Reading Level
Y

Pages:
24

Text Summary
Plate Tectonics is a factual text that explains how the Earth has changed over millions of years and why these changes have occurred. This book describes the structure of the Earth in understandable terms and provides interesting facts about geological events that occur in our world.

Vocabulary
continental drift
continental plates
core
crust
global mid-ocean ridge
magma
mantle
oceanic plates
pangaea
plates
ring of fire
tectonic plates
trenches

Reproducibles
Worksheets
Worksheet 1: Gathering and organizing information
Worksheet 2: 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: Restate facts in detail to clarify and organize ideas presented in the text

Word Work
Antonyms and Synonyms
Identify and use antonyms and synonyms.

Visual Literacy
Read and interpret diagrams.

Before Reading

Elicit Prior Knowledge and Build Background
Make a mind map with students around the phrase Plate Tectonics.
Have them suggest what they already know about Plate Tectonics.
Write their suggestions around the title.

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 Earth's Fragile Crust?
Ask: What page does that chapter start on? 

Have students find the word mantle on page 5.
Explain to them that the meaning of this word is in the glossary at the back. 

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.
Have them 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 words 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 chart 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 Plate Tectonics and then fill in the spaces on this worksheet. 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 at their own pace.

After Reading

Building Comprehension
Refer to the questions of each section of the worksheet.
Ask students to share their summaries of each section.
Have students restate facts and details in their own words.
Ask: What are the main parts of the Earth's Crust?
Ask: What are Tectonic Plates?
Ask: What is continental drift?
Ask: Name two important things about the global mid-ocean ridge.
Ask: What is the Ring of Fire?
Ask: Is there anything else anyone wants to share?

Word Work
Antonyms
Explain to students that antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning.
Look for the word active on page 4.
Ask: What does this word mean?
What words have the opposite meaning?
Can you find any other words in the book that have antonyms?

Synonyms
Explain that synonyms are words that have the same or nearly the same meaning.
Look at the word active again.
Ask: Can you think of any other words that are synonyms to this word?
Ask: Can you find any other words in the story that have synonyms?

Introduce the second worksheet.

Learning through Visual Devices
Read and interpret a scientific illustration.
Point out the scientific illustration of continental drift on page 12.
Explain to students that certain features of scientific illustrations make them easier to read and get information from. They might include:
Title - Tells what the scientific illustration is about.
Labels - Identify different parts of the scientific illustration

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

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

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