Teaching Plan. All plants have roots.

Teaching Plan EDL Level 38 Guided Reading Level P Lexile Measure 690L All plants have roots. But are all roots underground? The book La raíz de las cosas discusses many basic facts about roots, such as their shapes, their functions, and where they grow. Nonfiction Genre Informational Text Nonfiction Features Boldface Captions Contents Diagrams Featured Text Glossary Headings Index Labels Sidebars Text Structure Compare and Contrast Description Explanation tronco anclas nutrientes absorber tropicales clima invernadero sobrevivir Comprehension Generalize Writing Write an informational text. Content Area Connections: Life Science Identify the functions of roots. Understand how plants grow. Curriculum Support You may want to use La raíz de las cosas when teaching the following science topics: Plant systems Roots Cross-Text Reading Todo depende del suelo, an iopeners Grade 3 science title

1 Introduce the Book Introduce the Nonfiction Genre: Informational Text Show students the cover, and read aloud the title and the author s name. Have students discuss what they think the book will be about. Point out that some books, such as La raíz de las cosas, are written to tell about or explain things in the natural or social world. Encourage discussion of the features, such as photographs and diagrams, that students might expect to find in an informational text. Ask students what they think these features might tell them about roots. Activate or Build Background Talk with students about various kinds of plants and what plants need to live. Ask students to tell the parts of plants that they know about. If possible, draw their attention to plants in the classroom or outside the window during the discussion. Emphasize the roots of plants. Invite volunteers to describe roots that they have seen. Qué aspecto tienen las raíces? Has visto diferentes tipos de raíces? En qué se parecían las raíces? En qué se diferenciaban? Nonfiction Text Features Diagrams: Show students the labeled diagram on page 4. Explain that diagrams are illustrations or photographs that show how things work or how they are made. The labels and the lines connecting them to the diagram identify the various parts that are shown. Featured text: Use the activity on the bottom of page 5 as an example of featured text. Featured text contains additional material or information about the topic in the main text. The author included activities as featured text so readers could learn more about roots through experience. Headings: Point out the heading on page 6. Explain that headings help organize the text and alert readers to the topics that will be discussed. Captions: Have students read the caption with the photograph at the top of page 7. Explain that captions give useful information about a photograph or an illustration. Captions often include more detailed information about subjects covered in the main text. Preview and Predict Encourage students to look again at the cover and the contents. Then have them flip through the book, paying attention to the headings and the illustrations. Por qué usarías un libro como éste? Qué crees que aprenderás sobre las raíces en este libro? Cómo te ayudará saber sobre las raíces de las plantas a comprender mejor las plantas? Introduce You may want to introduce the following words and concepts before reading: tronco: el tallo principal de una planta anclas: cosas que fijan los objetos en un lugar nutrientes: cualquier cosa que necesiten los seres vivos para vivir y crecer absorber: aspirar o recibir tropicales: situados en las regiones cálidas cerca del ecuador clima: el tipo de tiempo que hace en un lugar invernadero: edificio con calefacción que se utiliza para cultivar plantas; tiene techo y paredes de vidrio o plástico sobrevivir: continuar viviendo

2 Read the Book SET THE PURPOSE pages 3 8 Ask students to generate two or three questions that the book might answer about roots. Note the questions on the chalkboard so students can keep them in mind as they read. tronco, anclas, nutrientes, absorber pages 9 13 Point out that students will read about the different shapes of roots in this chapter. Ask students to think about the reasons for the different shapes as they read. tropicales, clima Tell students that a generalization is a statement that draws a conclusion about how a group of things are alike. Cuáles son dos generalizaciones que hace el autor acerca de las raíces? Generalize Por qué el autor dice que las raíces actúan como anclas? Identify Main Idea/Details Cómo puede ayudar el tamaño diminuto de los pelos absorbentes a que la planta absorba agua? Make Inferences Draw students attention to the tree diagram on page 4. Point out the labels that identify each part of the tree. Qué te dice el diagrama sobre las raíces? Compara el tamaño de las raíces con los tamaños de otras partes del árbol. Have students compare the photograph and the diagram on page 8. En qué se diferencia la fotografía del diagrama? Qué información da el diagrama que no da la fotografía? Por qué cambia la forma de las raíces en diferentes tipos de lugares? Identify Main Idea/Details En qué se parecen las raíces primarias a las raíces fibrosas? En qué se diferencian? Compare and Contrast Qué le ocurriría a una planta en el desierto si no tuviera raíces fibrosas? Predict Invite students to read the Obsérvalo tu mismo box on page 11. If possible, let students carry out the directions. Encourage discussion of the results. Qué planta tiene raíces fibrosas? Qué planta tiene una raíz primaria? Have students read the caption with the grapevine diagram on page 11. En qué se diferencia la raíz primaria de las demás raíces que se muestran?

pages 14 19 Ask students if they know of any types of plants that do not grow in soil. As students read, have them think about how these roots survive without soil. invernadero, sobrevivir Piensas que sería más fácil para los granjeros usar cultivo hidropónico en lugar de cultivar plantas en tierra? Por qué? Make Judgments En qué se parecen los árboles con raíces sobre el suelo a otros árboles? En qué se diferencian? Compare and Contrast Por qué las raíces aéreas no necesitan tocar el suelo? Identify Cause and Effect Observa las fotografías de las páginas 14 y 15. Cómo te ayudan a comprender cómo las plantas pueden crecer sin tierra? Qué te dicen los pies de foto de las páginas 18 y 19 que no está incluido en el texto principal? pages 20 22 Review with students what they have learned about the importance of roots to plants. As students read, have them look for ways that plant roots are also important to people and animals. Write on the chalkboard a chart with the headings Plantas, Personas, and Animales. Ask students how each of these is helped by the roots of plants. List students ideas in the appropriate columns. Classify/Categorize Have students read the last sentence of the paragraph on page 22. Piensas que esto es cierto para la mayoría de las raíces? Por qué? Generalize Cuál piensas que es la función más importante de las raíces? Por qué? Make Judgments Have students look at the sidebar on page 20. Por qué la gente confunde raíces, bulbos y tubérculos? Cómo te ayuda la columna lateral a comprender la diferencia? Point out the illustration on page 21. Qué tiene de especial esta ilustración? Qué te dice sobre la manera en que los animales hacen sus madrigueras bajo las raíces? Si no hubiera ilustración, podrías imaginar basándote en el texto que la madriguera de un tejón sería así? ESL/ELL Strategy Have students open their books to page 4 and point out the labels on the photograph of the tree. As you point to each label, say the English term aloud: branch, leaves, trunk, soil, and root. Explain to students that, in English, leaf is an irregular noun. We say leaf when there is only one, and leaves for more than one. Reread the Book After students reread the text, have them use the chart on the back cover to summarize the important information that they learned about roots. Then discuss the way the book is organized. Invite students to look back at the contents. Cómo organizó el autor la información? Se entiende el orden en que el autor presentó la información? Por qué? Ask students what knowing about roots has helped them understand about plants. Answers to Student Book Questions 1. Las ilustraciones y los diagramas muestran claramente los diferentes tipos de raíces y sus partes. 2. Las raíces protegen las plantas de ser llevadas por el viento o arrastradas por la lluvia. 3. Las respuestas variarán pero pueden incluir: Las raíces fibrosas, porque pueden extenderse sobre un área más amplia. 4. Las raíces mantienen a las plantas en su lugar, y absorben el agua y los nutrientes que las plantas necesitan. 5. Las respuestas variarán.

3 Learn Through the Text SCIENCE: How Plants Gather Nutrients Use La raíz de las cosas to help students learn about the importance of roots. Use the diagram on page 4 to discuss the main parts of a plant. Then have students look at the pictures in the book to see how parts vary among plants. Explain that these differences are adaptations that enable plants to live in many different places. Have students study the picture of the root on page 8. Point out the tubes that carry water and minerals from the soil up the plant. Explain that plants use these minerals to help them grow. They use the water along with carbon dioxide and sunlight to make food. Tell students that plants use some of the food they make to grow, while some of the food is stored in the stems and roots for later use. Discuss what might happen if a plant s roots cannot do their job. COMPREHENSION: Generalize Explain to students that sometimes they can generalize information about a topic. A generalization is a statement that describes an overall idea or makes a general point about something. A generalization does not include specific details. Have students brainstorm a list of facts they know about roots. Then have them consider an idea that would tell about roots and cover all or most of the ideas they have listed. Point out that generalizations often include signal words such as todos, la mayoría, muchos, algunos, and pocos. Help students form a generalization about roots, such as Las raíces ayudan a todas las plantas a vivir y a crecer. WRITING Write an Informational Text Have students use what they have learned about informational text to write a report about another part of plants. List the following questions on the chalkboard. Encourage students to answer these questions to recall what they learned from the book about roots. Dónde están situadas las raíces de las plantas? Qué hacen las raíces por las plantas? Cuáles son algunos tipos diferentes de raíces? Cómo usan las raíces los animales y las personas? Have students turn to page 4 and review the diagram. Ask students to choose branches, leaves, or the trunk as the topic for a report. Point out that the trunks of some plants are called stems. Have students who chose the same topic work together. Ask them to copy the questions on the chalkboard, replacing the word raíces with the word ramas, hojas, troncos, or tallos to match the topic of their group. Ask several students within each group to work together to answer one of the questions. Suggest that they answer their question by checking an encyclopedia, by looking in other books about plants, or by using the Internet. When students have finished their research, have them combine their information to write a brief explanation that answers the four questions about the group s topic. Encourage students to illustrate their report with pictures and diagrams that they draw or cut out from old magazines. Help the groups combine their reports into a classroom book about the different parts of plants.

La raíz de las cosas Organizador gráfico Nombre Llena las gráficas a continuación con datos que hayas aprendido sobre las raíces. Lo que hacen las raíces Diferentes formas de raíces Dónde crecen las raíces Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Celebration Press, an imprint of Pearson Learning Group, 299 Jefferson Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for the Reproducible Graphic Organizer, which may be reproduced for classroom use only. For information regarding permission(s), write to Rights and Permissions Department. Lexile is a U.S. registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-800-321-3106 www.pearsonlearning.com