Students will find it interesting
to apply the elaboration technique taught in the previous lesson to one
of the Frog and Toad books. Consider placing students into groups of 3-4.
Each group can then elaborate one of the chapters within a particular
Frog and Toad book. Allow
class time for groups to share their work.
|
The Original Text
|
The Elaborated Text |
|
One
morning Toad sat in bed. “I
have many things to do,” he said. “I
will write them all down on a list so that I can remember them.”
|
One
sunny morning, when the birds chirped merrily outside, Toad sat
in bed thinking to himself. “I
have many things I must do today,” he said aloud. “I will write
them all down on a list so that I can remember them.
I will use the fine stationary that my grandmother sent me
and the pen that I found near the pond.” |
|
|
|
Taken from Frog
and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel.
For
older students, introduce them to the Fry Readability
Graph and the process used to determine the readability of a particular
literature selection. Have students determine the readability of
the easy-to-read book that they are going to use in the elaboration process.
After the students have elaborated the text, have them calculate
the readability again to determine if they raised the readability of the
text with their revision, and if so, by how many grade levels.
Students may also be interested in determining the readability
of some of their own work.
To Determine Readability
1.
Count the first
100 words of the story. Mark your spot lightly with a pencil.
2.
Count how many
sentences there are within the first 100 words of text. Record your answer.
3.
Count how many
syllables there are in the first 100 words of text. Record your answer.
4.
Graph the answers
on Fry’s Readability Graph to calculate the readability level.
Copyright 2004. Jennifer Berthelot (berthelotj@spsd.sk.ca). All rights reserved.