Some classes are currently reading Curse of the Pharaoh's:  My Adventures with Mummies by famous archaeologist and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass.  Mr. Hawass tells us accounts of his real-life experiences with Egypt's infamous "Mummy Curse."  We have learned many interesting things about Egypt and have incorporated our prior background knowledge from studying Egypt in 6th grade. 

Since this book contains many technical and unfamiliar words, our power strategy focus for this book is Content and Specialized Vocabulary.  We are focusing on how to use context clues to understand words we do not know.  This involves 1)  using text features such as table of contents, glossary, and index, 2) using sentences surrounding unfamiliar words to figure out the meaning, and 3)  learning how to use appositives, italics, and parentheses to identify the meaning of unfamiliar words.  We have become experts on using these context clues to decipher these new words--I have been so impressed!!  We have also kept personal dictionaries of new words and created a word wall in our classroom.  We each made a "cartouche" using "heiroglyphics" that beautifully displayed our artistic talents.  (If you don't know what these words mean, just ask your student!)  Our final project for this book will be creating a newspaper about ancient Egypt.  I am confident that the final project is going to be amazing!  

Some of us are currently reading Tales of the Cryptids:  Mysterious Creatures that May or May Not Exist by Hall, Spears, and Young.  We are learning new things about well-known cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Giant Squid, and we have learned about new cryptids such as the Chocoan Peccary and Mbuele-Mbuele-Mbuele.  Our final project for this book included a class debate on whether cryptids actually exist. 

Our Power Strategy for this book is Content and Specialized Vocabulary.  This book is full of unfamiliar and scientific words, many of which we have never seen or heard.  We have learned that we can figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by breaking words down into word parts.  By breaking words down into their more familiar prefixes, suffixes, and root words, we are able to easily tackle these difficult and unfamiliar words.  We can use this strategy not only when reading this book, but with any text we are reading. 

We are currently reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science.  The book is a true account of the accident and subsequent brain injury sustained by railroad foreman Phineas Gage in 1848.  The book contains difficult content and vocabulary specific to the medical field and neuroscience, so we have been utilizing many of our 8 Power Strategies to help us read and understand this book, includng Content and Specialized Vocabulary, Previewing Text, Activating Background Knowledge, Monitoring Understanding, Questioning, and Noting.  We will utilize all of the power strategies over the course of the book.  We spent a week preparing to read before we even started the book.  We have used worksheets, group work, computer activities, videos, and several other activities to increase our exposure and knowledge of the brain and how it works.  The students and I believe this preparation will enhance our enjoyment and comprehension of the book.  Although we are only on chapter 1, the students are enjoying Phineas Gage and are eager to discover what will happen next! 

Talk to your child about this book, and ask them questions about what we are reading and the strategies we are using as we read.  You will be surprised about how much we are learning about the brain and neuroscience through this interesting and true story.

8 Power Strategies for Reading Nonfiction

Course Syllabus 2009-2010