5.4.2 A New Girl in Class This is a fictional story about two friends who help organize a walk-a-thon to raise money for further research on muscular disorders They get the idea for the walk-athon when they find out that a girl with cerebral palsy will be a new student at the school SUMMARY GENERALIZE PREDICT READ THE BOOK Ask students to set a purpose for reading this book Draw out their curiosity in the illustrations and in the discussion of muscular disorders and handicapped people SET PURPOSE Have students write down predictions every time they are about to turn the page Every prediction should be justified by their prior knowledge, by clues they find in the text, and by their sense of logic If their prediction doesn’t match the story as they read on, they should refine their predictions based on the new information STRATEGY SUPPORT: PREDICT LESSON VOCABULARY abdomen gait therapist artificial handicapped wheelchair INTRODUCE THE BOOK Discuss with students the title and the author of A New Girl in Class Based on the title, ask students what kind of information they think this book will provide Draw students’ attention to the cover illustration and elicit questions about the girl with crutches Ask them what the title and the illustration tell them about what they will be reading in the book INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR BUILD BACKGROUND Ask students if any of them ever volunteered for a fundraiser? If so, what cause did it benefit? What types of activity did they to raise money? Ask them if they know how the money raised helped the cause? Have students study the illustrations Ask them what they think is going on in the illustrations Ask students if any of them have seen a scene similar to the illustration of the girl on the parallel rails on page 10, and if so, they know what she is doing and why PREVIEW Have students discuss in English what they see in the illustrations Elicit responses specifically referring to crutches, handicaps, and therapy Encourage them to use their new vocabulary words to discuss handicaps Have them share equivalent words from their home language regarding handicaps 76 COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS Why does Mr Porter tell the class about cerebral palsy? (because Lisa, the new student, has it) PAGES 3–6 What is cerebral palsy? (a condition that prevents a person from developing motor skills properly) PAGE Which sentence is a generalization? (“In general, some scientists believe it’s the result of not enough oxygen getting to the brain in the early stages of development.”) PAGE What did the students decide to to help kids like Lisa? (Possible responses: to raise money for research, sponsor a walk-a-thon) PAGES 12–13 How did Karen and Dave recruit walkers? (They divided the class into teams, one team for each grade Then each team would meet with students to recruit walkers.) PAGE 17 A New Girl in Class 16911_LRD_TG_076-077 76 10/20/05 10:24:13 AM REVISIT THE BOOK READER RESPONSE Possible responses: [Details] Muscular disorders result in trouble with motor skills, they can improve with time, physical therapy can help [Generalizations] Muscular disorders bring many challenges; these circumstances can often be improved Possible responses: A large amount of money will go to cerebral palsy research; Lisa may feel good about attending this school Abdomen means stomach; stomach, belly Possible responses: Premature birth may have led to her brain not getting enough oxygen for normal development EXTEND UNDERSTANDING Ask students to write the elements of plot structure—background, goal, rising action, climax, and outcome— down one side of the page, leaving a couple of lines between each word Then, ask students to identify each of the elements in the text (background: information the students receive about Lisa and cerebral palsy; goal: sponsoring a walk-a-thon; rising action: preparation for the event; climax: the walk itself; outcome: walk-a-thon is a success) RESPONSE OPTIONS Have students pretend that they are organizing a walk-a-thon for someone like Lisa Ask them to create a poster that encourages other students to participate in the walk-athon Suggest that their posters both inform other students about cerebral palsy and inspire them to participate WRITING SCIENCE CONNECTION Come up with a list of several other muscular disorders Then, divide students into groups of four or five Have students further research on the causes of, effects of, and interesting facts about these muscular disorders Then, the students should compile their information into three columns—Causes, Effects, Interesting Facts—then present their information to the class Skill Work TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY Review the vocabulary words and definitions with students Use the illustrations in the book to discuss handicapped, therapist, and abdomen Have the students use the rest of the words in sentences Ask them to try to use more than one vocabulary word in a single sentence TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY Remind students that a generalization is a broad statement that applies to many examples Explain that an author’s generalizations often sum up information in a story Stress that there are clue words that can signal generalizations, and offer these words as examples: often, usually, and in general Encourage them to note these words as they read GENERALIZE Explain to students that to predict means to tell what you think might happen in a story based on what has already happened Explain that students should look for clues in the text and use prior knowledge and logic to make their predictions As they read, they should monitor their predictions to see if they match the text If not, they should refine their predictions in light of new information PREDICT ADDITIONAL SKILL INSTRUCTION Explain to students that the plot is an organized pattern of events Encourage students to use story maps to recognize the elements of plot: background, goal, rising action, climax, and outcome Introduce the terms flashback, in which the action of the story is interrupted to talk about something that happened in the past, and foreshadowing, in which the writer hints at events to come in the story Encourage students to look for these elements as they read PLOT A New Girl in Class 16911_LRD_TG_076-077 77 77 10/20/05 10:24:14 AM A New Girl in Class Name Generalize A generalization is made after thinking about a number of examples or facts and identifying what they have in common Directions Read this information about cerebral palsy Cerebral Palsy is a condition that a person is sometimes born with It prevents the person from developing motor skills properly Babies born with cerebral palsy often have a hard time learning to roll over, sit up, stand, or walk They can develop these skills, but it takes them much longer than usual—sometimes many years They usually need a lot of physical therapy to learn to control and develop their muscles Sometimes kids with cerebral palsy are helped by wearing braces Directions Use the information in the passage to fill out the graphic organizer You may find several generalizations, but try to identify the main generalization and three of the supporting details Generalization © Pearson Education Supporting Facts 78 16911_LRD_TG_078-079 10/20/05 10:24:51 AM A New Girl in Class Name Vocabulary Directions Draw a line from each word to its definition Check the Words You Know abdomen handicapped artificial therapist gait wheelchair abdomen a particular way of walking, stepping, or running artificial produced by humans, not nature gait a specialist who provides treatment or healing of an illness or disability handicapped a chair equipped with large wheels for the use of a disabled person therapist the section of the body that holds the intestines and stomach; the belly wheelchair people who have a mental or physical disability © Pearson Education Directions Write a paragraph about what you learned about Lisa using four of the vocabulary words 79 16911_LRD_TG_078-079 79 3/20/06 8:51:51 AM ... elements as they read PLOT A New Girl in Class 16911_LRD _TG_ 076-077 77 77 10 /20 / 05 10: 24 : 14 AM A New Girl in Class Name Generalize A generalization is made after thinking about a number of examples... STRATEGY Remind students that a generalization is a broad statement that applies to many examples Explain that an author’s generalizations often sum up information in a story Stress that there are clue... Generalization © Pearson Education Supporting Facts 78 16911_LRD _TG_ 078-079 10 /20 / 05 10: 24 :51 AM A New Girl in Class Name Vocabulary Directions Draw a line from each word to its definition Check the