Tui+2011

We are learning to retell a text concisely in my own words.

Natalie's dad's family is from China and she went to Shanghai for six weeks to go to school. Her family was keen for her to learn chinese. Dunedin has 120,000 people and Shanghai has 13,000,000 people. The Chinese students work a lot harder than we do. She was very shocked at the lack of privacy. There were 2,000 pupils at her school. In winter the temperature went well below 0 and they were lucky the dorms were heated. Natalie was quite tall compared to the other pupils. Chinese students have to do compulsory exercises in P.E. In China families are only allowed to have one child. The food was much different to the food in New Zealand. They had to eat salted duck egg, if she didn't like something she had to go to bed hungry. Natalie felt homesick after a week of being in China, she rang her mum every night.

WALT: find clues and evidence to help determine the main idea. Reread this article. Write down two clues or bits of evidence that helped you figure out the main idea. [|Can animals be nice?]

We are learning to use evidence and our prior knowledge to make predictions.


 * Predictions || Evidence ||
 * It is about a spy or detective agency.

The 2 guys may have committed a crime.

The two guys try to stop crime, one gets taken by the bad guys.


 * Nick and Tim are good guys, they are civilians. **

The two men who walked into the reception are bad men, they're dodgy. One of them is smart and not strong and the other is strong and not smart.

There will be drugs or diamonds or something valuable.

Maybe a pick lock or a lock gun. || They have got guns on the cover and it says "Detective Agency"

There is a guy tied up on the cover.

One guy is trussed up.

They are at home eating yoghurt.

They're on the cover, and as they walked in the description showed us.

The name "Diamond brothers" and why would they be after the sugar.

Perhaps the steward knew they would get into trouble. ||

WALT:__read between the lines__ to understand what is happening in the story, even though the author doesn't tell us.


 * We will use clues to figure out what is happening in the story.

"The hidden midden" by Sue Gibbison School Journal, Part 2, No 3, 2010


 * ** Inference ** || ** Evidence ** ||
 * A midden is a place where fossils and articles from the past are found.

A midden is bones that have been buried in the sand dunes.

A midden is an area where ancient things have been washed up in the tide. found.

The author is trying to tell us to keep away from the midden so nothing gets damaged so the archeologists can study it. || It says archeologist found fish hooks made out of moa and seal bones.

There were shells and fish bones poking out of the dunes.

When Rangipai looked he found some bones and then archeologist came and looked.

They put a fence around the midden. There are signs saying use the walk way. The archeologists want to find things from the past to find out what kinds of food people ate and what tools they used in the past. ||

"Buttons" by Amanda Jackson School Journal, Part 2, No 3, 2010


 * Inferences || Evidence ||
 * # They are poor.
 * 1) Mum's unhappy about getting a dressing gown.
 * 2) Abby is willing to work for money.
 * 3) Aunty Noa is generous. || * She says "$40" (it's how she says it.)
 * Mum said "I'm sure we can work this out some how".
 * They didn't know they would need one and now have to find the money to buy one.
 * She offered to carry the cream for the neighbours.
 * She gave money to Abby for her trip, and she gave her the dressing gown. She helped by finding button.

We are learning to recognise when meaning can and cannot be found in context. Connected 3 2006 "What's so special about sea worms?" by Judy Raymond

We are learning to recognise when meaning can and cannot be found in context. Leprechaun Ice Cream "Beach walk" by Hannah Davey

Whistle We think this means... A sound you can make by blowing air out of your mouth to make a high pitched sound.

What does "whistles" mean in this text?

The wind blows and the trees slow it down and the wind makes a high pitched sound.

We are learning to activate our prior knowledge. - Things we knew before...

School Journal, Part 2, No 3 2010 "Save our sand dunes" by Phillipa Werry.

We need to save our sand dunes They can be dangerous Is it it a plant? Like a sand mountain. || // Sand // // Sea // Rocks Beaches Holiday Dunes Water Erosion- The water takes away the sand or land. Pollution // New Zealand // // High tides // // Beach access // // Local coast // || The fence protects the sand dunes from people. The plants protect the sand dunes. Plants protect the sand dunes with their roots and leaves. They keep the sand dunes stable because trap the sand. Sand dunes are piles of sand. The plants keep them in place. Some sand dunes are more than 150m high. If there aren't plants on a sand dune, the sand will blow away. We should stay off the dunes ourselves. To keep dogs on a leash, they can destroy plants and they like to dig. To not light fires on the beach, fires destroy plants. ||
 * What I already **K**now... || **W**hat vocab will I see? //Did I see?// || What I have **L**earned... ||
 * They are slippery.

We are learning to find ideas and info in the text that we already know and use these to help us to understand new ideas.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">School Journal, Part 2, No 1, 2010 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">"Haere Mai" by Sue Gibbison


 * <span style="background-color: #ff0000; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">What do we already know? || <span style="background-color: #0000ff; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">What are the new ideas that we need to understand? ||

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">We are learning to identify what we already know about a topic and compare this to what we know after reading.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">"Buttercup" by Diana Noonan <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">School Journal, Part 2, No 1, 2010

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">We are using our prior knowledge to help us understand what we read.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Why does Lydia care about Buttercup's first haircut?


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Because it is her pet sheep.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">She doesn't want it to look ugly like badly shorn sheep.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">She wants to make sure the shearers do a good job.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">She wants to stay home to make sure they don't hurt Buttercup.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">She will get money from the wool

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Use you prior knowledge to figure out why buttercup butts everyone...
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Her mum, dad and brother must tease the sheep.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Rams and some ewes butt people.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Lydia relates her school work to Buttercup, what does this tell you about children with sheep.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Children care for their pet sheep.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">They love them, they treat them like their baby.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Mum and Dad obviously didn't look after Buttercup very well and lost him. Use your prior knowledge to explain why Lydia's parents didn't look after him.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">He might become a family dinner.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Lydia does all the work so maybe they didn't think about it.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Sometimes parents only care about the animal when the children or child is at home.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">The parents probably had better things to do.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">What have we learned about having a pet sheep...
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">That some people make a big fuss over the sheep being shorn.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Some people make a fuss over getting butted.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Some kids relate everything to their pets.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">With having a pet sheep, comes responsibility.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Sometimes parents don't really care about sheep.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Parents shouldn't kill pets.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 170%;">Some sheep butt people and are very aggressive.