, which cover every area of knowledge and into which any book can be placed. These groups are divided and continue to divide as the information in the books becomes more speciﬁc. 1. Look at the Dewey decimal system classiﬁcation chart. What is the subject of the books in each main group?

319 320

r o e t s Bo r e p ok (b) 200s u S (c) 900s

321

322

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(a) 000s

2. What is the subject of books with these Dewey numbers? (a) 010 (b) 230 (c) 640

3. In what section would these books be found on the shelves? (000–900)

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(b) Guinness book of records 2006 ......................................

4. Place these Dewey numbers in order from general to speciﬁc.

. t247 (b) 200 e

(a) 030 000 032

o c . e (c) 690 691 c 600 her r o t s sof thepbook er The Dewey number is the addressu on the library shelf. 240

5. Place these Dewey numbers in order as you would ﬁnd them on the shelves in the library. 584

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773

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621

752

537

698

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USING THE LIBRARY

OF WILD ANIMALS

ENCYCLOPEDIA

ENCY

CLOP OF W EDIA ORLD HISTO RY

The ﬁrst part of the Dewey number is the base number to the left of the decimal point. This represents the main group to which a book belongs and the following two subdivisions.

ENCYC LOPE OF ART DIA

Using the Dewey decimal system – 2

1. Look at the Dewey base number – 523. 523 – It is in the 500s group, Natural sciences and mathematics. 523 – It is in the 20s ﬁrst subdivision, Astronomy and allied sciences. 523 – It is in the 3s second subdivision, Speciﬁc celestial bodies and phenomena.

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r o e t s Bo r e p ok 2. (a) Use the signs around your library to locate books in the 523 group. u S500s ﬁrst, followed by the 520s.) (Hint: locate the

After 523, there are Dewey numbers with a tenths digit after the decimal point.

(b) What is the subject of books with these Dewey numbers? (i) 523.1

(ii) 523.2

(iii) 523.3

after the decimal point.

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(i) 523.41

(ii) 523.42

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. tenotice about the books as more digits are added to theo What do you Dewey c . number? che e r o t r s super (iii) 523.43

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Using the Dewey decimal system – 3 The more specific a subject is, the more numbers there are after the decimal point in the Dewey number. 1. (a) Order the subjects about mountains from general (1) to specific (3). (b) In your library find a book on each subject and record the Dewey number. Subject

Order

Dewey number

r o e t s Bo r e p ok The Himalayas u S (c) What do you notice about the subject order and the Dewey numbers? Mountains of the world

2. (a) Choose a general subject area that interests you.

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Mount Everest

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(b) To which main Dewey group does it belong?

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3. (a) Write the titles of increasingly speciﬁc books about your topic by following the Dewey numbering system of subdividing; i.e. 400,460, 468, 468.2, 468.24, 468.245 etc.

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(b) How many subdivisions did you ﬁnd?

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TEACHERS notes

Using the library catalogue Using the library catalogue – 3 ............... Page 13 • Students have the opportunity to use the library catalogue to ﬁnd books for a project and their location details. • As students become familiar with this procedure, they will ﬁnd locating resources for actual research projects much easier. • Allow students to try out their explanations on younger students in the library so that they can demonstrate their explanations.

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Indicators • Learns how the library catalogue works. • Uses the library catalogue to ﬁnd books for a research project.

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Background information • Catalogues are used so that all resources in the library are recorded and easy to locate. Having a definite location for each resource also means that it can be returned to that same place after being borrowed. • The catalogue also tells whether the book is currently on the shelf or being borrowed. If necessary, students can place a request to borrow books currently on loan. • The library’s catalogue can give all the details, including Dewey numbers, of books when only parts of the details are known. • Call numbers are essential for finding the exact location of books on the shelves. They are located on the spine of the book and for nonfiction and reference books include the Dewey number. • Students may need help from the librarian to navigate the library’s catalogue for the first time. • Pages 10 to 13 are used in conjunction with each other.

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Using the library catalogue – 1 ............... Page 11 • A subject search will give all the books housed in the library, relating to a particular subject. Keywords and phrases and similar words are the key to ﬁnding books in a subject search. • Discuss keywords and similar words with students. • Students can either search for books about China or choose their own topic.

Using the library catalogue – 2 ............... Page 12 • Discuss why an author search would be useful; for example, when wanting to know all the books by a favourite author so that students can read them all. • A title search gives the author and call number of a book. • If students have enjoyed a particular book in the past but can’t remember the author, after the title search they can then do an author search to ﬁnd other books written by the same person. • If title, author and subject of a book are known, the students could examine the shelves looking for the book, but a quick search on the computer by title, author or subject, will give the call number and hence the location of the book on the shelf. • Revise alphabetical order.

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Using the library catalogue – 1

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The library’s catalogue is the address book for all resources in the library. Every item has a call number which indicates exactly where on the shelves it belongs. This makes it easy to find things and for the librarian to replace them. If you know some information about the item you are looking for, the catalogue will identify it and give you its call number (address) so you can find the item on the shelf. There are three ways to conduct a search using the catalogue: • by subject • by author • by title Subject searches are usually made if you are looking for books about a particular subject and do not know any titles or authors. The search will give you a list of books and their call numbers. To find relevant keywords to type into the catalogue, it is useful to write a list of research questions and keywords about your subject. 1. Write the keywords for each question in the table.

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What are China’s main physical features?

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Who are China’s neighbours?

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world map?

o c What is the population . c e r of China? h er o t s super What are the main industries of China? What is China’s history?

2. (a) On a separate sheet of paper, write questions and keywords for a chosen topic. (b) Conduct a subject search for relevant books about your chosen topic. R.I.C. Publications®

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USING THE LIBRARY

Using the library catalogue – 2 Author searches on the library catalogue give a list of all books written by a particular author. Type in the author’s name and all of his/her books plus their call numbers will come up. 1. (a) Conduct an author search for books by one of these authors. Emily Rodda

JK Rowling

RL Stine

Philippa Pearce Jenny Nimmo

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(b) Write the names of four of his/her books.

A title search is conducted if the author is unknown. 2. Find the author for each of these books. (b) Tom’s midnight garden

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(c) Goodnight Mr Tom The library catalogue always gives the call number of a book. If the title and author of a book are known, it is easy to search the shelves for a fiction book as these are shelved in alphabetical order. Nonfiction books are easier to find if you know the exact Dewey number.

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3. Use an author or title search to ﬁnd the Dewey numbers of these books. Title and author

Dewey number

The wildlife detectives by Donna M Jackson Rainforest wildlife by Antonia Cunningham Turtle rescue by Pamela Hickman 12

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Using the library catalogue – 3 1. (a) Write the title of a topic you would like to research.

(b) Conduct a subject search to ﬁnd the titles and authors and Dewey numbers of three books about the topic. Dewey number

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Title and author

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(d) Conduct an author search to ﬁnd three more titles by this author and their Dewey numbers.

o c . c e he r 2. How would you explain tor a younger student howt the library o s catalogue works? super

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TEACHERS notes

Using the Internet

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Background information • The Internet is an excellent tool for research but it does have its limitations. As there is no way of controlling what is posted on the net, it is essential that students learn how to become critical thinkers, evaluating the sources found and making their own decisions based on wide reading and research. • The vast amount of information available for any subject is overwhelming. Using speciﬁc words and phrases will narrow down a search. • It is easy to be distracted while using the Internet. Encourage students to limit the time they spend at the computer and to refer back to the assignment title at regular intervals. This will help them to stay focused.

Deﬁning keywords ................................... Page 17 Indicator • Deﬁnes keywords for a number of assignments. Worksheet information • Discuss questions and keywords for each assignment title. • Explain that using the most appropriate keywords is essential for locating relevant web sites. • Encourage students to make notes from each website, recording the URL each time.

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What is the Internet? ............................... Page 15

Worksheet information • Discuss advantages and disadvantages of using information from the Internet; for example, plenty of information but too much to look at; anyone can post information but there are no checks on its content. • Students should run through the questions each time they use information from the Internet.

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Indicators • Finds the number of websites for given subjects and recognises the need for ﬁne-tuning a search. • Explains why it is important to validate information from the Internet.

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1. Teacher check 2. Because anyone can post information on the Internet and there are no checks on the content. Validating sources ................................... Page 16

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Indicator • Demonstrates understanding of the importance of validating information from the Internet by designing a poster for display.

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Worksheet information • Discuss each question and possible answers to reinforce why it is essential to check the reliability of these sources. • Consider the need for broad and balanced views and correct and current factual information and statistics. • Some websites are quick to load and easy to navigate. Others are less easy to use. It may be better to avoid using a ‘difﬁcult’ site, even though it looks promising, as much time could be wasted.

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USING THE INTERNET

What is the Internet? The Internet is a worldwide network of computers which provides a global information resource which has been compiled by individuals as well as organisations. Whatever question you may have about any topic, there is sure to be a site on the Internet that will help you with your enquiry. There is a major drawback to this huge bank of information which is that anyone can post information without it being checked.

r o e t s Bo r e p owill hunt all the web This is done by u typing keywords into a search engine which k sites availableS for references to these words. Sometimes, the search engine will give As a researcher, you have two main tasks when using the Internet:

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• ﬁnding relevant information

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millions of possible web sites to look at!

1. Type each topic into the search engine and write the number of results for each. Topic

Number of web sites

The supernatural

weather ©WildR . I . C.Publ i cat i ons Domestic animals •f or r evi ew pur posesonl y•

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These sites cover everything about the topics. To ﬁnd out more speciﬁc information, keywords must be used. • checking the reliability of the information

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There are a number of checks to be made to ﬁnd out: ~ who wrote and authorised the web site and why ~ how current the information is ~ if the information can be cross-checked.

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o c . che e r o t r s super 2. Why do you think it is important to check the reliability of information?

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USING THE INTERNET

Validating sources Because there are no checks on information posted on the Internet, it is important that all sources are validated. This means they should be checked for accuracy and intent (why they were posted). Validating sources can be done by answering a number of questions. • Where does the web site come from? • How old is the article? • Is the writer well known or an authority on the subject? • What is the purpose of the article? • Can the information be cross-checked?

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r o e t s Bo r e p o u k 1. In a group, discuss the importance of each question. S 2. Using these questions, draft a design for a poster to remind people of the importance of validating information.

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3. On art paper, complete the poster and display close to a computer. 16

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Deﬁning keywords When choosing a topic to study, it is important to ask research questions as these will provide the keywords needed for an Internet search. For example, the topic is Deserts of the world world. Questions

Keywords

Where are the world’s deserts?

World desert locations

desert wildlife r o e t s Bo r Do people live ine deserts? desert people p o u k 1. For each topic, write three questions and keywords. S (a) The Incas of Peru Questions

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What wildlife lives in deserts?

Keywords

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(b) Ocean tide pools

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Keywords

2. Type the keywords into the search engine and browse through a few sites on the ﬁrst page of answers. (a) Do the sites provide relevant information to answer your questions? yes/no (b) (i) If the answer is yes, choose three sites to study and check for reliability. (ii) If the answer is no, use alternative keywords and try again. R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

Make the Internet work for you Background information • The Internet as a research tool is only as good as the keywords that are provided. As the students see how their keywords can reduce the number of websites found, they will become more proficient at using them. • Pages 18–21 are used in conjunction with each other. Indicators • Uses appropriate keywords and operators to find relevant information. • Uses images option to find pictures on the Internet. • Writes a bibliography reference for a website.

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Worksheet information • Students read and follow information while at the computer. • Allow students time to look at sites related to their subject. This will help them become familiar with using the search engine and navigating through the sites. • As students become proficient at finding useful web sites, the gathering information part of the research process will be more efficient.

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Make the Internet work for you – 1 ......... Page 19

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Worksheet information • The sheer volume of information available on the Internet creates problems when gathering information. Stress the importance of using appropriate keywords and operators to reﬁne their searches, to ﬁnd the most relevant information. • Give students the opportunity to work through their explanations at a computer with younger students. Make the Internet work for you – 3 ......... Page 21

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Worksheet information • The Internet provides a wealth of excellent images which can be useful for an assignment. • The process for finding these images is the same as for finding information but the ‘images’ option is selected when beginning the search. Again, keywords are important. • As with all resource material used for research, information gathered from the Internet must be acknowledged and included in the bibliography of the project. • If possible allow students to create a montage of pictures downloaded from the Internet. • Caution: Searching for images may have unintended and unwanted results. Some search engines allow results to be filtered and only return ‘child-friendly’ images. ‘Ask Jeeves for Kids’ does this automatically.

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Make the Internet work for you – 2 ......... Page 20

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MAKE THE INTERNET WORK FOR YOU – 1 Before conducting a search on the Internet, you need to be familiar with the layout of the opening screen (page) and how to use it. Not all search engines show exactly the same screen but they are similar and all provide the same facilities. 1. Follow the steps to ﬁnd information about your favourite topic. Tick the box as you complete each step.

r o e t s B r e oo Type your keywords into the query window with a ﬂashing cursor. p u Choose theS type of search—i.e. web: for information; images:k for pictures; news: for recent information and maps.

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• My favourite topic is

Use the ‘favourites’ or ‘bookmark’ button to store useful websites, saving you the trouble of searching for them again.

The address (URL) of the website you are looking at is displayed at the top of the screen. Click on ‘search’ on the screen or press ‘enter’ on the keyboard and the search for information will begin.

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At the top of the page it will state the total number of websites it has found in the search. For a general search, this number can be many millions. If you are looking for speciﬁc information, you must ﬁne-tune your request. From the bottom of the page, you can click on further relevant websites found by the search engine.

. te the list of websites until you see one that looks promising. o Scroll through c . Run the cursorc over the text of the title or the URL and click.e The full h r document will now load onr screen for you to look through. e o st super

Within any document, there may be references to other pages in that document or to other websites. These references will be in a different colour and often underlined. Place the cursor on these words and click to look at these pages. You can generally return to the original page by clicking on the return arrow, usually at the top left-hand corner of the page. R.I.C. Publications®

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USING THE INTERNET

MAKE THE INTERNET WORK FOR YOU – 2

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We know that choosing relevant keywords is important when making an Internet search but sometimes, the search needs to be ﬁne-tuned even further. This can be done by using connecting words. • If your search yields too many sites, use the connector, AND, between keywords and the search will only give sites that include both keywords. • If your search yields too many sites, and many of them are irrelevant, use the connector, NOT, between your keywords and a keyword to describe the irrelevant sites. • If your search is not yielding enough sites, use the connector, OR, between keywords. This will give sites which include either keyword. Also: • Using speech marks around keywords, will reduce the number of hits as the search will only provide sites that include all the keywords together. 1. Complete the table by conducting Internet searches using the keywords given and record the number of answers given for each. Keywords

Number of sites

catsR © . I . C.Publ i cat i ons domestic •cats f oAND rr evi ew pur posesonl y• cats NOT wild

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‘domestic cats’

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cats OR domestic

2. How would you explain these ﬁne-tuning strategies to a younger student?

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USING THE INTERNET

MAKE THE INTERNET WORK FOR YOU – 3 To find pictures to include in an assignment, conduct an image search. • Click on the images button on the main search page. Type in keywords then click on search. The answers page will state the total number of images found and show the first page of images. • Click on an image to see it and the original website it came from. Different search engines may have different instructions for accessing the pictures. Follow their prompts, or if in doubt, ask the librarian to assist you. 1. (a) Use the Internet to find the best pictures of your three favourite animals.

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r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S (b) Record the website for each picture. Favourite animal

Website (URL)

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Always include: • Author’s name (if known) • Full URL

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• Title of the work • Date of your visit

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When using any other resource tool for research, it is necessary to include Internet sources in a bibliography. • Date of the work

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2. Choose one of the websites above and write a full reference for inclusion in a bibliography.

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TEACHERS notes

Internet research: River otters Background information • Providing students with frequent opportunities to research on the Internet will give them practice in all skills required. • Pages 22–25 are used in conjunction with each other. Indicator • Chooses appropriate keywords and uses them to ﬁnd relevant information.

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Internet research: River otters – 1 ........... Page 23

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Internet research: River otters – 2 ........... Page 24 Worksheet information • Students choose one area from the explosion chart on the previous page and extend it to create another one with more detail about their chosen area. • They record keywords and phrases from their charts and use them to conduct an information search. • Students record relevant pages found.

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Worksheet information • Students study the explosion chart and consider keywords and phrases to conduct an Internet search for information on river otters. • Encourage students to write keywords and phrases as they would type them into the computer.

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Worksheet information • Students write the area they researched from the page 24 and record three facts they learned. • For each fact, they conduct searches to find another website which confirms it. • Discuss the possible key to finding relevant information efficiently (keywords and phrases).

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Internet research: River otters – 3 ........... Page 25

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USING THE INTERNET

INTERNET RESEARCH: River otters – 1 1. Study the river otters explosion chart.

young

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habitat

physical characteristics

predators

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Area of research

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2. From the explosion chart, make a list of keywords and phrases you might use for an Internet search to ﬁnd information on river otters. Write them as you would type them into the search engine’s query window. Remember to use speech marks, AND, AND NOT and OR OR, if necessary.

Keywords and phrases

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Physical characteristics

habitat young

predators

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USING THE INTERNET

INTERNET RESEARCH: River otters – 2 1. Choose one area from the River otters explosion chart to study.

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2. Extend this area of the chart by adding further detail.

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3. (a) In the table, write keywords and phrases to ﬁnd more detailed information. (b) List the addresses (URLs) of three useful websites from your search.

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Keywords and phrases

Study and research – Strategies and skills

URL

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USING THE INTERNET

INTERNET RESEARCH: River otters – 3 1. Write area researched. 2. Record three facts you have learned about this area from one website. Website: •

r o e t s Bo r e panother website which conﬁrms theo 3. For each fact, record fact. u k S Fact Website •

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•

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4. During your research on river otters, what do you feel was the key to ﬁnding relevant information quickly?

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TEACHERS notes

Preparing for an assignment • Illustrate – To demonstrate with examples Synonyms: clarify, exhibit, show, reveal • Text – main body of writing such as a book, story Synonyms: story, passage, paragraph, book • Ghastly – shockingly frightful or dreadful Synonyms: grim, gruesome, horrid, terrifying • Atmosphere – the dominant mood or tone Synonyms: mood, feel, ambience (d) Answers will vary

Asking questions ......... Page 29

In your own words ....... Page 28

Possible answers • What are the ingredients in bread? • How is it cooked? • How does bread rise? • Why does bread have to be kneaded? • What kinds of things can be recycled? • What recycling can be done in the local community? • Are there green bins/Is there a recycling plant? • How much does dog food cost? • How many dogs are there in Australia? • How much does a big dog/small dog eat? • What types of dog foods are there—dry biscuits, tins etc.? • Where do the stadiums go? • How many stadiums are needed? • Will stadiums and centres need to be upgraded? • Where do the all the athletes stay? • Where do the tourists stay?

Indicator • Writes questions to further clarify meaning of assignment topic and to focus on what is being asked. Worksheet information • Read the information at the top of the worksheet with the class. Go through the example together. Can the students think of any other questions they may ask themselves before they begin to choose resources to complete the research for the assignment? • Students write three questions each for the four assignment titles given.

r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S Indicator • Rewrites assignment titles in own words to clarify meaning. Worksheet information • Ask students to share some of their rewritten assignment titles to determine their understanding.

(a)

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Background information Once an assignment has been handed out, students often begin by borrowing resources from the library or entering the title into a search engine. It is good practice for students to spend time ensuring their understanding of the title. This way, students will learn the purpose of the assignment, making it less likely for misunderstandings to occur and for time to be wasted borrowing and browsing irrelevant research materials. Other than understanding each word in the title and being clear on what is being asked of them, students should also: • consider an assignment’s audience (teacher, classmates, or someone else) • choose how content will be found—from opinion or research • know what form that assignment will take (project, poster etc.) • know how it will be assessed.

Indicator • Demonstrates steps for understanding an assignment title.

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Worksheet information • Explain the importance of understanding what is expected from an assignment. Never start if you have doubts about your understanding—check using a dictionary, thesaurus, or with your classmates and the teacher.

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(c)

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Answers 1. Ask a classmate Ask the teacher Ask a parent Use a dictionary and thesaurus to clarify the meaning of individual words or phrases. Rewrite the title in your own words. 2. Possible answers: (a) Teacher check (b)–(c)

Answers 1. (a) compare: distinguish between, ﬁnd similarities and differences fable: short tale with a moral justify: prove, support, uphold preference: your choice Answers will vary (b) ultrasonic: beyond our range of hearing soundwaves: how sound travels radar: device to determine location of objects obstacles: obstructions Answers will vary (c) dialogue: conversation manufacturing: making, producing product: object produced by labour detrimental: harmful Answers will vary

(b)

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Before you begin .......... Page 27

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(d)

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PREPARING FOR AN ASSIGNMENT

Before you begin Oscar is keen to do well at school, but after reading an English assignment, his shoulders drop and his enthusiasm disappears. Oscar puts the assignment in his bag and heads home for the day. Oscar doesn’t understand the assignment he has been given. Can you help him?

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1. What should Oscar do next? List ways Oscar can seek help to understand what the assignment is asking him to do. • • •

2. This is the title of the assignment Oscar has been given.

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•

Find sentences in the text ‘The noise upstairs’ which illustrate how the author creates a ghastly atmosphere for her readers.

(a) Choose and underline three words that Oscar may be having trouble understanding. (b) Use a dictionary to write the deﬁnitions of the words you have underlined. (c) Use a thesaurus to write synonyms of the words.

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Deﬁnition

Synonyms

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Word

o c . che e r o t r s super (d) Rewrite the assignment title in your own words to help Oscar have a clearer understanding of the title.

3. Now that Oscar understand the purpose of the assignment, what should he do next? On the back of this sheet, write the steps Oscar should follow to complete the assignment. R.I.C. Publications®

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PREPARING FOR AN ASSIGNMENT

In your own words Never start an assignment if you are unsure about what is being asked of you. Check what each word in the title means by using a dictionary or thesaurus, or by asking your classmates and the teacher. 1. Read the assignment titles and write deﬁnitions or synonyms for the words and phrases in bold. Rewrite the title in your own words to show your understanding of what you are being asked to do. (a) Compare two versions of the same fable to ﬁnd similarities and to justify your preference.

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• preference:

In your own words:

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r o e t s B r e oo • compare: p u k • fable: S

(b) Explain how bats use ultrasonic soundwaves as a radar to help them avoid obstacles and catch ﬂying insects.

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• obstacles:

In your own words:

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• radar:

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(c) Write dialogue between a reporter and a factory owner who is manufacturing a product that creates waste which is detrimental to the environment. • dialogue:

• manufacturing: • product: • detrimental: In your own words:

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PREPARING FOR AN ASSIGNMENT

Asking questions Once you have read an assignment title, it helps to write a list of questions to help you understand what it is you are being asked to do. For example: Assignment title – How have rabbits become a pest in Australia? Possible questions you could ask yourself: • Are rabbits native Australian animals or were they introduced? • What is their preferred environment? • How often do they breed? • How many young does a female rabbit have each time?

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r o e t s Bo r e ptitle and write three questions ok 1. Read each assignment u to help youS decide on the information needed to

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complete the assignment.

(a) Present a poster with information and diagrams that show how and why bread rises. • •

•

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• •

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o c . che e r o • t r s super (d) The 2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, China. What kind of •

preparations do you think a city must undergo to hold an Olympic Games? • • • 2. Circle which assignment would interest you the most. R.I.C. Publications®

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Study and research – Strategies and skills

TEACHERS notes

DEFINING THE TOPIC – borrowing lots of books and then after some time spent reading, deciding on the focus of your assignment and not having the resources you need – borrowing books you don’t actually need but that your classmates do • Study the explosion chart again with the class. If the students have trouble finding a chosen theme, work together as a class and find the points that could be headings. Write the heading on the board. Ask students to volunteer points that could fit under these headings. Every time a point is written on the board, cross it off the explosion chart. Now students will easily be able to see common themes and choose their points. Common themes can include: ~ Any chosen sport – rules, medals (won), champion Olympic athletes, history ~ Olympic symbols – rings, flags, flame ~ Paralympics – sports, games, athletes ~ Ceremony – performers, Olympics flame, flags, teams, opening ceremony, closing ceremony ~ Ancient Olympic games – history, events, chariot race ~ Athens 2004 Olympic games – mascots, medal tally, champion athletes • Students complete the ‘What I already know and what I want to find out’ table about their three chosen points.

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Planning for research – 1 ........................ Page 31 Indicator • Note: Pages 31 and 32 are to be used in conjunction with each other. • Reads an explosion chart about the Olympic Games. Worksheet information • Study the explosion chart about the Olympic Games as a class. Explain that all of the points show some aspect of the Games. • Ask the class to imagine they have been asked to complete a project about the Olympic Games. How could they research and cover all of the information? This is an example of a research topic that is too broad. By planning your research, you can make decisions about the topic and make the assignment more manageable.

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Background information Students are often given (or asked to choose) a topic for a research assignment and then go straight to the library. They need direction or focus in their minds to know where to look and what they are looking for. Usually, much information is borrowed or printed out and valuable time is spent sifting though it to see what is relevant. Identifying a focus first refines their topic to a more manageable size. By completing explosion charts and ‘What I know and want to find out’ charts, students are able to discover what they actually want to know about their topic. This process will help students to choose a topic that: – interests them (helping them to stay motivated) – isn’t too broad or too narrow – isn’t too difficult.

Indicator • Practises planning for research from a chosen topic – the Olympic Games.

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Worksheet information Note: This lesson would be best taken prior to beginning a research assignment. • Now that students have had practice deﬁning their research topic, they can use the worksheet to repeat the procedure with a research topic of their own choice. • Students complete an explosion chart about their research topic. They highlight three points from the chart that have a common theme and complete the ‘What I know, What I would like to know’ table.

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Worksheet information • Ask for volunteers to explain how they choose a research topic and how they plan for it. • Survey the class to see who heads straight for the library or Internet as soon as they have found their topic. • Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of doing this. For example, some advantages could be: – getting to the computers ﬁrst – borrowing the books you need before they are borrowed by someone else Some disadvantages could be: – spending too much time browsing Internet pages and being overwhelmed by information (printing out too much)

Indicator • Plans for a research topic of their own choice.

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Planning for research – 2 ........................ Page 32

Research planner ..................................... Page 33

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DEFINING THE TOPIC

Planning for research – 1

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When you are about to research a topic, spend time thinking about it and planning before you start looking for resources. This will reduce the amount of books you borrow and web pages you print out, and save you time! Creating an explosion chart about your topic will also help you to make decisions about what you want to ﬁnd out. 1. Read the explosion chart about the Olympic Games.

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DEFINING THE TOPIC

Planning for research – 2 When you choose a research topic, choose one that: • interests you • is not too broad—for example, ‘Olympic Games’ or ‘animals’ • is not too narrow—for example, ‘The diet of the domestic male tortoise shell cat’ • is not too difﬁcult—for example, ‘Einstein’s theory of relativity’. 1. Choose a topic from the Olympic Games explosion chart that interests you and ﬁnd three more points that share a common theme.

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r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S For example, Topic: Hockey — rules, medals (won), champion Olympic athletes

2. To help you identify what you already know and would like to know about your research topic, complete the table. Write your three points in the boxes in the ﬁrst column. Research topic: What I already know

What I want to ﬁnd out

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Point 3:

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• Write each one as a question. © R. I . C.Pu bl i cat i ons • Write two or more questions in each box. •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• Point 1: • Write your list as bullet points

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3. How will you ﬁnd the answers to your questions? List what you will do next. • • • 32

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DEFINING THE TOPIC

Research planner

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2. Choose three points from your chart that have something in common. Highlight them. 3. Write each point down the ﬁrst column of the table then complete the table. This will help you to identify what you already know and would like to know about your topic.

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1. Write your own research topic in the centre and add as many pieces of information you can think of around it. Ask someone else to read your chart and to think of at least three more points.

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Point 1:

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• Write your list as bullet points • Write each point as a question • Write two or more questions in each box

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Point 3:

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TEACHERS notes

EVALUATING RESOURCES Choosing resources ................................. Page 35 Indicator • Evaluates the advantages and disadvantage of a variety of resources. • •

Answers 1. (a) Opinion (b) Fact (c) Both (d) Opinion 2. Teacher check 3. Answers will vary

r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S •

Evaluating books ..................................... Page 36 Indicator • Reads blurbs to evaluate the usefulness of books for a particular assignment. Worksheet information Note: This lesson would be most effective at the beginning of a research assignment. • Asks students to reflect on how they use the library to find resources for assignments. Do a quick survey to see who feels their strategies are effective/ineffective. Why? • Students complete the evaluation of five books by reading each blurb. • Students choose the two that are more relevant to their topic. Ask students to volunteer and share their choices with the class.

•

Background information Students can spend the first lesson (and sometimes more) allocated a research assignment to choosing resources wandering through library shelves or surfing from one website to another. The task of choosing relevant resources can be overwhelming for some students. As the amount of research required will increase in secondary school, and even more so at university, it is worthwhile taking the time to teach students to be effective at evaluating and choosing appropriate resources. Skimming blurbs lets students identify the main ideas in a book and allows them to evaluate its usefulness and relevance to their assignment. To skim read, let your eyes skim over the surface of the text and, as you are thinking about any clues you have found about the subject (from the title, headings and illustrations), look for keywords. Reading the first and last sentence of the blurb can also be useful. Understanding the purpose of an assignment is critical. If students are unsure if an assignment is asking for facts or opinions, they should seek help from other students, parents and the teacher before they begin.

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• •

Worksheet information Look at the different types of resources. Discuss each one with the class. Students can work in pairs or small groups to discuss the resources and record the advantages and disadvantages of each resource. Students rank the resources independently. As a class, tally the rankings of the six resources. Discuss the results. (For example, why is the Internet the ﬁrst choice for most students?)

• If possible, photocopy the information on to an overhead transparency and, when the task is completed, highlight and underline the opinions and facts for the whole class to see. Explain and discuss your answers with the class.

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Suggested answers 1. Book (a) Fiction novel – No Book (b) Reference book – Yes Book (c) Photography book – No Book (d) Biography – Yes 2. Teacher check

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Opinion or fact? ....................................... Page 37 Indicator • Decides if an assignment is requesting facts or opinions.

Worksheet information • Read the assignment titles with the class. Ask students to volunteer their choice—facts, opinions or both. Discuss their responses and give your own. • Read the website information with the class. Students highlight (using a highlighter or light coloured marker pen) the words and phrases they think are facts and underline those that are opinions.

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EVALUATING RESOURCES

Choosing resources When you need information for an assignment, there are many different types of resources you can choose from. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

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1. Discuss each of the resources below with a partner. Tick the box if you have them at school to use for researching information.

2. List the advantages and disadvantages of using each resource for an assignment. Write your ideas in the table.

3. Which resources do you use for your assignments the most? In the last column, rank the resources from 1 (use the most often) to 6 (use the least often).

Resource

Advantages

Disadvantages

Ranking

Encyclopedias

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Magazines

Reference books

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Newspapers

People

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EVALUATING RESOURCES

Evaluating books You have been given the assignment: Describe how farming has changed since the 1950s. You enter the word ‘farming’ into the library’s computer and find the five books shown below. 1. Decide which books have the information (b) Uncle Re x’s Farm It is Austin’s you need by reading their blurbs. first vi

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life professional ’s m r a F n by (a) Nguye pired

(c) Ol’ McDougal’s Farm! Rod McDougal shares his incredible, hardworking life as a wheatbelt farmer in this biography. Enjoy his stories of triumph and tragedy as the battler describes the transformation of farming since he planted his ﬁrst crop in 1947. Stunning personal photographs are combined with images from the local newspaper to compliment this heartfelt book.

(d) F armi toda ng—yes y an • W d tom terday, hen orrow ploug did hors es s hs •

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Be ins apher Aiden d white r t an photog king black es, obedien t a t a h g t a g e bre stin over th s of ru image gs, sunsets … do re cattle d much mo n shed a

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sit to his Uncl farm. He has e’s already colle cted eggs, helped move sheep and fed the pigs. It isn’t until A ustin explores the shed and dis covers the dirt bike that his adve nture really begins …

? top p Why ulling w remo ere so m ved o any t har ree nc • W vester w e the mo s dern as in hen the c was the vented? entu wors ry? t dro Find ught out t of h man y mo e answe rs to re in infor t t mati ve re eresting hese, an facts d ad. , in t his

•

Title:

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2. Which two books would you borrow for your assignment? Give reasons for your choices.

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Title Reasons:

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EVALUATING RESOURCES

OPINION OR FACT? 1. Read the assignment titles and decide if they are asking for you to research and present facts; give opinions; or research facts AND give opinions (both). (a) Reality television shows are taking over TV and should be banned altogether! Write a response to this statement.

Fact

(b) Draw a detailed diagram of the life cycle of a butterﬂy.

Fact

Opinion

Both

r o e t s Bo r e p FactoOpinion u k S (d) Look at the famous painting, Waterlilies,

Both

Opinion

Fact

and list reasons why you like or dislike the painting.

2. Read the webpage and … • highlight the facts. • underline the opinions.

Both

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Opinion

Both

CLICK HERE

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WWW.TRAVELANYWHERE.COM EGYPT — The Pyramids of Giza tour

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The tour that every first-time tourist to Egypt should take! Visit Egypt to see the magnificent Pyramids of Giza, still standing after 4500 years. You won’t be disappointed! The pyramids of Giza are the only remaining wonder from the seven wonders of the Ancient world. Located in north-east Africa, Egypt holds the magic and mysteries of one of the world’s first civilisations—Ancient Egypt. The city, which began 5000 years ago, was situated on the River Nile—one of the many spectacular sights you will visit on the tour. Other sites include tombs, temples and museums, but it is the Giza Plateau with the Great Pyramids that will take your breath away! Come and visit what are, arguably, the most famous built structures in the world with us at travelanywhere.com.

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TO BOOK NOW

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CLICK HERE!

3. Tick which type of assignment you prefer? Researching facts Giving opinions reasons for your answer. R.I.C. Publications®

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On the back of this sheet, give Study and research – Strategies and skills

TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – UNEXPECTED VISITOR

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Indicators Determines relevant information needed. Makes appropriate notes from a text. Uses a graphic organiser (a family tree) to arrange the information collected. Writes answers to questions to summarise information.

Victoria m Len

Ray m Dot

Win m Gordon

Keith m Norma

Joy m John

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Unexpected visitor – 1 ............................. Page 39 • Explain the task to the students and read and discuss the question. • Students read the text as a class or individually. After some discussion, they should read the text again to themselves, this time more carefully.

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2. (a) Dale (c) Ray and Dot (e) sister

Trevor

Terry

Greg

Cheryl

Janet

Pam

Ken

Sue

Bev

(b) Victoria and Len (d) Win and Gordon (f) cousin

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Unexpected visitor – 2 ............................. Page 40 • Explain the importance of ﬁnding keywords and phrases in a question to guide the reader to locate the relevant information, in the text, to answer the question. The question asks about the relationship between Mark’s mum, Dale, and their unexpected visitor, Ken. • To answer Question 1, students should read through the text carefully, thinking about the question and discover that most of the information they need to answer it is in Paragraph 4. • In Question 2(a), students should highlight any information about Dale, Ken and other family members and how they are related and in (b) they need to use bullet points to write notes about the different family members and their relationships. Explain that these notes are one way of gathering information they think could be useful. Their notes should be very brief, just phrases, not sentences.

Answers

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Unexpected visitor – 3 ............................. Page 41 • Students transfer information from their notes to the family tree. • They use the family tree to answer speciﬁc questions. Their answers provide a summary of the relationship between Dale and Ken, who have the same grandparents and whose mother (Win) and father (Dale) are brother and sister. This means that Dale and Ken (their children) are cousins.

Dale

• • •

• In Question 3, the students are required to clarify, organise and rewrite their notes about Ken and Dale’s families and to make connections between them.

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Background information • It is important that students understand the value of using a graphic organiser to arrange information in such a way as to make it clearer and more accessible for speciﬁc purposes. Information set out in this way is easier to understand and often saves everyone time and effort. • A family tree is a graphic organiser which shows relationships between family members and makes it easier to ‘see’ how people are connected and to summarise information. • Students need to understand that the children of siblings are cousins. They should be encouraged to talk about their cousins and how they are related to them. • Pages 38–41 are used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a speciﬁc question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 41 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question as ‘writing from notes’ is covered in the text section.

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MAKING NOTES

Unexpected visitor – 1 Tasks • To work out information you need to ﬁnd in a text. • To make and organise notes to write an answer to a question. QUESTION: How are Mark’s mum and Ken related? Read the narrative.

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The hockey went well and both their teams won. Jay usually played like a champ, as long as he was kept very busy, which was why the coach played him at centre half. But Dad wasn’t at all surprised when one of the boys ran up to the car to give Jay his hockey stick and the drink bottle he’d left behind.

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ark couldn’t believe his brother, Jay. He was late for hockey again and Dad was in the car yelling for them to hurry. Jay had lost his stick again and he couldn’t ﬁnd the socks Mum had just put on his bed. But then, you couldn’t have found an elephant in that room, it was as always such a mess! It wasn’t as if Mum, Dad and even Mark hadn’t tried to help him to be even half as organised as they all were, but nothing worked. He lived in his own dreamy, totally disorganised world. He was very clever, good fun and everyone liked him, but he was so different from the rest of his family and so frustrating.

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in and met Mum’s long lost relative, Ken. They couldn’t take their eyes off him. He had long, messy hair, his shoes didn’t match and he wasn’t wearing any socks. Mum was laughing as she explained he had just dropped in because he was in town for a university chemistry conference and he had forgotten the name of his hotel. He needed them to help him work out where he should be and how he could get there. He was amazing! He explained that he was missing his wife and two sons, Ben and Sam, because they usually took care of unimportant details like this for him.

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In no time Mum had him organised and on his way to the conference in a taxi and was explaining who he was to Dad. His mother, Win, was Mum’s auntie. She and her husband, Gordon, also had a daughter, Pam. They had lived on a farm and Mum hardly ever saw them. Dad hadn’t even met them. Mum’s grandparents, Victoria and Len, had four children: Mum’s dad, Ray, who married Dot and had three girls—Mum (Dale), Auntie Bev and Auntie Sue; Win (Ken’s mum); Keith who married Norma and had three children—Janet, Cheryl and Greg; and Joy who married John and had two sons, Terry and Trevor. Dad said it was all too hard to work out, but he laughed and added that one thing was clear to him and that was that Jay did take after someone’s family after all, and that was Mum’s, not his! Jay just smiled.

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MAKING NOTES

Unexpected visitor – 2 Question: How are Mark’s mum and Ken related? 1. The keywords in the question that will help you to ﬁnd the information you need in the text are, ‘Mark’s mum’, ‘Ken’ and ‘related’. Read the text again, thinking about the question. Which paragraph has the most information about Mark’s mum and Ken and tells how they are related?

r o e t s Bo r e p ok (b) Make notes about these people. You can use your u notes later toS answer the question. Your notes do not have to be in sentences. Use a new bullet point for each new item. Some have been done for you. • Win is Ken’s mum. • Gordon married Win. • Mark’s mum’s name is Dale. • • •

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2. (a) Highlight any information that talks about Mark’s mum, Ken and any of their relatives.

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3. It is important for you to be able to make connections about these people. To make this easier, organise and write your notes about the people named below. Be brief and avoid unnecessary words.

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(b) Mark’s mum

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Unexpected visitor – 3 A graphic organiser is a way of arranging or organising information to help you to understand it better. 1. A family tree would be a useful way of organising the information in your notes to help you to explain how Mark’s mum and Ken are related. Victoria and Len r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S

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Use your notes to complete the family tree. Some information has been added to help you.

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Cheryl

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Pam

Ken

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Using the notes 2. Use the information in the family tree to complete these sentences which describe Mark’s mum and Ken’s family and summarises how they are related.

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(e) Win is Ray’s (f) Mark’s mum (Dale) is Ken’s R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – ROAD SAFETY

• • • •

write their notes under each paragraph heading. • Explain that these notes are one way of gathering information they think could be useful. Their notes should be very brief—just phrases, not sentences. • In Question 3, students are required to think about cause and effect and to refer to the paragraph dealing with speed in the text and/or their notes. Road safety – 3 ........................................ Page 45 • Students transfer information from their notes to the word web. They should understand that each of the six sections represents a paragraph in the text because the text is organised into sections, each dealing with one area in which road safety could be improved. • They choose to write about either improving roads or drivers using the information they have organised on the word web.

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Indicators Determines relevant information needed. Makes appropriate notes from a text. Uses a graphic organiser (a word web) to arrange the information collected. Writes answers using information displayed on the word web.

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Background information • It is important that students understand the value of using a graphic organiser to arrange information in such a way as to make it clearer and more accessible for specific purposes. Information set out in this way is easier to understand and often saves everyone time and effort. • A word web is a graphic organiser which shows how things are connected and how they ‘fit’ together. In this particular text the information is organised into logical sections, but this is not always the case. Students should be able to ‘see’ the anticipated effect of a number of initiatives— e.g. better drivers—and conversely what might cause each effect—e.g. better training, no alcohol or drugs, restrictions on ‘P’ plate drivers. • Pages 42–45 are to be used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a specific question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 45 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question on page 42 as writing from notes is covered in the next section.

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Road safety – 1 ........................................ Page 43 • Explain the task to the students and read and discuss the question. • Students read the text as a class or individually. After some discussion, they should read the text again to themselves, this time more carefully.

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Road safety – 2 ........................................ Page 44 • Explain the importance of understanding the question and ﬁnding keywords and phrases to guide the reader to locate the relevant information in the text that he or she will need to answer the question. The keywords are ‘how’ and ‘safer’. • In Question 1, students should read through the text carefully, thinking about the question and the keywords and highlighting how (the causes) roads could be made safer (the effect). • In Question 2, students should use bullet points to write notes. There is a lot of relevant information provided in the text and each paragraph is clearly focused on one aspect, (roads, speed, drivers etc.) so the students are advised to

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Road safety – 1 Tasks • To work out what information you need to ﬁnd in a text. • To make and organise notes to write an answer to a question. QUESTION: How can we make our roads safer? Read the report.

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oad safety is an important issue. There are many things that can be done to make our roads safer for everyone.

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Many accidents are caused by drivers. Drivers need to know the road rules and to be trained to drive in the country as well as the city, at night and when it is raining. Many people drive when they are tired or have had alcohol or drugs. Young drivers are involved in lots of accidents. If the law restricted the number of passengers they can take, the power of their cars, banned them from driving at night and kept them on ‘P’ plates for longer, there would be fewer accidents. Pedestrians are in danger every time they cross or walk along a road. They should stop, look and listen before crossing a road and try to cross where there are lights, a crosswalk, an attendant or where drivers can easily see them. They should walk straight across the road. When walking along a road, they need to keep to the side and walk facing the trafﬁc. Lightcoloured clothes are easier for drivers to see.

© R. I . C.Publ i cat i ons •condition f orr vi ewis also pu r pos es o‘black nl y •that The ofe the roads important. Some have spots’ need to be repaired or the road changed to make them safer. Roundabouts, trafﬁc lights and better streetlights make roads safer.

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Vehicles need to be made as safe as possible. They should have safety belts, seats with neck support, airbags and clearly visible indicators and lights. It is also important that they are well maintained and their brakes and tyres are in good condition. Car seats are needed for young children and must be correctly installed.

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Many people are injured while riding bikes on roads. Riders need to know the road rules, ride in safe places and always wear a helmet. Inexperienced motorcycle riders should not be allowed to ride very powerful bikes until they have been riding for a number of years. Speed is a factor in many accidents. Drivers need to know the speed limit and keep to it. Speed bumps and other trafﬁc slowing devices have been put in place in cities and towns. Different types of speed traps are used to try to stop people speeding and catch those who do. It is important that we work together to try to make our roads safer.

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MAKING NOTES

ROAD SAFETY – 2 Question: How can we make our roads safer?

1. The keywords in the question that will help you to ﬁnd the information you need in the text are ‘how’ and ‘safer’. Read the text again, thinking about the question, then highlight any information that tells how roads can be made safer.

Paragraph 2

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• know road rules

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• trained—country, city, night, rain

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• no alcohol, drugs, tired

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2. Read the sentences the highlighted information is in and make notes in the space below. Because you should have quite a lot of highlighted information, it would be useful to organise your notes at this stage under paragraphs. You can use your notes later to answer the question. Your notes do not have to be in sentences. Use a new bullet point for each new item. Some have been done for you.

. tethings that could cause drivers to slow down? Writeo 3. (a) What are some your c . answer in note form. che e r o t r s super

(b) What could be the effect of bicycle riders not knowing the road rules and not wearing helmets?

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Road safety – 3 Question: How can we make our roads safer? A graphic organiser is a way of arranging or organising information to help you to understand it better. 1. A word web would be a useful way of organising the information in your notes to help you to explain how we can make our roads safer.

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Use your notes to complete the word web. Some information has been added to help you. road rules

Drivers

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no drugs

Pedestrians

Road safety © R. I . C.P ub l i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y•

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o c . Using the notes c e he r o 2. Suggest improvements tor ans area of the word web that might result in greater t s r u e p road safety.

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TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – THEATRE TOUR

• • • •

• Using the information from the T-chart, students can write about one feature of the theatre, including both facts and opinions.

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Indicators Identiﬁes speciﬁc information in a text. Makes appropriate notes from a text. Uses a T-chart to sort information into fact and opinion. Write some text which includes both fact and opinion, from notes.

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Background information • A fact is something that is true. It can be verified by referring to other information. In other words, it can be checked and be shown to be correct. • An opinion is something that someone believes to be true, but which can not be verified. In other words, it is something that someone thinks rather than knows is true. • Students must be able to distinguish between facts and opinions to become critical readers. Critical readers become more discriminating consumers of the news media and advertising; an important life skill. • Pages 46–49 are to be used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a specific question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 49 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question as ‘writing from notes’ is covered in the next section.

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Theatre tour – 1 ......................................... Page 47 • Explain the task to the students and read the question. • Students read the text once and then more carefully a second time. Theatre tour – 2 ......................................... Page 48 • Explain the importance of ﬁnding keywords and phrases to guide the reader to relevant information in the text. This question is asking for facts and opinions about a ﬁctitious theatre. Read the text about how to identify a fact and an opinion and have the students answer Question 2. This could be done as a class. • Students read the paragraphs containing the keywords and record useful facts on the sheet under the headings provided. At this stage, they do not need to worry about whether they are noting facts or opinions.

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Theatre tour – 3 ......................................... Page 49 • Having made their notes, the students need to organise them into facts and opinions. The T-chart is a useful graphic organiser for this text and question. Make it clear to the students that the opinions in this text include the writer’s opinions of what she experiences and the theatre staff’s opinions about the theatre ghost.

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THEATRE TOUR – 1 Tasks • To determine speciﬁc information you need to ﬁnd in a text. • To make and organise notes you can use to write facts and opinions. Question: How would you describe the Dupont Theatre? Include facts and opinions about the building, the foyer, the auditorium, the backstage area and the ghost.

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Read the travel diary entry.

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Today, our tour guide took us to the Dupont Theatre. It was built in 1902 and is the oldest Edwardian building in the city. I thought the outside was breathtaking. It was white, with dozens of columns and arched windows and a huge domed roof. When we walked into the foyer, the guide left us for a few moments to check when we could go backstage. But I didn’t mind waiting! The foyer was beautiful, with a black and white tiled ﬂoor and a huge, roped-off marble staircase leading to … who knew where? I thought it might lead to the actors’ dressing rooms, but when the guide came back, she said that it actually went to a room where people could have weddings or parties. Next, we went into the auditorium. The guide said that it seated 1200 people over the three tiers. The seats and the stage curtain were a deep crimson velvet and the balconies were gold. I thought it had a dreamy effect, especially when I looked up at the dome, which was also red and gold. We then left the auditorium to go backstage. It was fun clambering around all the props and scenery! The guide also told us about the lighting. We had to crane our necks to see the whole lighting rig properly. There were ladders for the lighting crew to climb up. I’m glad we didn’t have to do that! It looked so dangerous and scary. Finally, we went into another backstage area where we saw the dressing rooms. I thought this would be interesting, but it was actually disappointing. It was just a maze of mustysmelling rooms, all of which I thought could have used some redecoration! I felt sorry for the actors who have to use them. But then came a part that was really interesting. We went back into the auditorium and the guide told us all about a ghost that the theatre staff believed haunted the Dupont. The ghost was believed to be that of an actor named Jacques. While no-one could prove that the ghost existed, the guide said that it was true there had once been an actor named Jacques Martin who had the leading role in the ﬁrst performance ever to be given at the Dupont Theatre. But on opening night he was nowhere to be found and the performance had to go ahead without him. Jacques was never found, but some of the staff believed that he had been murdered on the marble staircase in the foyer. That really made my spine tingle. I had a quick peek as we left the theatre, but there was no sign of Jacques! I thought the Dupont was the most beautiful theatre I had ever visited. Mum says we might come back here tomorrow night to see a show. I hope so! I wonder if Jacques will be around too?

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MAKING NOTES

THEATRE TOUR – 2 Question: How would you describe the Dupont Theatre? Include facts and opinions about the building, the foyer, the auditorium, the backstage area and the ghost.

Identifying keywords will help you to find information to answer the question. 1. Two keywords in the question are ‘facts’ and ‘opinions’. Although you may not find these words actually stated, a text like a diary entry is made up of both facts and opinions. To identify facts and opinions in a text, you must first understand the difference between them.

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r o e t s Bo r e A fact is something thatp is true. Ask yourself ‘Can the statement be checked to o u k see if it is correct?’ If it can, it is a fact. S An opinion is something that someone believes is true. Ask yourself ‘Is the statement what someone thinks and can’t be proved?’ If so, it is an opinion. Sometimes, people’s opinions are preceded by the words ‘I think’ or ‘I believe’ – but not always.

2. To practise ﬁnding facts and opinions, read the part of the text about the outside of the theatre in paragraph 1. Write one fact and one opinion about how the building looked.

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3. The other keywords and phrases in the question are ‘building’, ‘foyer’, ‘auditorium’, ‘backstage area’ and ‘ghost’. Read through the text and ﬁnd paragraphs about these keywords and phrases. 4. Read the paragraphs and write any information you think might be useful. Remember: These notes do not need to be sentences, just ideas. Use bullet points and a new line for each piece of information. Include both facts and opinions in your notes.

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theatre tour – 3 Question: How would you describe the Dupont Theatre? Include facts and opinions about the building, the foyer, the auditorium, the backstage area and the ghost.

r o e t s Bo r e p o Facts Opinions u k S

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A graphic organiser is a way of arranging information to help you understand it more clearly. A T-chart is one type of graphic organiser. It clearly shows two different parts of a topic. 1. Use the information on the previous page to sort your notes into facts and opinions. Use bullet points and a new line for each piece of information.

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Using the notes 2. Write some text about the most interesting feature of the Dupont Theatre below. Include both fact and opinion.

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TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – SETTING UP A GOLDFISH TANK Background information • Pages 50–53 are used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a speciﬁc question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 53 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question as ‘writing from notes’ is covered in the text section.

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Worksheet information

Setting up a goldfish tank – 1 ....................Page 51 • Explain the task to the students and read the question. • Students read the text once and then more carefully a second time. Setting up a goldfish tank – 2 ....................Page 52 • Explain the importance of finding sequence markers to give clues about the order in which things happen in a text. Read the information about sequence markers and then have the students complete Question 1. This could be done as a class. • Students read the sentences in the text that contain imperative verbs. • Students read the text again, looking for important sentences. They can then make notes about setting up a goldfish tank. At this stage, they do not need to worry about the order in which they write the information.

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• • • •

Indicators Identifies specific information in a text. Makes appropriate notes from a text. Uses a flow chart to sequence instructions. Writes parts of a procedure using notes.

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Setting up a goldfish tank – 3 ....................Page 53 • Having made their notes, the students need to sort them into a logical sequence. Make sure the students understand that they can link ideas together; e.g. ‘Choose a suitably-sized tank with fitted cover.’ The flow chart is a useful graphic organiser for this text and question. • Using the information from the flow chart, students can answer part of the given question.

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setting up a goldfish tank – 1 Tasks • To determine specific information you need to find in a text. • To make and organise notes you can use to create a flow chart. Question: How should someone set up a goldfish tank? Write a clear, numbered sequence, including a list of materials required. Read the information text.

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oldfish are one of the world’s most popular pets. If you want to keep goldfish, you should know how to set up a tank properly. First, choose a tank that is large enough for the number of fish you want to keep. A good rule of thumb is to allow 2.5 cm of fish to 150 cm2 of water surface. (So, for example, a 60 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm tank can comfortably hold about 30 cm of fish). Check that the tank has a fitted cover to prevent evaporation and to stop dust entering the tank. Rinse your tank using plain tap water. Next, buy some suitable gravel and artificial plants to put in your tank. Wash the gravel in a bucket using plain running water until the water remains clear after stirring it with your hand. Before you fill the tank, choose an appropriate place to put it. It should be away from direct sunlight, cold draughts, air conditioners and heaters, as temperature changes will affect the water and the health of the fish. The tank will be very heavy once it has been filled with water, so put it on a strong, stable piece of furniture. Once you have chosen where to put your tank, pour in the washed gravel. You will need a layer about 3 – 4 centimetres deep. Next, put in a filter towards the back of the tank. Make sure your filter is suited to the size of your tank. Now you are ready to start filling the tank! Use cold tap water, adding a suitable water conditioner first to remove chlorine and metals that are harmful to goldfish. You should also bring the water to room temperature by adding a small amount of hot water. When the water is ready, carefully pour it into the tank. When the tank is about 1/3 full, add the plants, making sure you allow areas of open water for the fish to swim freely. Continue to pour in the water until the tank is full. Then you can switch on the filter. Leave it running for about two weeks before you buy your fish. When you bring them home, they will be in a plastic bag filled with water. Float this bag in the tank for about 15 minutes before you slowly release the fish into the tank. After your tank is set up, make sure you look after your goldfish. Remember to feed them regularly with commercial fish food and keep the tank clean. If you do, you will be rewarded with happy, healthy, long-living goldfish.

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MAKING NOTES

SETTING UP A GOLDFISH TANK – 2 Question: How should someone set up a goldﬁsh tank? Write a clear, numbered sequence, including a list of materials required

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Finding sequence markers will help you to find information to answer the question. Sequence markers are words that provide information on the order in which events happen in a text. Examples include before, then, next, when, while, at last or following. Sequence markers are often found at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph, but not always. 1. Read through the text and underline any sequence markers you find. Write any you find that are not listed above.

2. Texts like procedures use imperative verbs that tell you what to do; e.g. ‘Cut’, ‘Mix’, ‘Continue’.

Read through the text again and underline any imperative verbs you ﬁnd. It will help if you look for nearby sequence markers.

3. Read the sentences that contain sequence markers and imperative verbs and record any information that will help you to answer the question. At this stage, the steps you would take to set up a goldﬁsh tank do not need to be written in time order.

Remember: Your notes do not need to be sentences, just ideas. Use bullet points and a new line for each piece of information.

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setting up a goldﬁsh tank – 3 Question: How should someone set up a goldﬁsh tank? Write a clear, numbered sequence, including a list of materials required

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A graphic organiser is a way of arranging information to help you understand it more clearly. A flow chart is one type of graphic organiser. A flow chart shows a series of steps in a sequence. 1. Use your notes to create a flow chart in the space below. You will need to sort the information in your notes into six to eight clear steps. Think carefully before you write – the information given in the text may not have been written in a logical order. You may like to draft your flow chart on a separate sheet of paper first.

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Using the notes 2. Use the information in the ﬂow chart to write the last four steps needed to set up a ﬁsh tank. Be careful to include imperative verbs. •

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TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – SPIDERS ARE HORRIBLE Background information

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Indicators • Determines relevant information needed. Makes appropriate notes from a text. • Uses a graphic organiser (a T-chart) to arrange the information collected. • Writes a paragraph that could be used in an exposition expressing the opposite point of view from the one given.

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• The question the students are asked to write notes about and answer requires them to identify the writer’s point of view. This is his or her opinion about a subject. The information can be explicit but is often implicit in text. Expositions argue for a particular position and attempt to persuade an audience to share this view. • Pages 54–57 are used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a speciﬁc question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 57 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question as ‘writing from notes’ is covered in the next section.

Spiders are horrible – 3 ..............................Page 61 • Now students have identiﬁed the writer’s arguments about why he or she thinks spiders are horrible and made notes about them, they can isolate three to list in the T-chart. This type of chart is useful when analysing two aspects of a topic. One aspect is the arguments for spiders being horrible. Students list the three they have chosen to write in note form on the left-hand side of the chart. In the against column on the right-hand side, students should think of an argument to refute the writer’s and write notes about it. For example, the writer says spider’s looks are scary with spooky colours, frightening spots, creepy, hairy bodies and witch-like legs (Paragraph 2). Students could write notes to refute that by saying spiders are a magniﬁcent specimen of nature with striking markings, fascinating hairy bodies, have model-like legs and so on. • Using the information from their notes in the T-chart, students can write a paragraph on one argument supporting the opposite point of view.

Spiders are horrible – 1 ..............................Page 55 • Explain the task to the students and read and discuss the question. • Students read the text as a class or individually. After some discussion, they should read the text again to themselves, this time more carefully.

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Spiders are horrible – 2 ..............................Page 56 • Revise the importance of ﬁnding keywords and phrases in a question to guide the reader to locate the relevant information in the text to answer the question. • The question asks them to write arguments that support the opposite point of view to the writer. In order to do this, students must identify the arguments the writer has stated for spiders being horrible. • Explain that expositions usually contain one main argument for each paragraph. Students will need to read each paragraph carefully and make notes under each paragraph heading—refer to example on page 56 of Paragraph 1. • Remind students they can use abbreviations in their notes and that each new item should have a new bullet point and a new line.

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SPIDERS ARE HORRIBLE – 1 Tasks • To work out information you need to ﬁnd in a text. • To make and organise notes you can use to express the opposite point of view to the one given. QUESTION: What are some arguments you could write to support the opposite point of view to the one given? Read the exposition.

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Spiders are horrible and I hate them with a passion. Many people like me only need to take just one look at a spider and find their legs are turning to jelly, their heart is beating like a drum and they feel a scream about to erupt from their throat. Of all the creatures in the world, spiders are by far the worst. Their looks are scary. They are usually a spooky black or brown colour, some with frightening coloured spots and others with creepy, hairy bodies. Their eight long legs—yes, eight, not just two like us—look like witches’ fingers.

Spiders lie in wait behind or under things, ready to run out and scare you. You can open a cupboard to get out a vase, for example, and find a spider staring at you about to pounce. Some don’t even bother to hide, they simply hang on the ceiling in your bedroom, silently waiting to drop down and land on you when you are sleeping.

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Many spiders are poisonous, which makes them even more horrible. It’s hard to tell which are poisonous and which are not—you simply can’t trust them. Even a non-poisonous spider bite can leave an itchy feeling and cause swelling. Their webs are another horrible concern. Spiders weave their sticky, creepy webs in places where you can’t see them until the last moment. They always sit about head high and you walk into them and panic when your face and hair are covered in terrifying threads of sticky web. And all the time you are thinking—where is the spider? Is it in my hair with the web? A nightmare!

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o c . che e r o t r s super Yes, spiders are horrible! There is even a nursery rhyme about how scary they are. Remember the rhyme about Miss Muffet? She was happily eating her curds and whey when along came a spider, sat down beside her and frightened her away. How horrible is that?

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MAKING NOTES

SPIDERS ARE HORRIBLE – 2 QUESTION: What are some arguments you could write to support the opposite point of view to that of the exposition? 1. Highlight the keywords and phrases in the question above. These will help you work out the information you need to ﬁnd in the text to answer the question. Write these keywords and phrases below. One has been done for you.

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• some arguments

The keywords and phrases tell you that you need to ﬁnd opposite points of view. In order to do this, you ﬁrst need to identify the writer’s arguments about why spiders are horrible. 2. An exposition usually has one argument for each paragraph. Write notes under each paragraph heading about the writer’s arguments. Use a new bullet point for each and don’t use unnecessary words. One has been done for you.

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Paragraph 1 Looking at a spider can make you feel: • jelly-legged • drum-beat heart • like screaming

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SPIDERS ARE HORRIBLE – 3 QUESTION: What are some arguments you could write to support the opposite point of view to that of the exposition? A T-chart is one type of graphic organiser to help arrange information. It is useful when examining two aspects of a topic. 1. Use your notes on page 56 list three arguments the writer made for saying spiders are horrible in the ‘For’ column. Make notes you make up about arguments against spiders being horrible in the ‘Against’ column. Use bullet points and a new line for each new item.

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Using the notes 2. Choose one argument ‘Against’ from the T-chart to write about.

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TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH Background information • Pages 58–61 are used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a speciﬁc question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 61 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question as ‘writing from notes’ is covered in the text section.

Worksheet information

Sir David Attenborough – 1 .........................Page 59 • Explain the task to the students and read the question. • Students read the text once and then more carefully a second time. Sir David Attenborough – 2 .........................Page 60 • Explain the importance of ﬁnding keywords and phrases to guide the reader to relevant information in the text. This question is about Attenborough’s involvement in nature, the environment and television, so these are the keywords. • Students read the sentences containing the keywords and record useful facts on the sheet. • Discuss with the students that other words closely connected to the keywords should be considered in a text as they will also provide relevant information. Have the students read the text again, underlining any relevant words and then writing brief notes.

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Indicators Identiﬁes speciﬁc information in a text. Makes appropriate notes from a text. Uses a time line to order information. Writes about an event from a text using notes.

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• • • •

Answers 1947 Graduated from natural sciences at Cambridge University 1952 Gained position as trainee producer for BBC television 1954 Produced and hosted nature series Zoo quest 1965 Became Controller of BBC2 1969 Became BBC’s Director of Programs 1979 Made wildlife series Life on Earth, watched by 500 million 1985 Knighted for services to television 1990 The trials of life broadcast 1995 The private life of plants broadcast 2002 The life of mammals broadcast 2003 Responsible for appeal to create rainforest reserve in Ecuador 2005 Life in the undergrowth broadcast Awarded Order of Merit 2006 Planet earth broadcast

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Sir David Attenborough – 3 .........................Page 61 • Having made their notes, the students need to organise them in such a way that they are clear and easy to read and understand. The time line is a useful graphic organiser for this text and question. • Using the information from the time line, students can complete the short writing activity.

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MAKING NOTES

sir David Attenborough – 1 Tasks • To determine speciﬁc information you need to ﬁnd in a text. • To make and organise notes you can use to write a sequence of events. Question: Which are the important events in Attenborough’s life that have been associated with nature, the environment and television? Read the biography.

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Attenborough was born in London on 8 May 1926. As a child, he loved nature and enjoyed collecting small animals, fossils and stones. Around the age of 12, he was given a piece of amber containing prehistoric insects, which increased his interest in nature.

was involved with this series for 10 years, travelling to tropical countries with staff from London Zoo.

In 1965, Attenborough was promoted to the position of Controller of BBC2 (one of the BBC’s television channels) and then became the BBC’s Director of Programs in 1969. But he soon returned to making television programs. In 1979, his wildlife series Life on Earth was watched by approximately 500 million people around the world. Many popular nature serials followed, including The trials of life (broadcast in 1990), The private life of plants (1995), The life of mammals (2002) and Life in the undergrowth (2005). Attenborough also turned some of his focus to environmental issues in documentaries such as Planet earth (broadcast in 2006). In addition, he has shown his support for many environmental projects. For example, in 2003 he was responsible for an appeal to create a rainforest reserve in Ecuador.

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ir David Attenborough is a world-famous naturalist. He is best known for his television documentaries about animals and plants.

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natural sciences at Cambridge University. He graduated in 1947 and was then called up for national service in the Royal Navy. (At the time, young British men had to serve in the armed forces for a short period of time.) Attenborough left the navy two years later and found a job editing children’s science textbooks for an educational publisher. But he didn’t really enjoy this work. So in 1950, he applied for a job as a radio producer for the BBC. His application was rejected. However, two years later, he was offered a position as a trainee producer for BBC television. This was despite the fact that Attenborough, like many people at the time, did not own a television and had only seen one television program in his life! At ﬁrst, he did not appear on camera. Then, in 1954, he produced and hosted a nature series called Zoo quest. Attenborough

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o c . che e r o t r s enthusiasm for life in all supe r Attenborough’s its forms has earned him millions of fans

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around the world. During his amazing career he has received many awards and honorary university degrees. He was knighted in 1985 for his services to television and in 2005 was awarded the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II.

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MAKING NOTES

Sir David Attenborough – 2 Question: Which are the important events in Attenborough’s life that have been associated with nature, the environment and television? Finding keywords in the text will help you to ﬁnd information to answer the question. 1. Three keywords are nature, television and environment. Read the text and underline these keywords. Include words that use these words as a base; e.g. ‘natural’ and ‘environmental’. Read the sentences that contain these words.

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2. Record any facts that will help you to answer the question. Remember to write notes (short phrases and statements) instead of sentences. Attenborough’s involvement in nature, television and the environment

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You may have noticed that some parts of the text contain facts about Attenborough’s involvement in nature, television and the environment, but do not contain the keywords. Similar words may be used instead; e.g. ‘wildlife’ and ‘plants’ have similar meanings to ‘nature’. 3. Read the text again. Circle any other words that are likely to provide the information you need, then write brief notes in the space below.

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MAKING NOTES

sir David Attenborough – 3 Question: Which are the important events in Attenborough’s life that have been associated with nature, the environment and television? A graphic organiser is a way of arranging information to help you understand it more clearly. 1. A time line would be an effective graphic organiser to clearly show the order of important events in Attenborough’s life. Use your notes to help complete the time line below. • Pre1947

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As a child, collected animals, fossils, stones and amber

• 1947 • 1952

• 1965 • 1969 • 1979

Made wildlife series Life on Earth, watched by 500 million

• 1985 • 1990

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• 1954

– Awarded Order of Merit

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Using the notes 2. Use the information in the time line to describe one important event in Attenborough’s life concerned with television.

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TEACHERS notes

MAKING NOTES – WATER IS IMPORTANT Background information

• • • •

Water is important – 3 ............................... Page 65 • Refer to the background information on how to construct the spider chart. As mentioned above, students will discover that the reasons they are to identify are basically the main idea of each paragraph; e.g. (Paragraph 3) – water is needed in the home for various uses. Students write these reasons/main ideas along the ‘legs’, and notes from the same paragraph at the end of the leg; e.g. (from Paragraph 3) – washing/cooking/put out ﬁres etc. Extra lines can be added or deleted as necessary. • Using their notes from the spider chart and the sentence starter, students can now answer part of the question on another sheet of paper.

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Indicators Determine relevant information needed Makes appropriate notes from a text. Uses a graphic organiser (a spider chart) to arrange the information collected. Writes an answer to a question by drawing conclusions from the information.

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• The question the students are asked to answer requires them to ﬁnd facts and details in the text to support the conclusion that has been made about water being important. In higher-order comprehension skills such as this, the answer is not always immediately obvious. Students will need to search for details in the text and build up evidence to justify the conclusion. • A spider chart is a graphic organiser which can be used as a planning or brainstorming tool. A central idea/topic/ concept, in this case a question, is written in the ‘spider’s body’. The main ideas are written along the ‘legs’ of the spider and details in note form on lines at the end of the appropriate leg. • Pages 62–65 are used in conjunction with each other. • Although the activities in this section focus on the skill of making notes to answer a speciﬁc question, a separate, short writing activity is given on page 65 to reinforce the purpose of making notes. Note: The students have not been asked to write the answer to the question as ‘writing from notes’ is covered in the text section.

• In Question 3, students should sort their notes according to the paragraph they found them in. This will help them to arrange their notes on the spider chart on page 65, as the reasons they need to ﬁnd are essentially the main idea of each paragraph.

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Water is important – 1 ............................... Page 63 • Explain the task to the students and read and discuss the question. • Students read the text as a class or individually. After some discussion, they should read the text again to themselves, this time more carefully.

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Worksheet information

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Water is important – 2 ............................... Page 64 • Explain the importance of ﬁnding keywords and phrases in a question to guide the reader to locate relevant information in the text needed to answer the question. • The question asks them for some reasons to conclude that water is important. Students should ﬁrst identify the keywords or phrases in the question, highlight them and write them in the box in Question 1. • In Question 2, students need to read the text carefully and identify any information dealing with these keywords or phrases that discusses why water is important or why it is needed. Four have been written as a guide. This activity could be done as a class or individually.

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MAKING NOTES

water is important – 1 Tasks • To work out information you need to ﬁnd in a text. • To make and organise notes to write an answer to a question. QUESTION: What are some reasons you can conclude that water is important? Read the explanation.

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ater is one of our most important resources. Without it, not only would we not survive, but plants and animals would not survive either. We can live for a few weeks without eating, but only a few days without drinking water. Humans are made up of about 70 per cent water. Some living things are made up of 95 per cent water and most are more than half. One of the properties of water is that when it is in liquid form it easily dissolves other substances. The water in living things absorbs nutrients and carries these to cells. It also carries waste away from them. Water is needed for all living things to function properly. In the home, we need water to clean ourselves, our teeth, clothes, dishes, the car and the floor! We also need it to cook eggs and vegetables in and to add to soups and casseroles. Water is used to fill swimming pools, to flush toilets and to keep gardens and lawns growing. It is also needed to put out fires to save people, animals, plants and property.

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Farming is another area dependent on water. Farmers need water to fall as rain on their crops and to ﬁll dams for watering cattle, sheep and other animals they rear.

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rivers and lakes transport cargo and people to different places. People also enjoy watersports such as waterskiing and ﬁshing.

. te manufactured product uses o Almost every c . water as it is being made. Large volumes c e herwood, paper, st r are needed to produce o s u chemicals and metals. Water is needed tor pe produce electricity from coal-ﬁred power stations. These use about 600 tonnes of water for every tonne of coal that is burned. Indeed, water is an important resource— so important that we must all do our bit to conserve it.

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MAKING NOTES

water is important – 2 Question: What are some reasons you can conclude that water is important? 1. Highlight the keywords or phrases in the question above. These will help you work out the information you need to ﬁnd in the text to answer the question. Write these keywords and phrases below. One has been done for you. • some reasons

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• living things can only survive for a few days without water • humans are made up of 70 per cent water • absorbs nutrients and carries these to cells • carries waste away from cells

• •

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2. Think about these keywords and phrases while you are reading through the text again. Highlight any information that talks about why water is important or why we need water. Make notes about each item of information. The notes do not have to be in sentences. Use a new bullet point for each new item. Some have been done for you below.

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3. Sort the notes you made according to the paragraph you found each one in. Use a different colour highlighter pen for each paragraph. This will help with the task on page 65. 64

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MAKING NOTES

water is important – 3 A spider chart is one type of graphic organiser to help arrange information. The central idea is placed in the ‘body’ and main ideas are listed along the ‘legs’. Further notes about each main idea are added at the end of the leg. 1. The question asks: ‘What are some reasons you can conclude that water is important?’ Use your notes on page 64 to list reasons in note form along the ‘legs’. (Hint: You should ﬁnd that the main idea of each paragraph on page 63 introduces a new reason.) Add extra details in note form on the lines at the end of each leg.

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Carries waste away

Main idea

Water needed for living things to function properly.

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Water absorbs nutrients

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What are some reasons you can conclude that water is important?

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Using the notes 2. Use notes from the spider chart to continue the sentence starter below on another sheet of paper. One reason you can conclude that water is important is because ...

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TEACHERS notes

WRITING FROM NOTES – THE BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN

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Indicators: • Organises information from notes into paragraphs. • Plans, drafts, proofreads, edits and writes a report on a given topic from notes. Worksheet information:

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Background information: • A report is a framework which describes aspects of a living or non-living thing in detail. It includes: – Title – Classiﬁcation: a general or classifying statement – Description: accurate and detailed – Conclusion: a comment about the report (which may be the writer’s own opinion) • A report uses the following language features: – factual language rather than imaginative – technical vocabulary and subject-speciﬁc terms – written in the third person – uses the timeless present tense – information organised into paragraphs • Pages 66–69 are used in conjunction with each other.

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The bottlenose dolphin – 2 ........................ Page 68 • Revise the framework of a report with the students (refer to Background information). • Students use the notes to sort and write under the appropriate headings. These notes will form the basis of each paragraph. Generally, there is only one paragraph in the Classiﬁcation and Conclusion sections. In the Description section, students can choose notes from the Appearance, Behaviour, Feeding habits and Reproduction headings to be formed into paragraphs when they write their report. Some notes from the General info heading can also be slotted in.

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The bottlenose dolphin – 1 ........................ Page 67 • Explain the task to the students. • Students read the notes in the concept map about the bottlenose dolphin as a class or individually.

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The bottlenose dolphin – 3 ........................ Page 69 • Having used their notes to plan the report, students now need to think about how to elaborate on their notes, using their own words. Revise the language features of a report (see Background information). • Students write a ﬁrst draft (they may need an extra sheet of paper), then proofread and edit their work. • The ﬁnal copy could be handwritten or typed.

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the bottlenose dolphin – 1 Tasks • To read notes about bottlenose dolphins. • To plan and write a report about bottlenose dolphins. Read the information in the concept map about this dolphin.

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Feeding habits • carnivorous – eats ﬁsh, squid, octopus • use echolocation to locate food – bounce sound off objects to work out where food is • use teeth to catch prey before eating it whole

The bottlenose dolphin

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Appearance • bottle-shaped snout • streamlined body, shaped like a tube • rounded head • tall dorsal ﬁn • wide, slightly pointed ﬂippers • one blowhole on top of head • many pairs of sharp, pointy teeth • light grey to slate grey on top, light grey on sides, pale on belly

Behaviour • social animals, live in pods of up to 12 • pods may group together to form 100s of dolphins • like to ‘surf’ in the bow waves of ships • appear to communicate with humans • communicate with each other by squeaking, clicking, whistling and body language – leaping, jaw-snapping, tail slapping on water • can be trained to perform speciﬁc actions

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General information • Scientific order: Cetacea (includes whales & dolphins) • mammal, not a fish • warm-blooded, breathe air • use echolocation – produce high frequency clicking noises which bounce off objects. Echoes come back & tell dolphin shape, size, speed, distance & location of object. • prob. use colours for camouflage • sleep for up to 8 hrs/day like humans • one of most intelligent animals • can hold breath while diving deep for about 8 min. • very fast swimmers • prefer tropical to warm waters • blubber under skin helps it to keep warm

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Reproduction • females give birth to live young (calf), every 2 to 3 yrs • calf stays with mother for 1 yr • other females may help look after young • stays with pod for 3 to 6 yrs learning how to ﬁsh etc.

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WRITING FROM NOTES

the bottlenose dolphin – 2 A report has a speciﬁc structure. It includes the features listed below. Use the notes on page 67 to write notes under the appropriate headings to plan your report. Classiﬁcation: A general statement about the subject of the report. (Hint: You could use some of the notes in the ‘General info.’ section.)

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Description: Provides accurate description and facts. (Hint: The notes have been organised in the concept map under speciﬁc headings. Apart from the ‘General info.’ heading, the notes in each heading can form the basis of a new paragraph in this section.)

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Conclusion: A ﬁnal comment about the subject of the report. (Hint: You could use some of the notes in the ‘General info.’ section and/or your own opinion.)

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the bottlenose dolphin – 3 When writing the ﬁrst draft of a text, leave space between the lines for clear editing. 1. Use your notes on page 68 to write the ﬁrst draft of your report. Think about how you will expand your notes, using your own words. Also think about the language features of a report, such as using technical vocabulary.

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The bottlenose dolphin

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2. Proofread and edit the draft. 3. Write the ﬁnal copy of your report on a separate sheet of paper. If you are using a word processor, remember to spellcheck your work before you print it. R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

WRITING FROM NOTES – READY FOR LAUNCH! • When the students have written their drafts, they should proofread and edit them, then write or type a final draft, adding a title. Answers (Page 72) Goal: To make and launch a mini (film canister) rocket. Materials: 35 mm film canister with internal sealing lid; 1 sheet of A4-sized card; scissors; sticky tape; effervescing antacid tablet; water; safety goggles; launch pad (students may also add other materials implied in the text; e.g. pencil, jug, ruler etc.) Steps: Answers will vary

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Indicators • Organises information into ‘Materials’ and ‘Steps’ for a procedure. • Plans, drafts, proofreads, edits and writes a procedure based on given information.

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Background information • Procedure – is a framework which outlines how something is made or done – includes: • Title • Goal: the purpose of the procedure shown clearly and precisely • Materials: a list of materials or requirements under appropriate headings or layout • Steps: the method in a detailed, logical sequence • Test: an evaluation (if appropriate) – uses the following language features: ~ instructions often with an imperative verb ~ subject-speciﬁc vocabulary ~ simple present tense ~ concise language • A procedure may be written in the form of a recipe, instructions for making something, an experiment, an instruction manual, a maths procedure, how to play a game, how to operate an appliance, how to use an atlas or how to deal with a problem. • Pages 70–73 are used in conjunction with each other.

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Ready for launch – 1 ................................ Page 71 • Explain the tasks to the students. • Students read the text once and then more carefully a second time. • Discuss as a class what is needed to make a ﬁlm canister rocket and what needs to be done in order to make it take off (in order). The students can then answer Question 2, ﬁnding relevant information to circle and number.

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Worksheet information

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Ready for launch – 2 ................................ Page 72 • Students use their circled text to complete the chart. Teachers should make it clear that some information can be grouped together to form one step (e.g. ‘Wrap half of the sheet of card around the ﬁlm canister to form a tube, making sure the lid end of the canister is pointing downwards.’). The students will need to decide for themselves how to logically arrange the information.

Ready for launch – 3 ................................ Page 73 • Having made their notes, the students use them to complete the procedure framework. Remind students to include imperative verbs—e.g. wrap, cut, ﬁnd—to begin each step. They should number each step as they write it. The test should be a simple question; e.g. ‘Did the rocket take off successfully?’ ‘How high did the rocket ﬂy?’

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WRITING FROM NOTES

Ready for launch! – 1 Tasks • To read notes about how to make and launch a mini-rocket. • To write a procedure based on the information. 1. Read the notes.

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• Collect a 35 mm film canister. Must have internal sealing lid (usually clear plastic canisters) – external lids won’t work. Take off lid, set aside. • Use half sheet of A4-sized card — body of rocket. Wrap card around film canister – makes long tube of paper covering almost all canister. Note: Lid end of canister points downwards. • Use rest of card to cut out fins/nose cone for rocket. • Nose cone: Cut out small circle of card. Cut straight line to middle of circle, twist/tape paper into cone shape. Make sure fits end of tube. Tape cone onto end of tube (not canister end!) • Fins: Cut out four small identical squares. Before taping onto end of tube (end with canister), make sure fins fit around tube. • Find suitable area outside to launch rocket (no trees, people, animals). Adult to help (safer!). • To launch rocket, turn tube upside down. Pour water into canister until 1/3 full. Put on safety goggles. Drop in 1/2 effervescing antacid tablet. Make sure lid is handy! Quickly snap it on canister. Turn rocket over. Stand it on launch platform (solid, even surface, e.g. concrete slab). • Stand back (at least 2 metres). • Once tablet hits water, rocket should launch about 10 seconds later. Should blast several metres high. If no launch, wait at least 1 minute, then adult (with safety goggles) checks rocket. (Most likely lid not on properly). • Rocket launches when water dissolves tablet, creating gas (carbon dioxide). Gas causes pressure to build up in canister, forcing cap off – blasting rocket into air. Like a real rocket! • Change things to see if flight affected; e.g. water temperature, tablet size, size of fins/nose cones, amount of water etc.

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2. To write this procedure, you will need to sort the information into the two main sections in the body of a procedure: ‘Materials’ (or ‘What you need’) and ‘Steps’ (or ‘What to do’). Follow the instructions below. (a) Circle the words and phrases to be listed under ‘Materials’ in blue. (b) Circle all the information to be included under ‘Steps’ in red. Show the order in which the reader will need to do things by numbering each lot of circled information. R.I.C. Publications®

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WRITING FROM NOTES

Ready for launch! – 2 Use the chart to make notes for your procedure. • For ‘Materials’, list anything that is needed to make and launch the rocket. • For ‘Steps’, write from 6–8 clear, numbered steps. Full sentences are not needed at this stage. • Add a brief goal (a statement which tells the reader the purpose of the procedure) to your notes. Goal To …

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Steps 1.

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READY FOR LAUNCH! – 3 When writing the ﬁrst draft of a text, leave space between the lines for clear editing. 1. Use your notes to write the ﬁrst draft of your procedure. At the end, add a ‘test’ (a question the reader can answer to evaluate how successful the procedure was). Goal

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Materials

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Test 2. Proofread and edit the draft. 3. Write a ﬁnal draft of your procedure on a separate sheet of paper. Add an appropriate title. If you are using a word processor, remember to spellcheck your work before you print it. R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

WRITING FROM NOTES – AT THE MOVIES Background information • Pages 74–77 are used in conjunction with each other. Indicators • Organises information to write a summary. • Plans, drafts, proofreads, edits and writes a report discussing similarities and differences between two opinions.

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Worksheet information

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• Fulbright outstanding in role and expressed range of moods (1); Fulbright’s acting wooden (2)

• Effective use of short, sharp scenes

• Black and white ﬁlm use boring; cut dialogue from some emotional scenes (1); Black and white ﬁlm — unusual; will capture audience attention (2)

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Answers (Page 6)

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Director

At the movies – 3 ...................................... Page 77 • Having made their notes, the students need to use them to complete the framework. Before they begin, they should think about how the notes they have written can be ordered logically. • When the students have written their drafts, they should proofread and edit them, then write or type a ﬁnal draft, adding a title.

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At the movies – 1 ...................................... Page 75 • Explain the tasks to the students. • Students read the text once and then more carefully a second time. • Discuss as a class some of the similarities and differences between the two reviews. The students can then highlight the relevant information to complete Question 2.

Actors

At the movies – 2 ...................................... Page 76 • Students use their highlighted text to complete the table. Examples of suitable introductions and conclusions could be suggested; e.g. ‘Pathway Pathway of roses stars Evan Fulbright and Marigold Petrova. Two reviewers had different opinions of the movie.’ (Introduction); ‘The reviewers agreed that some of strengths of Pathways of roses were Fulbright’s accent, the modern music, the costume design and the interesting script. But there were also many points on which they disagreed. It might be best to see the movie and judge for yourself!’ (Conclusion). • Teachers might suggest that students write their summary as if it were to appear in a newspaper or magazine.

Music

• Modern music created tension in some scenes; classical music should have been used in funeral scenes

• Pan pipes haunting in battleﬁeld scenes (1); Pan pipes too dreamy for horror of battleﬁeld scenes (2)

Costumes

• Colours too bright but beautifully designed and historically accurate

• None

Script

• Predictable plot

• Some language should have been modernised (1); Liked old-fashioned words because it makes an audience think (2)

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At the movies – 1 Tasks • To read two movie reviews. • To write a report on the similarities and differences between the opinions given. 1. Read the notes about an historical movie written by two different reviewers Review 1

Review 2

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•

• • •

Modern music in some scenes of ‘Pathway of roses’ created tension – excellent. pan pipe music during battlefield scenes too dreamlike – didn’t suit horror! Short, sharp scenes effective/ showed skill of director. Didn’t help predictable plot. Loved black and white film by director! Unusual, capture modern audience’s attention. Evan Fulbright — exceptional French accent, overall shows wooden acting, also Marigold Petrova. Beautiful costume design (bright colours terrible!), accurate for time period. Interesting script. Great to hear many old-fashioned words – audience has to think! Director needed more dialogue in emotional scenes. Classical music should have replaced modern music in funeral scenes.

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• Lead actor Evan Fulbright outstanding in challenging role of (Marcel). Perfect French accent, able to express range of moods. • Use of pan pipe music haunting in battlefield scenes. • Predictable plot. Director should have cut dialogue from some emotional scenes – silence would have been better! • Marigold Petrova’s role beyond her abilities. Not believable – wooden acting. • Director Peter McDonald’s use of short, sharp scenes effective. Black/white film for some scenes too boring for modern audience. (At least sometimes couldn’t see dreadful bright costumes!) • Use of modern music in some scenes spellbinding – heightened tension. Classical music should have been used for funeral scenes. • Costumes beautifully designed/ historically accurate. (Colour awful!) • Actors struggled with some oldfashioned language in script. Modernised?

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2. To write a summary about the similarities and differences between these two reviews, you will need to ﬁrst decide how you are going to sort the information into paragraphs. To do this, highlight the notes about each of these aspects as follows: Actors – green

Director – yellow

Music – pink

Costumes – blue

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WRITING FROM NOTES

At the movies – 2 Use the table below to list the similarities and differences between the two reviewers’ opinions for the body of your report. Add a simple introduction and conclusion. Introduction

Body

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Actors

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Differences

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Conclusion (A comment about the content of the report)

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At the movies – 3 When writing the ﬁrst draft of a text, leave space between the lines for clear editing. 1. Use your notes to write the ﬁrst draft of your report. Before you begin, think carefully about how to order the paragraphs of the body logically. Introduction

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Body

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Conclusion

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2. Proofread and edit the draft. 3. Write a ﬁnal draft of your report on a separate sheet of paper. Add an appropriate title. If you are using a word processor, remember to spellcheck your work before you print it. R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

WRITING FROM NOTES – ELECTRIC MUSIC Background information

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Indicators • Organises information into paragraphs. • Plans, drafts, proofreads, edits and writes an historical recount based on information given in a time line.

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• Recount – is a framework which retells events as they happened in time order – may be factual, personal or imaginative – includes: ~ Title ~ Orientation: all relevant background (who, when, where, why) ~ Events: signiﬁcant events in detail ~ Conclusion: often with an evaluative comment – uses the following language features: ~ vocabulary to suggest time passing ~ paragraphs to show separate sections ~ the past tense • A recount may be written in the form of a newspaper report, diary, letter, journal, eyewitness account, biography, autobiography or history. • Pages 78–81 are used in conjunction with each other.

Electric music – 3 ..................................... Page 81 • Having made their notes, the students need to sort the activities and events into a logical sequence to complete the recount framework. They do not need to include every event from the time line – just those they feel are most important in the development of the electric guitar. • When the students have written their drafts, they should proofread and edit them, then write or type a ﬁnal draft.

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Electric music – 1 ..................................... Page 79 • Explain the task to the students and read the questions. • Students read the text once and then more carefully a second time. • Discuss the format of a time line, ensuring the students understand how the information has been arranged. The students can then answer Question 2 individually.

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Electric music – 2 ..................................... Page 80 • Discuss what a recount is (a text which retells events as they happened in time order) and use the text at the top of the page to explain the different parts of a recount. Students use their colour-coded text to complete the grid. Some suitable examples of orientations and conclusions could be discussed; e.g. ‘The electric guitar was ﬁrst played more than 80 years ago and has been through many changes to become the instrument it is today.’. (orientation); ‘The electric guitar is a major instrument in many pop groups today. Who knows what further changes are in store for it?’ (conclusion).

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Electric music – 1 Tasks • To read a time line detailing important events in the development of the electric guitar. • To write an historical recount based on the information. 1. Read the time line about the development of the electric guitar in the USA. 1920s Hawaiian guitars (steel guitars played on person’s lap/using metal slide) – ﬁrst type of electric guitar.

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1928

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Stromberg-Voisonet Company releases guitar with electric ‘pickup’ (device that picks up guitar’s vibrations and converts to electronic signal). Pickups on modern electric guitars pick up vibrations from guitar strings; on this guitar, vibrations picked up from soundboard – weaker sound. Electro String Instrument Corporation (later Rickenbacker) founded. Developed ﬁrst electric guitars marketed to public – aluminium, Hawaiian-style lap guitars. Nicknamed ‘Frying pans’. Popular. Production stopped 1939.

1937

First recording of electric guitar – guitarist Beddie Durham.

1939

Jazz guitarist Charlie Christian develops playing style unique to electric guitar, inﬂuencing future musicians.

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1931

© R. I . C.Publ i cat i ons • f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• 1950s Pioneer rock musicians (e.g. Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix) make electric guitar 1940s Les Paul (well-known guitarist) builds ﬁrst solid-body standard electric guitar. (Up until now, electric guitars had hollow bodies which vibrated when played, causing feedback through speakers.) Made from pine, nicknamed ‘The log’.

popular. Considered legends today. Experimented with different effects, including distortion of sound.

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Leo Fender (a radio repairer) successfully introduces mass-produced electric guitar called the ‘Telecaster’. Four years later, makes the ‘Stratocaster’ (now a famous type of electric guitar). Other manufacturers start making massproduced electric guitars.

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1980s The Japanese start making electric guitars – cheaper than famous American brands. Causes Fender and others to make cheaper versions of guitars so affordable for average person.

Electric guitarists begin using computer software and special pickups (ones that copy sounds of other instruments) to produce different effects. 2002

Gibson Guitar Corporation produces ﬁrst digital electric guitar.

2. To write an historical recount based on this information, you will need to decide how to sort the information into paragraphs. One way to do this would be to sort the information into broader time periods. Circle the notes in the time line to show each time period below. 1920s–1930s – blue R.I.C. Publications®

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1940s–1950s – green

1980s–present – pink Study and research – Strategies and skills

WRITING FROM NOTES

Electric music – 2 Use the grid to make notes for each paragraph in your historical recount. • A recount has three main parts – orientation, events and conclusion. The orientation contains background details – who/what, when, where and why); ‘Events’ contains signiﬁcant events in time order and the Conclusion contains a comment on the subject of the recount. • Add a suitable, interesting title to your recount. Title

Events

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Orientation

1920s–1930s

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Conclusion

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Electric music – 3 When writing the ﬁrst draft of a text, leave space between the lines for clear editing. 1. Use your notes to write the ﬁrst draft of your historical recount. Title •

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• In the 1920s …

•

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The electric guitar …

2. Proofread and edit the draft. 3. Write a ﬁnal draft of your diary entry on a separate sheet of paper. If you are using a word processor, remember to spellcheck your work before you print it. R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

PLANNING YOUR STUDY

• • • • •

Answers (Page 84) Tips should include: • Keep your study area quiet and organised. • Study at the same time each day. • Do relaxation exercises before studying. • Make a list of everything you need to achieve in a study session. • Break down lists into smaller tasks. • Tick off study tasks as you complete them. • Reward yourself with treats for completing study sessions. • Take regular 10-minute breaks when studying. • Try moving around when learning information. • Make fun quizzes to do the next day. • Teach someone else what you have learnt.

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Indicators Reads and understands about learner types. Identiﬁes own learner types. Reads and identiﬁes motivational study tips. Reads and understands how to set goals. Understands the purpose and importance of setting goals for study. Worksheet information

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Background information • The learner types described on page 83 are some of the ‘multiple intelligences’ identified by psychologist Dr Howard Gardner. He suggests that there are eight different ways of understanding the world—and possibly even more yet to be identified. Gardner believes that each person has one or two dominant intelligences, although it is possible to strengthen all eight. He points out that our intelligences aren’t used in isolation; instead, one activity or task requires the use of a number of intelligences working together. The other intelligences identified by Gardner that have not been used on this student page are Naturalist, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal.

Goal setting ............................................. Page 85 • Ask the students what they know about setting goals and why they are important. • Read the text as a class. The students can then complete Questions 2 and 3 independently. Encourage creative answers to Question 3 and discuss them as a class.

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What type of learner am I? ...................... Page 83 • Explain the task to the students and read the information and activities. Discuss the learner types fully (some further notes are provided in ‘Background information’). • Ask for suggestions from students for Question 2, then have the students complete the activity independently or with a partner. Students may use the initials of each learner type to save space (e.g. ‘V-L’ for ‘Verbal-Linguistic’). Discuss the answers given, asking students to state why they chose a particular answer. • Students complete Questions 3 and 4 independently. Answers to Question 4 could be shared with the class.

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Answers (Page 83) Answers may include the following: 2. (a) (i) V-S (ii) V-L, V-S (iv) L-M, V-S (v) L-M, B-K

(iii) V-L., M-R

Staying motivated .................................... Page 84 • Discuss how being motivated to study can be difﬁcult at times. Ask the students to volunteer some personal experiences. • Read the play extract as a class. The students can then answer the question independently or with a partner. Encourage them to write the tips as succinctly as possible. They can also suggest other motivational tips they or someone they know follows.

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What type of learner am i?

Everyone is different when it comes to learning. The ways in which you learn best will probably be different from those of your friends. What type of learner are you? 1. Some learner types are listed below. Read about each one.

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Logical-Mathematical learners think rationally. They learn best through activities involving numbers and patterns.

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Verbal-Linguistic learners think in words. They learn best through activities involving reading, writing and speaking.

Visual-Spatial learners think in images, colours and shapes. They learn best through activities involving imagination and visualisation.

Bodily-Kinaesthetic learners have good physical awareness. They learn best through ‘hands-on’ activities. Musical-Rhythmic learners have an awareness of rhythm and sound. They learn best through activities involving music or rhythms.

2. (a) Imagine that each of these types of learners is researching a school project on Japan. Write at least one learner type you think best suits each research activity. You can use the initials of each learner type to save space (e.g. ‘V-L’ for Verbal-Linguistic).

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(ii) Reading a travel brochure about Japan. (iii) Listening to a recording of songs about Japan’s history.

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(i) Looking at photographs of Japan’s natural features.

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(iv) Viewing graphs containing information about Japan. (v) Studying models of traditional Japanese buildings.

(b) Circle the activities you think you would most enjoy or learn from best if you were doing the project on Japan.

3. Use your answer to 2 (a) and the descriptions in Question 1 to highlight one or two learner types that best describe the ways you prefer to learn. 4. Complete the sentence. I am a

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learner.

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PLANNING YOUR STUDY

STAYING MOTIVATED 1. Read the play extract for some ideas on how to stay motivated to do your homework. Host

You’re on 72.2 – the station for kids! Today in the studio I have homework expert Dr Vines. He’s ready to answer your questions. Our ﬁrst caller is Alex.

Alex

I get distracted when I start my homework! What can I do?

Dr Vines Hi, Alex. First, I would make sure that your study area is quiet so you can concentrate. Then, I would make sure your desk is a pleasant, organised place to be. For example, put your books, paper and pencils in neat stacks. That should help!

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Host

Our next caller is Grace.

Grace

Should I do my homework at a different time each day?

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Now we have Lincoln.

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Dr Vines Grace, if you possibly can, it is best to do homework at the same time each day. Then your brain knows when to work!

Lincoln I wanted to say that before I do my homework, I do some stretches. They help me relax and feel positive.

Dr Vines Lincoln, that’s a great idea! You should also take 10-minute ‘stretch’ breaks while you are doing your homework. In fact, some people learn very effectively when they are moving around.

© R. I . C.Publ i cat i ons Mya What is the ﬁrst thing I should do when I sit down at my desk? • f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• Dr Vines First, make a list of the tasks you need to do, then break each one into smaller tasks. Host

Next is Mya. You’re on the air!

Our last caller is Tim.

Tim

Are there any ways of making homework more fun?

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For example, if you have to write a poem, make a list of rhyming words ﬁrst. Starting with easier tasks warms up your brain – just like athletes warm up before they start training. Tick off each task as you ﬁnish it. It helps you to feel good about yourself.

Dr Vines Good question! You can reward yourself with a small treat when you have ﬁnished your homework, like reading a favourite book. Or you make yourself a fun quiz to do the next day. Also, pretend you are a teacher and teach someone else what you’ve learnt. Host

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Dr Vines, thanks for your time.

2. List the ﬁve homework tips you read about that you like the best. • • • • • 84

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GOAL SETTING Setting goals is an important study skill. It can keep you focused and motivated. 1. Read the text below to ﬁnd out how a musician might set goals.

I am a professional violinist. Part of my secret for success is setting goals. I set different types of goals. First are ‘dream goals’. When I began playing the violin as a child, my dream goal was to play in an orchestra as an adult. Next are long-term goals. These help me to work towards my dream goals. One of my long-term goals as a child was to pass my music exams. Finally, there are short-term goals. These help you to achieve your long-term goals. A short-term goal for me was to play a difﬁcult scale perfectly.

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r o e t s Boto write your goals and r Every goal shouldp be e clear and realistic. It is also important o u keep them where they can be easily seen. I write mine inside myk music books. I also S keep practice and performance logs. In these, I list my short-term goal for each practice session or performance. Then I write anything which might stop me from meeting my goal and what I must do to achieve the goal. Both logs help me stay focused and see my improvements.

I also keep evaluating my goals. Sometimes, a goal may be realistic anymore; for example, if I get injured. Then I may have to change it slightly. This does not mean I am a failure! The process of trying hard to reach a goal helps me grow in knowledge and strength.

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dream goal last year – I now play in an orchestra! Now I have a new dream goal – to play my violin as a soloist and tour the world!

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Setting goals

All goals should be Types:

Achieving goals

3. Write a short-term homework goal you could set and two steps you could take to achieve it. Goal: 1.

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TEACHERS notes

PLANNING YOUR STUDY • Students estimate how much time they give to homework and study in an average week. Some students may wish to volunteer this information to the class. • Students work individually to complete Questions 3 and 4. Some students may wish to share with the class which activity they will be replacing time with homework and study, and then explain their choice. • Stress the importance of physical activities and playing sport and deter students from replacing these with study (unless very minimal study time allocated).

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Term planner ............................................ Page 89 Indicator • Practises using a planner by adding due dates to a calendar.

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Background information • Students often misunderstand the difference between studying and doing homework assignments. • Studying includes learning for tests by: – taking notes when reading and researching – learning to scan and skim text – learning to summarise information – making flashcards for testing spelling lists, times tables, facts and formula etc. • A ‘study-friendly’ environment includes: – desk (or table), comfortable chair, necessary equipment within reach (stationery, calculator, dictionary etc.) – minimal distractions (TV, phone, people). A radio playing quietly may be beneficial for some students – access to information either by borrowing library books or using encyclopedias; or, if available, researching on the Internet (safe sites such as Encarta) – a bulletin board in view with a term planner showing due dates of assignments and dates of tests will allow the student (and parents) to plan study times (especially if he/she participates in extracurricular activities at night and on weekends). Let students fill it in themselves using different colours for different subjects or one colour for homework and another for tests etc.

Worksheet information • Who has a calendar at home with special dates on it such as birthdays and parties? Who uses their school diary to record their homework? • Discuss why it is important to record due dates of homework and dates of tests. • Read the homework and test dates on the planner with the class. Students transfer the dates on to the planner and write why they think using a planner will help them to achieve better results at school.

Indicator • Considers the best environment for successful studying.

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Worksheet information • Ask students to describe to the class the area where they complete homework and study. Where are they? What can they see? What can they hear? Are they alone? • Look at the picture. Students can work in small groups to discuss things that make it a difﬁcult place for the girl to study. • Students redraw the girl working in a good studying environment (see Background information) and list the improvements they made. • Students can design a poster describing good studying environments with useful tips, such as: no TV, tidy work station, all resources within reach, work alone etc.

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Possible answers 2. Will be more organised. Can plan ahead and see how much time available to complete assignments or study for test. • Encourage students to ﬁnd out when family/social events or extra curricular activities are. Students may need to complete assignments well before its due date.

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A ‘study-friendly’ environment ................ Page 87

Suggestion • Ask the class if they think they will need a term planner such as this one when they start secondary school. Why? Discuss the differences between secondary school and primary school.

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When do you study? ................................ Page 88

Indicator • Considers how time is spent in an average week and how much of that time is allocated to homework and study. Worksheet information • Students complete the list of activities in Question 1 then rank them. Suggestion: The teacher can tally all the ‘number 1s’ and ‘number 12s’ to give an idea of the class’s priorities.

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A ‘study-friendly’ environment

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1. Look carefully at the picture of the girl studying for a test. Discuss with a partner why this isn’t the best environment for studying.

2. Redraw the picture with the girl working in a ‘study-friendly’ environment.

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3. List the improvements you made to the environment.

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PLANNING YOUR STUDY

When do you study? 1. (a) Read the list of activities below. Eating and drinking

Playing sport

Watching TV

Playing with friends

Sleeping

Going to school

Homework and study

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Reading (for fun)

(b) Add activities you do in an average week that are not on the list.

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Day

Monday

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Minutes

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2. Estimate how much time you spend doing homework and study in an average week. Write the times in the boxes and calculate the total time. Sunday

TOTAL

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(d) I spend a lot of time playing electronic games.

Yes

Unsure

Yes

Unsure

Yes

Unsure

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(e) I usually need help understanding my homework. (f) I am usually happy with the homework I hand in. (g) I don’t really know how to study for a test.

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(b) I rush my homework because I leave it to the last minute.

Yes

Unsure

Yes

Unsure

Yes

Unsure

4. Create a goal for yourself by completing the sentence: To help me achieve better results, I will replace some of the time I spend with homework and study.

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Term planner There are four weeks left until the school holidays and you have a lot of work to do. You have printed a calendar from the Internet and now need to add your homework and test dates. 1. Look at the due dates of each homework assignment and test, and list them on the planner.

Homework assignments

Tests

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• SOSE: Ancient Egypt mask design – Friday 8 June

• Science: ‘Muscles and bones’ report – Thursday 21 June

• Mental maths: Every Wednesday • Maths test: Fractions – Friday 22 June • Science: ‘The skeleton’ – end of topic test – Tuesday 26 June

• English: Camp recount (draft) – Wednesday 27 June

Planner (Four weeks until the holidays!)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

Friday

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• Health/PE: 5-minute talk ‘Healthy eating habits’ – Tuesday 12 June

• Spelling test: Every Monday

Saturday

Sunday

Spelling test

Health task

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Mental maths

Mask design

Sam’s party

Mental maths

Fractions test

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Science: Skeleton test

Spelling test

JULY 1

Last day of school!

2. List reasons why a planner could help you to achieve better results at school (and feel less stressed about your school work). • • • • R.I.C. Publications®

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TEACHERS notes

PREPARING FOR TESTS Year (This is a rhyme.) Note: You can ﬁnd many versions of this rhyme at: <http://www.leapzine.com/ 30Days.htm> Another example of an acrostic sentence/poem is: Only Cat’s Eyes Are Narrow — OCEAN 4. Answers will vary

Other suggestions – If you need it, seek help before the day of the test. (If you don’t understand it, you won’t remember it.) – Don’t focus on a question you are stuck on, move on and go back to it later. – Always write something—don’t leave blanks. – When you are ﬁnished, look over your test and check for careless mistakes. – Use rhymes, acrostics and acronyms to help you remember facts. – Write key facts on ﬂashcards so you can test yourself and have someone else test you. – Explain what you know to someone else — it’s the BEST way to remember! – Look at the space given and points awarded to each question on the test—they are guides to how much you write and how much time you spend on each question. 3. Teacher check

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Memory magic .............. Page 91 Indicator • Learns about memorisation techniques. Worksheet information • Once the students have been reminded of some of the memorisation techniques by completing the worksheet, ask the class to volunteer any other acrostic, rhyme, acronyms or visual strategies they know for remembering a fact or facts; e.g., ‘i before e, except after c...’

Tackling tests .................Page 92 Indicator • Learns tips to tackle tests.

Worksheet information • Ask students to think about the last class test. How did they prepare for the test? How did they feel before, during and after the test? • Once the worksheet has been completed and the ‘Test taking tips’ discussed, spend some time looking at past tests with the class. • Discuss the different types of questions—true/false, multiple choice, short answer, long answer. Explain to them what you expected for each question. Focus on space given for answers and points awarded to the questions. What clues are these giving the student about how much to write and how many points should be in their answer?

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Background information • Memorisation aids (mnemonics) are a great way to learn the information needed for tests and exams, especially for spelling lists, science facts, history dates and maths formulas. Rhymes, acronyms, acrostics and visual imagery are mentioned on the worksheet. Other memory aids include association (by linking a fact to something you already know), chunking the information into smaller, more manageable parts and using ﬂashcards with a question on one side and answer on the back. • It is important you give yourself plenty of time before a test to try these techniques.

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Answers 1. Answers will vary. 2. – Be prepared! Bring a pen, pencil, rubber, ruler and sharpener to the test. – Know where the clock is and/or wear a watch. Paying attention to the time will help you to pace yourself (and not spend too much time on one question!). – Check calculator batteries (and whether you are allowed to take one in the test). – Eat a good breakfast to keep your concentration levels up. – Keep your eyes on your own paper. – Keep a positive attitude and tell yourself that you are going to do well.

Indicator • To consider ways to stay calm before and during tests.

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Answers 1. Answers will vary 2. Hold your fingers are out in front of you. Each finger is a number from 1 (pinky on left hand) to 10 (pinky on right hand). Think of what number you want to multiply by 9 and fold down that finger. Remaining fingers give the answer. So 4 times 9 is: 3 fingers up (then 1 down) then 6 more up. Answer: 36 Number of fingers on left are the tens and on right are the units. 3. (a) ROY G BIV (acronym.) Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet (b) 30 days hath September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31 clear except February which has 28, and 29 in a Leap

Staying calm .................. Page 93

Worksheet information • Children often shows sign of stress by complaining of headaches, stomach aches or tiredness. Other symptoms include forgetfulness, over-eating and insomnia. • Work through the worksheet with the students. Ask students to volunteer their answers and to share them with the class. 1. Answers will vary 2. Teacher check 3. (a) Be prepared and study for your test. Ask someone to test you. (b) Stay positive by telling yourself that you are going to do well in the test 4. Teacher check

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PREPARING FOR TESTS

Memory magic 1. Explain how you … (a) learn your weekly spelling words. (b) learn (or learnt) your times tables.

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2. Do you know an easy way to remember the 9 times tables? (The picture is a clue.) Explain how in the box.

What is 4 times 9?

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ROY G BIV

(b) the number of days in each month?

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30 days hath September,

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3. Do you know the ‘memory techniques’ for remembering … (a) the colours of the rainbow? R O Y G B I V

Here is a clever way to remember words that have tricky spellings.

•. Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants............................................. BECAUSE •. Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move............................................................................. RHYTHM 4. Think of a word you have trouble remembering how to spell. Write a sentence using each letter from your word as the starting letter of the words in your sentence. Say your sentence over again until you remember it! R.I.C. Publications®

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PREPARING FOR TESTS

Tackling tests 1. Read some ways you can study and prepare for a test and tick those that are true for you. In the empty box write one more way you prepare for a test. I read the notes in my book over and over again.

I do ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’, to learn the facts.

I ask someone at home or a friend to test me.

I copy what I need to know out on paper—once or more than once.

r o e t s Bo r e p ok u S I say what I need to know over and over in my head.

I make ﬂashcards with question on one side and answers on the back.

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Test-taking tips

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2. Use the picture clues to help you write tips for preparing for and taking tests. Work with a partner to think of more tips.

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‘I’m going to do well!’

3. On the back of this sheet, draw a comical cartoon strip to show students how to (or how not to) tackle a test. 92

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PREPARING FOR TESTS

Staying calm Everyone feels stressed sometime and leading up to a test is usually one of those times. 1. When you are about to take a test, how do you usually feel? Colour the squares that are true for you. worried

cross with yourself for not studying

excited

butterflies in your stomach

tired

nervous

prepared

ready for a challenge

stressed

calm

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2. Draw a picture to match these ways to stay calm before and during a test.

Check you have all the equipment you need Take slow, deep breaths if you start to feel before the test begins. nervous or anxious.

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‘I’m going to do well on this test’

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‘Name the parts of a flower’

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‘Leaves, stem …’

4. With a partner, create a ‘ritual’ for calming pre-test nerves. For example:

‘Shake your hands and feet, take three deep breaths then repeat this saying over again—RELAX AND BREATHE, I WILL ACHIEVE!’ Practise your ritual then perform it for another group. Try it before your next test! R.I.C. Publications®

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Study and research – Strategies and skills