Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing - Part A
Completion requirements
Unit 4
How Do Games Influence People?
Reader's Notebook
Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing
Effective readers ask why they are reading what they are.
This is called setting a purpose. Their next step is to choose a strategy that will help them.
Click each coloured row for information about the activity.
Open the Strategy Games: Problem-Solving Power poster and answer the three Before Reading questions on the Reader’s Notebook: Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing worksheet.
Download PDF
- Download the documents Strategy Games: Problem-Solving Power and Reader’s Notebook: Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: When the download screen opens:
- Click the "Open with" button.
- Select "Adobe Reader".
- Click "OK".
- You will then be able to view the documents Strategy Games: Problem-Solving Power and Reader’s Notebook: Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing.
- Print the documents.
Although you will be using many reading strategies, the main three you will be focusing on are using what you know, visualizing, and synthesizing.
- To use what you know, look at the title and pictures to find the topic, then think about what you already know.
- To use visualizing, you will use your imagination to put yourself into the situation - think about what it would look like or feel like. This will help you to understand the points the writer is making and to see if you agree with them.
- To use synthesizing, you will put ideas together by comparing the opinions you read with what you already know.
These strategies can also be found on page 9 of Literacy in Action 5B.
Read the poster Strategy Games: Problem-Solving Power.
Before I start reading, I try to decide on the author's purpose. I can tell by the way it looks that this is an article from a newspaper or a magazine - or maybe from the Internet.
The title tells me that it will be someone's opinion - if it just said Strategy Games, it might be a report or instructions about how to play, but the second part of the title Problem-Solving Power tells me that the writer is going to try to convince me that strategy games help me become a better problem solver.
Next, I need to think about what I know about strategy games. Looking at the illustrations, I can see that these are games like chess, checkers and others where you use your brain to figure out ways to win.
Now, I have two important pieces of information: this is an opinion piece, and it is about strategy games like chess and checkers.
Next, I begin reading the selection. I am not sure what the word hone means in the phrase "hone my competitive edge". However, I do know that the author likes to play so I think it might mean the same as improve.
The third paragraph is a little hard for me to understand. I do not know this game although I do know how to play checkers. I need to get a good picture of this in my mind - I might try sketching out the game to help me understand.
As I am reading I visualize Stephan playing games with his sister, trying to figure out how to defeat her. This helps my understanding that the author is basing his opinion about strategy games increasing your problem solving ability on his experience.
The title tells me that it will be someone's opinion - if it just said Strategy Games, it might be a report or instructions about how to play, but the second part of the title Problem-Solving Power tells me that the writer is going to try to convince me that strategy games help me become a better problem solver.
Next, I need to think about what I know about strategy games. Looking at the illustrations, I can see that these are games like chess, checkers and others where you use your brain to figure out ways to win.
Now, I have two important pieces of information: this is an opinion piece, and it is about strategy games like chess and checkers.
Next, I begin reading the selection. I am not sure what the word hone means in the phrase "hone my competitive edge". However, I do know that the author likes to play so I think it might mean the same as improve.
The third paragraph is a little hard for me to understand. I do not know this game although I do know how to play checkers. I need to get a good picture of this in my mind - I might try sketching out the game to help me understand.
As I am reading I visualize Stephan playing games with his sister, trying to figure out how to defeat her. This helps my understanding that the author is basing his opinion about strategy games increasing your problem solving ability on his experience.
Answer Questions 1 to 3 in the After Reading section on the Readers Notebook: Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing page.
Remember that good readers often use different strategies to read the same selection and often use more than one strategy at a time.
Remember to add any information from this lesson to your Games Graphic Organizer.
Remember that good readers often use different strategies to read the same selection and often use more than one strategy at a time.
Save
How to save a file:
- Scan the document to your computer.
- Have the file open and select Save As from the File menu.
- Name your Reader’s Notebook: Reading with Meaning and Synthesizing file in this format: jsmith_rnsynthesizing and save the file to your Documents folder.
Think About It
- Is there one thing that you think will help you the most when you read opinion sections?
Remember to add any information from this lesson to your Games Graphic Organizer.
Compare your responses with those in the Key by clicking here.