Reading Level:
W

Pages:
16

Word Count
1642

Text Summary
The Yanomami: Deep in the Amazon is a factual text about the Yanomami people who live in the Amazon. The book describes Yanomami traditional ways of life, including what they eat, how they hunt, what they wear, and how they build their houses. Also included is a section on how outsiders are changing the Yanomami way of life.

Vocabulary
ancestor
culture
habitat
loincloth
manioc
method
plantain
preserve
sustainable
reservation
tapir
trek

Reproducible Worksheets
Worksheet 1 - Where Does it Come From?
Worksheet 2 - compound words, antonyms and synonyms

Lesson Objectives

Comprehension

• You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Relate prior knowledge to information gained from reading the text.

Word Work

Compound words
Identify and use compound words

Antonyms and Synonyms
Identify and use antonyms and synonyms

Visual Literacy
Read and interpret a graph

Before Reading

Elicit Prior Knowledge and Build Background
Make three lists with students put the one of the followings at the top of the lists.
Yanomami
Amazon
Rainforest
Have students suggest what they already know about each. Write their suggestions under each heading.

Skim and Scan
Have students turn to the contents page. Tell them that a contents page shows where they might find information on a particular subject within the book.
Ask: In what chapter might you find information on the Yanomami today?
Ask: What page does that chapter start on? 

Have students find the word manioc on page 8.
Ask: Where might we find the meaning of this word?

Have students find the glossary by looking up the page number in the contents page.
Ask them to find the word and read the meaning from the glossary.

Have students read through the rest of the words and meanings in the glossary.
Ask: Are there any words here you are unsure of?

Discuss any students bring up.

Introducing the Book
Before handing out the book, introduce it by showing the front cover.
Ask: What does this tell you about the book?

Turn the book over to the back cover.
Ask: What other information does this give us about the book?

Add any new information to the lists made during Eliciting Prior Knowledge.

During Reading

Student Reading
Introduce the worksheet. Explain to students what the worksheet requires them to do.

Say: You will need to read the text "The Yanomami: Deep in the Amazon" and then fill in the spaces on this worksheet. You will need to make comparisms with your own life. It may be easier to read a chapter and fill in the area relating to that chapter as you go.

Hand out the books and have students read quietly a their own pace.

After Reading

Building Comprehension
Refer to the questions in each section of the worksheet. Ask students to share their summaries of each section.
Have them restate facts and details in their own words.
Ask: Where do the Yanomami get their fruit? Where do the Yanomami get their fish? Where do the Yanomami get their meat? Where do the Yanomami get the materials for their houses? What do they make their houses out of? What do they Yanomami use for clothing? How are the Yanomami's beds made? How are these things different from what happened in your lives?

Word Work
Antonyms and Synonyms
Explain to students that antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning.
Explain to students that synonyms are words that have the same or nearly the same meaning.

Use the following examples "strange / normal" on page 4.
Write the two words at the top of a piece of paper.
Say: These words are antonyms of each other.
Have students suggest words that are either antonyms or synonyms of these words.
Write students' suggestions under each word with an a or s next to them.

Compound words
Explain to students that compound words are made up by joining two whole words to make a new word. The new word may have a different meaning from the original words.
Use this example from the book: "sometimes" on page 8.
Have students locate other compounds words in the text.
Have them suggest other compound words not found in the book.

Introduce the second worksheet
Explain to students it is related to the work covered on compound words, antonyms, and synonyms.

Learning through Visual Devices
Read and interpret a graph.
Point out the map of the Yanomami lands in the Amazon Rainforest.
Explain to students there are features of maps that make them easier to read and get information from.
They might include:
Title - tells what the map is about.
Labels - identify different parts of the map
Legend - identifies symbols on the map

Using these features, ask students to suggest information they can see in the map.
Ask: Using the features we have talked about, what information can you see in this map?

Writing Link
Have students choose one topic from the story to research further.
They may need to visit the library or use the Internet.
Write up their findings in similar format to the story.

Assessment
Monitor student's responses in the Comprehending Text section to assess how well they understand the text.
Monitor reading to see if students are using the effective reading strategies.
Assess students' knowledge of compound words, antonyms and synonyms.


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