Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Reading: Informational Text » Grade 8
• Use Text to Speech Engine to allow for fluent comprehension. Students can
note unknown words using Study Skills highlighters, then go back and use the
Dictionary tool to clarify meaning.
• Scanning for Key Words after reading a passage:
~ Helps to build background knowledge about a topic
~ Strengthens highest level of thinking skills – evaluation
~ Makes students responsible for the learning
~ Provides opportunity to reason with others as to why choices were made
~ Allows for students to hear words aloud multiple times
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Reading: Informational Text » Grade 8
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Reading: Informational Text » Grade 8
• Students build topic Background Knowledge while scanning for Key
Vocabulary words that students determine will be important to the meaning.
• Using the Study Skills highlighters, have students choose the 5 most important
words to know in pink and the second most important words in blue.
• Students can compare their lists in pairs or in small groups. Then students
share out with the whole group, teacher serving as facilitator. Student or
teacher can record responses. Teacher adds any words he/she believes are
important that were omitted.
• Students return to their computers and make additions/changes with yellow.
Then students will next be using the Vocabulary icon on the Study Skills
toolbar.
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Reading: Informational Text » Grade 8
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Language Standards - Grades 6 - 8
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
~Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to
meaning of a word
• Students will return to their passage about Food Chains and Food Webs in
which they have already highlighted the key words and phrases and
discussed with fellow students. By clicking on the Vocabulary List Builder
tool, students will build a vocabulary guide to be modified for use
throughout the unit.
• Using the Dictionary tool as a way to introduce and explore affixes, root
words, and their meaning, students are asked to use specific vocabulary
from the Food Chain and Webs to learn word meaning through word attack
skills
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Language Standards - Grades 6 - 8
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Language Standards - Grades 6 - 8
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Language Standards - Grades 6 - 8
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
For optimum use of the Vocabulary List, change page layout to Landscape for
the addition and/or movement of columns.
By adding the columns for the affix used, the meaning of the affix and an
example to help students remember the meaning, the Vocabulary List can be
customized by the teacher and student based on need.
Students can look up the affixes in the Web Dictionary in order to find the
meaning and the definition then copy and pasted into the corresponding
column.
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Reading: Informational Text » Grade 8
Key Ideas and Details
R.8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between
individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or
categories).
Having students write about their new understanding of vocabulary words
and their means is the best way to give them opportunity to change what
they are familiar with into a demonstration of what they now understand.
For this to occur successfully, students need some writing support.
Ask students to use the following Sentence Frames to help :
A ______________ is a __________________ so it does not…
A ______________ is a __________________ which means …
Middle Grades Informational Text
English Language Arts Standards »
Reading: Informational Text » Grade 8
Key Ideas and Details
R.8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between
individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or
categories).
Sentence Frames
A ______________ is a __________________ so it does not…
A ______________ is a __________________ which means …
A rabbit is a herbivore so it does not eat meat.
A frog is a carnivore which means it only eats meat.