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UNITUNIT 21 The BIG Question Why Do We Read? Reading is “a discount ticket to everywhere. —Mary Schmich, newspaper columnist” LOOKING AHEAD The skill lessons and readings in this unit will help you develop your own answer to the Big Question. UNIT 1 WARM-UP • Connecting to the Big Question GENRE FOCUS: Informational Media Flash Flood . 5 by William Hendryx READING WORKSHOP 1 Skill Lesson: Setting a Purpose for Reading Paddling Dicey Waters . 16 by Lew Freedman Seventh Grade . 26 by Gary Soto WRITING WORKSHOP PART 1 Summary . 34 READING WORKSHOP 2 Skill Lesson: Previewing Where You Are . 42 by Jack Anderson Message of Hope . 48 by Ericka Souter and Dietlind Lerner, from People READING WORKSHOP 3 Skill Lesson: Reviewing Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and Vote . 58 by Lesley Reed May I Have Your Autograph? . 66 by Marjorie Sharmat WRITING WORKSHOP PART 2 Summary . 74 READING WORKSHOP 4 Skill Lesson: Understanding Text Structure Suzy and Leah . 82 by Jane Yolen from How Things Work . 96 by the editors of Consumer Guide COMPARING LITERATURE WORKSHOP Summer Reading . 105 by Michael Dorris The First Book . 109 by Rita Dove UNIT 1 WRAP-UP • Answering the Big Question 1 UNIT 1 WARM-UP Why Do We Read? Connecting to Reading is just something you do for school, right? Or is it? Think about it. You probably read a lot more than you think you do. Do you look at the newspaper to find out how the game went? Maybe you check the TV listings for the program you want to see. In this unit, you’ll see that you can read to gain all kinds of information, or just to have fun. Real Kids and the Big Question RICARDO loves video games and always wants to reach the next level (and then the next and the next) of any game he plays. To do that, he reads the directions for each game very carefully. He also finds web sites that give him hints on how to play better. How do you think Ricardo might answer the ques- tion, “Why do we read?” BROOKE has a favorite band and wants to know everything about these musicians. She reads magazine articles, concert reviews, and any other articles she finds. She always reads anything that comes with the band’s CDs. She even reads the band’s website to keep up with the lat- est news about them. How do you think Brooke might answer the question, “Why do we read?” Warm-Up Activity Think about the reasons that Ricardo and Brooke read. Do you have any interests like theirs or any other special reasons to read? Talk with a partner about the reasons you read that are not neces- sarily the same reasons your partner reads. 2 UNIT 1 Why Do We Read? (l) Ariel Skelley/CORBIS, (r) CORBIS UNIT 1 WARM-UP You and the Big Question The selections in this unit are all very different. As you read each Big Question Link to Web resources one, think about what someone could get out of reading it. Also, to further explore the Big Question at www.glencoe.com. think about what you get from it. Plan for the Unit Challenge At the end of the unit, you’ll use notes from all your reading to complete the Unit Challenge, which will explore your answer to the Big Question. You will choose one of the following activities: A. Create a Commercial Write and perform a commercial in which a variety of people (acted by members of your group) talk about or demonstrate some of the most important reasons to read. B. Advertising Brochure Use art and clear language to create an advertising brochure (broh SHUR) that encourages people to spend time reading. A brochure is a booklet or pamphlet. (You will make a simple one.) • Start thinking about the activity you’d like to do so that you can focus your thoughts as you go through the unit. • In your Learner’s Notebook, write your thoughts about which activity you’d like to do. • Each time you make notes about the Big Question, think about how your ideas will help you with the Unit Challenge activity you chose. Keep Track of Your Ideas As you read, you’ll make notes about the Big Question. Later, you’ll use these notes to complete the Unit Challenge. See pages R8–R9 for help with making Foldable 1. This diagram shows how it should look. 1. Make one page for each selection. At the 3. Open the fold-over page. On the right side, end of the unit, you’ll staple the pages write the label My Purpose for Reading. together into one Foldable. 4. Open the Foldable all the way. At the top 2. Label the front of the fold-over page with center, write the label The Big Question. the selection title. (See page 1 for the titles.) Warm-Up 3 UNIT 1 GENRE FOCUS: INFORMATIONAL MEDIA Media (MEE dee uh) are ways of communicating with large groups. Media include newspapers, magazines, books, radio, television, CDs, movies, and websites. Media that provide information are called informational media. Skillss Focus Why Read Informational Media? • Howow to read informational mediame When you want or need to get information, you can often find it in informational media. Informational media can tell you SkillsSk Model • the latest news • facts you need for schoolwork YouY will see how to use • how to make or do something • true stories, such as “Flash Flood” the key reading skills and elements as you read How to Read Informational Media • “Flash Flood,” p. 5 Key Reading Skills These reading skills are especially useful tools for reading and understand- ing informational media. You’ll see these skills modeled in the Active Reading Model on pages 5–11, and you’ll learn more about them later in this unit. ■ Setting a purpose for reading Before reading anything, decide what questions the selection might answer for you. (See Reading Workshop 1.) ■ Previewing Look at the title, headings, and any pictures in a selection to get an idea about the information it contains. (See Reading Workshop 2.) ■ Reviewing As you read, stop from time to time and go over what you’ve already read. (See Reading Workshop 3.) ■ Understanding text structure Pay attention to how the writing is organized. When you read directions, notice the order of the steps and any signal words, such as first or next. (See Reading Workshop 4.) Key Text Elements Recognizing and thinking about the following elements will help you under- stand more fully what the writer is telling you. ■ Photos and illustrations: pictures that help you understand informa- Objectives (pp. 4–11) tion and make reading more interesting (See “Paddling Dicey Waters.”) Reading Set a purpose for ■ Titles, heads, and decks: words in large or dark type that introduce reading • Identify text structure • Preview text • Monitor compre- text and grab a reader’s attention (See “Message of Hope.”) hension: review and reread ■ Lead: the opening sentences or paragraphs that introduce the story • Identify text structure: steps in a process (See “Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and Vote.”) Informational Text Use text ■ Text features: various methods used in a text to provide information, features: title, heads, pictures, deck, lead such as charts, tables, graphs, and diagrams (See “How Things Work.”) 4 UNIT 1 Why Do We Read? UNIT 1 GENRE FOCUS MAGAZINE from Reader’s Digest The notes in the side columns model how to use the skills and elements you read about on page 4. Informational Media ACTIVE READING MODEL 1 Key Text Element Title This title makes me want to read the story. Since a flash flood happens with- out warning, this is probably going to be about a sudden and dangerous event. 2 Key Text Element Deck The story will be about kids in danger and a 1 man who might save them. Will he? by William Hendryx 3 Key Reading Skill Setting a Purpose for Reading Something scary Six kids stranded in raging water. Only one man could be their happened. What? Why lifeline. 2 3 4 could only one man save them? My purpose is to find answers to those questions. I t was a torrid summer evening in the parched 4 Key Reading Skill landscape of southern Arizona, just north of Tucson. Previewing What can I tell But the conditions in mid-August 2003 couldn’t deter about this selection by looking through it? Well . the title 1 Vaughn Hoffmeister, a busy, self-employed nurseryman, and deck are exciting. And from enjoying the little private time he got on his daily the pictures and captions tell run. He laced his jogging shoes tight and sprinted out me that the story is about real the back door. The Santa Catalina Mountains loomed people. starkly in the distance. Two hundred yards behind his home, Hoffmeister, 49, dropped into a dry riverbed known as the Cañada del Oro Wash and turned south. Eroded over the years by violent mountain storms, the arroyo was 100 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Its banks were lined with gnarled mesquite trees and cactus. The recent Aspen2 fi re, 1. A nurseryman works at a nursery, where trees and plants are grown. 2. The Spanish name Cañada (kan YAW duh) del Oro translates as “Golden Valley.” Both wash and arroyo refer to a riverbed that’s dry most of the year. The Aspen is a kind of tree. Genre Focus: Informational Media 5 Tim Davis/Stone/Getty Images UNIT 1 GENRE FOCUS ACTIVE READING MODEL however, had destroyed much of the water-retaining vegetation at higher elevations, leaving the wash susceptible to dangerous runoff.3 Now as Hoffmeister jogged down the dry track, dark clouds were forming over Mt.

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