3. Resource Hub: Teaching Grammatical Building Blocks
Grammatical Building Blocks Skill Explainer
Nancy Chapel EberhardtVideos
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Julie Turner: Boys and girls, remember how we read the story "The Cactus Hotel" earlier today?
Narrator: As your students start to read more complex text, they'll need to be able to track the subject, the "who" or the "what," across a passage. It's what turns a group of disconnected sentences into a story. Students already know that every sentence has a "who" or a "what." What they'll be learning today is how authors use pronouns and synonyms to point back to the subject and keep those ideas connected. Watch as third grade teacher Julie Turner and reading specialist Carla Stanford guide students at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta through their first step in tracing the subject ... learning how pronouns and synonyms work.
Carla Stanford: Today we're going to become experts on the "who or what."
Narrator: They start by reviewing pronouns.
Carla Stanford: There's a group of words that can take the place of the "who or what." What are those words, Ms. Turner?
Julie Turner: Those words are called pronouns. Let's read through the list of words together. I, you, she, he, it, we, you, they.
Carla Stanford: Thumbs up if you've heard of a pronoun before. Thumbs up if you've used a pronoun when you were talking. Yes. You're already experts on pronouns when you're talking. You might say, "My mom is working hard. She is a hard worker." Right? And you would take mom and you would replace it with what pronoun? She. Excellent. So we know about pronouns when we are speaking, but now we want to think about the way an author uses pronouns to replace. Everyone say "replace."
Students: "Replace."
Carla Stanford: Say "pronouns replace."
Students: "Pronouns replace."
Narrator: The label pronoun doesn't tell us exactly what pronouns do. By teaching students that pronouns replace, Ms. Stanford is helping them understand the job of a pronoun.
Carla Stanford: So they replace the "who" or "what." And when they replace, they refer back. And what we have to start doing is thinking about, what are they referring back to? So we're going to do some practice. We're going to read some sentences, and we are going to make some decisions. We're going to pretend to be the author, and we're going to make some decisions about what pronouns should replace. You ready?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: Let's do it.
Julie Turner: Let's take a look at our first sentence.
Everybody: "The giant cactus grows."
Narrator: Ms. Turner asks her students to think about what pronoun would replace the giant cactus in a second sentence: "The giant cactus grows for years."
Carla Stanford: "The giant cactus" is a noun that we can replace with one of those words from the list. Which word would replace "the giant cactus"? Give me a thumbs up when you know which word could replace "the giant cactus." Hadley, which word do you think would replace "the giant cactus"?
Hadley: It.
Julie Turner: Exactly: "It grows for years." "The giant cactus" is "it."
Carla Stanford: Do you see how that would have been repetitive to say "the giant cactus" and "the giant cactus"? And the job of the pronoun was to do what?
Students: Replace it.
Carla Stanford: Replace it.
Students: So it's shorter.
Carla Stanford: So it's shorter, and it's not so repetitive. So now let's read, all together, both of the sentences; and let's replace "the giant cactus" with it. Are y'all ready?
Students: Yeah.
Carla Stanford: All right. Let's read together.
Everybody: "The giant cactus grows. It grows for years."
Carla Stanford: Doesn't that sound so much better?
Students: Yes.
Narrator: The cactus hotel story has a lot of subjects to keep track of. The hotel itself, birds, bats, and snakes. Knowing which pronoun can stand in for a subject will help students keep track of, or trace, who or what each sentence is referring to, boosting their comprehension.
Julie Turner: So I think it's worth doing one more example where we're not replacing it with it, because it is one singular thing. But I noticed on this sentence ... "The ants and mice want to live in the cactus hotel." ... I don't think I can replace it with "it" this time.
Carla Stanford: Why not? Why can't we replace it with it?
Students: Because there's two of them.
Carla Stanford: There's two, and it only refers to ...
Students: One.
Carla Stanford: Yeah. They know so much already. I love it.
Julie Turner: Let's take a look at our next sentence: "The ants and mice find space to nest." So what do we think we can replace it with?
Students: They! They!
Julie Turner: Let's see ... the word they. Aha! You got it. All right. Let's read those two sentences together now. Ready?
Everybody: "The ants and mice want to live in the cactus hotel. They find space to nest."
Carla Stanford: Okay. As a reader, do you see how this is flowing?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: When you get to they, your brain should be thinking, "Oh, what does 'they' stand in for? What is it replacing?"
Students: The ants and mice.
Carla Stanford: So you constantly, as a reader, have to track that. And as a writer, if we do the opposite, right? We're the ones creating the content. We don't want to have our stories have the same words repeated over and over and over. And so now we know we can use a pronoun to replace.
Narrator: Next, Ms. Stanford explains how synonyms work.
Carla Stanford: Everyone say synonym.
Students: Synonym.
Carla Stanford: A synonym is a word that means "the same." Say synonym.
Students: Synonym.
Carla Stanford: Same.
Students: Same.
Carla Stanford: Use your hand. Synonym.
Students: Synonym.
Carla Stanford: Same.
Students: Same.
Carla Stanford: If happy is a word, what is a word that means the same as happy.
Student: Joy.
Carla Stanford: Joy.
Student: Excited.
Carla Stanford: Excited.
Student: Happiest.
Carla Stanford: Happiest. Glad. Those are all very similar. What'd you say, sweet friend?
Student: Happiness.
Carla Stanford: Happiness, right? So words that mean, that are similar. They might not be exactly the same, but they give the same sentiment, the same meaning. So as readers, as we are reading, and we're thinking about who or what is the sentence about, who or what is the passage about? We know that the "who" or "what" will be named. We know the "who" or "what" can be replaced with a pronoun, but a "who" or "what" can also be reworded. Everyone say reworded.
Students: Reworded.
Carla Stanford: With a synonym!
Narrator: Synonyms and pronouns aren't interchangeable tools. So assigning each one a consistent function ... pronouns replace, synonyms reword ... helps students stay anchored as they're reading and processing sentences.
Carla Stanford: So we're going to practice this together. This happened a lot in "The Cactus Hotel" where the author intentionally took a "who" or "what" and did some rewording. So we're going to put our heads together; and our "who" or "what" we're going to think about is the Cactus Hotel. So I want you to think about that. If you were going to come up with another word to reword so that your passage didn't say, "The Cactus Hotel was big. The Cactus Hotel had lots of creatures. The Cactus Hotel had blooms on top" ... so that you didn't repeat "the Cactus Hotel" over and over and over ... what is another word or group of words that you could use in place of it? I'm going to have you turn and talk. Turn and talk with the people at your table, and let's see if you can come up with an idea before I share the ideas that Ms. Turner and I came up with.
Student 1: For insects, you could do bugs.
Student 2: But we're talking about both of them.
Student 1: Oh yeah.
Carla Stanford: I love your ideas. You're doing great work. Okay. We're going to pull some together. All right, friends. Eyes this way. I heard some amazing ideas. We have the Cactus Hotel. What did you say, friend?
Student: A house for animals.
Carla Stanford: A house for animals. That's really cool. These guys also were saying ...
Student: A word for house.
Carla Stanford: Another word for house. They were really brainstorming. What is another word for a house? I heard some people over ...
Student: Home.
Carla Stanford: A home. A home. What else?
Student: A nest?
Student: Maybe ...
Carla Stanford: A nest.
Student: Shelter.
Student: A shelter.
Student: Shelter.
Carla Stanford: A shelter. Do you like that? A shelter?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: A shelter for animals? That could work.
Student: A safe place.
Carla Stanford: A safe place. There's this scientific word that I'm thinking of that means a home for animals. Do you guys know? What is that, Hadley?
Hadley: Habitat.
Carla Stanford: A habitat. Everyone say habitat.
Students: Habitat.
Carla Stanford: So now we have come up with a whole plethora of synonyms to reword "the Cactus Hotel." So let's think about this. As a reader, if I'm reading "The Cactus Hotel" and I know the "who" or "what" this book is about is what? It's about the Cactus Hotel. Now I can anticipate all the ways the author may reword "the Cactus Hotel" so they don't repeat it over and over and over and over again. Does that make sense? Now shift your brain. Say, shift!
Students: Shift!
Carla Stanford: Now think about it as a writer. As a writer, if Ms. Turner said, I would like for you to write a paragraph about the Cactus Hotel and all the residents of the Cactus Hotel, now you have a strategy. You can use the Cactus Hotel. You can use a replace word called a ...
Students: Pronoun.
Carla Stanford: Pronoun. And now you can use a reword, which is a ...
Everybody: Synonym.
Carla Stanford: You have a strategy. You ready to try some more?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: So now we're going to look at birds, rats, and snakes. That's our "who" or "what." Now you are going to work with the people at your table, and I want you to come up with the rewords or the synonyms. It can be one word, or it can be a group of words. Turn and talk.
Student 1: Synonym is creatures, animals ...
Student 2: And um ...
Carla Stanford: What do you think?
Student: Visitors.
Carla Stanford: Oh, visitors. Do you like that one? Okay, Kingston and Kailei. Okay. We had some brilliance over here. We're going to check in with them. These two friends had a way that they want to reword birds, rats, and snakes. They said ...
Kingston and Kailei: Visitors.
Carla Stanford: Visitors. You guys agree? I also heard some other ones. Did you hear some over here, Ms. Turner?
Julie Turner: I heard desert animals.
Carla Stanford: I like that one, too. I heard another one over here.
Student: It was creatures.
Carla Stanford: Do you like that one? So we have desert animals. We have creatures. We have visitors. And we have birds, rats, and snakes. Do you think we have a bank of words that would help us anticipate what's coming?
Student: Yes.
Carla Stanford: I think so, too. You want to see what we came up with?
Everybody: The animals.
Carla Stanford: Would that work?
Students: Yeah.
Carla Stanford: Not as fun as yours, but yeah.
Students: Creatures.
Students: Residents of the hotel.
Carla Stanford: Excellent. Now, trick question. If I wanted to replace, not reword, but if I wanted to replace all of these "who" are "whats", what pronoun would I use?
Students: They.
Carla Stanford: They. You're really getting the hang of it. You guys are doing excellent work.
Julie Turner: Okay. So boys and girls, you said that the replacement pronoun for cactus is ...
Students: It.
Julie Turner: Now I want to hear some of the synonyms that you had for cactus. Raise your hand. Joseph.
Joseph: Hotel.
Julie Turner: Hotel. All right. So I'll write hotel on my list. Let's see if we've got another idea. Kingston?
Kingston: Plant.
Julie Turner: Plant. Absolutely. Cactus is a plant. We'll add the word "plant" to the list. And I saw some of those people had the same idea as Kingston.
Carla Stanford: I think you guys have gotten really good at this. Are you ready? Drum roll.
Everybody: [hands patting to make a drumroll sound]
Carla Stanford: Can you do it with your partners?
Student: Yeah.
Carla Stanford: Can you turn and talk and work to fill out the next one all by yourselves?
Students: [unintelligible]
Julie Turner: Okay, boys and girls, I think we're ready to have some discussion here. I heard a really good conversation between Ava and Joseph. They were deciding which pronoun to use. And, Ava, I heard you say something about the word it. Can you tell us what you said about the word it?
Ava: So what I said about it was ... bats and insects are two, and "it" means one, so we decided to put they.
Julie Turner: That was such a smart idea. And I see some people are giving you this. They had the same conversation with their partners. And I know I saw some really eager hands ready to answer replacement synonyms for bats and insects. Sadie.
Sadie: Creatures.
Julie Turner: Creatures. That's a great word that will replace both bats and insects. Let's record that on our chart. I think we haven't heard from Amy in a while.
Amy: Animals.
Julie Turner: Animals. That makes sense. Let's record the word animals.
Carla Stanford: Thumbs up if you had animals on your paper; and if you didn't, you can add it. This is all about creating a word bank for you to really think about this. So we're going to stop right here. Put your hands down and put your eyes right here. You guys, thank you so much for this hard work you did today. You already knew what a pronoun was, and you already knew what a synonym was; but what you started learning today is that they have a job when they're in a sentence or when they're in a passage. And as readers, if we know their job, we know their intention, we can track them and we can be thinking about the "who" or "what."
Narrator: Now that students understand the role that pronouns and synonyms play at the word level, their next lesson will be focused on applying what they've learned at the next level: sentences and passages.
Carla Stanford: Pat yourselves on the back. Give yourselves a round of applause. Give yourselves a woot woot!
Students: Woot woot!
Carla Stanford: Good job.
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy, Reading is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
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Carla Stanford: So we're going to take the whole idea that we can think about the who or what a sentence or a passage is about, and then we can understand that the author may represent that who or what with pronouns that replace or synonyms that reword. Are you ready to do this work together?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: Yes. Let's do it!
Narrator: These third graders at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta have been learning about how pronouns and synonyms can stand in for the subject of a story. Today is all about putting that learning into practice. Watch as teacher Julie Turner and reading specialist Carla Stanford, guide them through a passage that's sounding a little repetitive and needs their help to fix it.
Julie Turner: We are going to read this paragraph all about a cactus, and I want all of us to read it together at the same time. So we're going to have some choral reading. Are we ready?
Students: Yes.
Julie Turner: Okay. Follow along with my finger. Don't go ahead of me.
Together: "A cactus sprouts up from the ground. The cactus is only four inches high after ten years. When there is no rain, the cactus uses the water the cactus has stored inside."
Julie Turner: What do you notice about this paragraph? Kailei? What do you notice about this paragraph?
Kailei: It repeats the cactus.
Julie Turner:
Yes, it says the cactus four times. How does that feel as a reader when we read the word the cactus, a cactus, the cactus, the cactus in one paragraph. It's repetitive.
Student: It's a little boring.
Julie Turner: A little boring. I agree.
Student: That's awkward.
Julie Turner: It's a little awkward too, for sure.
Carla Stanford: Here we go. If I have "a cactus sprouts up from the ground," do you think we can use that first one? Can we keep that first a cactus there?
Student: Yes.
Carla Stanford: Yes. That can be our first who or what? That's going to guide us. That's the subject. That is the subject. It may be. We will read in a minute or you can guys can decide. It also may be the main idea. Let's read the next sentence together. The second one right here. Ready?
Together: "The cactus is only four inches high after ten years."
Carla Stanford: Well, first of all, I want to take that sentence in. It's kind of unreal, right? Four inches. Show me four inches. So four inches high after ten years. How old are you?
Students: Eight.
Carla Stanford: You're eight! You're so much taller and you're not even ten years, so that's an interesting fact. Now let's think we already have a cactus. We're going to pretend like we're the author of this passage and we are going to think about what could we put here instead of the cactus. If we wanted to replace with a pronoun, touch your temple and think, what pronoun could we use? Turn and whisper to your neighbor.
Eyes this way. Let's say it together. 1, 2, 3 ...
Students: It!
Carla Stanford: Excellent. So it can go here. Cross out the cactus, and we're going to replace ... everyone say replace.
Students: Replace.
Carla Stanford: With it. All right. Let's reread. Here we go.
Together: "When there is no rain, the cactus uses the water the cactus has stored inside."
Carla Stanford: Let's start here. What could we put there for a reword? That means a synonym for the cactus. So we have a cactus. We have our pronoun it to replace, and now we're going to reword. Turn and talk with your teammates.
Student: The plant that stores water.
Carla Stanford: A synonym, a word that means the same. Oh, I hear ... collectively ... I hear ...
Together: The plant.
Carla Stanford: "There is no rain the plant uses the water." Are y'all okay with that?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: All right, let's do that switch. But then this is tricky. We have another, the cactus in that sentence, and maybe that's where we drop in that other it. Let's see if that would work. Would y'all like to try it? You think? Okay, let's read and when we get here, let's try it. You ready?
Together: "When there is no rain, the plant uses the water it has stored inside."
Carla Stanford: Does that work?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: Yes! Excellent work.
Narrator: After some strong work with pronouns and synonyms, these students are ready for the next step. Reading a passage and identifying the who or what in each sentence.
Carla Stanford: You guys just took the who or what, replaced with pronouns, and you reworded with synonyms. I think that they have this.
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy, Reading is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
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Carla Stanford: We have a passage. We're going to read it together. We're going to identify the "who" or "what," and we're going to have to be word detectives.
Narrator: At Burgess-Peterson Academy, third graders are learning how to track the subject, the "who" or "what," through a story. Teacher Julie Turner and reading specialist Carla Stanford have already taught them how writers use pronouns and synonyms to avoid repetition. Now students get a chance to practice identifying those in a passage.
Carla Stanford: Reach in your pocket. Pull out your word detective glasses. Put them on. We're going to be "who" or "what" word detectives. Are you ready?
Julie Turner: Let's read it together. Ready?
Everyone: "After 50 years, white and yellow flowers bloom atop the cactus. The blooms will open for one night only. They attract birds, bees, and bats who are all looking for nectar. The flowering part dries up after a month."
Carla Stanford: Who or what is this passage about? Why don't you turn and talk to your partner and work this thinking out? I want to hear some debates and thinking. Who do you think? What is this about? The white and yellow flowers. These friends have a decision about the 'who" or "what," so let's listen to their thinking and see if we agree. Can you share girls?
Students: The white and yellow flowers.
Carla Stanford: The white and yellow flowers. Do you guys agree with that?
Students: Yes!
Carla Stanford: Is this passage about white and yellow flowers? Yes. If that is the "who" or "what," now we have to go searching. Did the author repeat "white and yellow flowers" over and over and over?
Students: No.
Carla Stanford: I agree with you guys. The author made some really wise word decisions. Some other ways to say "white and yellow flowers." Turn and work with your partners, and figure out the other ways that the "who" or "what" is represented. Turn and talk. What are you guys thinking?
Students: The blooms.
Carla Stanford: The blooms. Okay. Anything else?
Students: [unintelligible]
Carla Stanford: Word detectives. I think you have figured this out. This back row back here is going to work us through this passage, and you guys are going to listen and give a thumbs up if you agree. The four of you ... you were working together, such great thinking. We decided that the "who" or "what" of our passage is white and yellow flowers. And then what other ways did this author represent the "who" or "what"?
Student: The blooms.
Carla Stanford: Do you guys agree?
Students: Yeah.
Carla Stanford: The blooms. Another way that the "who" or "what" is represented?
Student: Flowering.
Carla Stanford: Flowering. I think there's one more part. Can you start this sentence right here?
Student: "The flowering part dries up after a month."
Carla Stanford: Okay. What is the "who" or "what" in the sentence "The flowering part dries up after a month"? Who or what is this sentence about?
Student: The flowering ...
Carla Stanford: The flowering ...
Student: Part.
Carla Stanford: The flowering part. The flowering part is a synonym or another way to say ...
Student: White and yellow flowers.
Carla Stanford: White and yellow flowers or ...
Student: Just like the blooms.
Carla Stanford: The blooms! I think you're getting it. I love that you know. Look right here. We have white and yellow flowers. And bloom is our "did what." It's our action. We have "the blooms," which is the "who" or "what," which is the subject. Again, so we have it here. We have it here. Huh. Everyone read this word?
Students: They.
Carla Stanford: What is they referring back to?
Students: [cross talk] The blooms! The flowers!
Carla Stanford: Yes. The blooms. So they is the pronoun. Pronouns refer back. The way it works is they is going to refer back to the last "who" or "what." So they refers back to the last "who" or "what," which is "the blooms." So they refers back to "the blooms," and "the blooms" ...
Students: "The blooms" refers back to white and yellow flowers!
Carla Stanford: And they're always to represent the same thing.
Narrator: Now that students have practiced how to identify the "who" or "what" and the pronouns and synonyms that support it, the next step in their lesson will be to remove some of the guardrails and shift towards tracing the subject on their own.
Carla Stanford: It's not always going to be the same word, the cactus, the cactus, the cactus, the cactus, right? It's not going to be "the bloom," "the bloom," "the bloom," "the bloom." It's not going to be Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. You now know how to trace it all the way through the passage. Whoo! That was some good work. Say, "Whoo!" You ready for one more?
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy, Reading is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
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Carla Stanford: Wear our detective glasses. Get them out. We are searching for the who or what. We're searching for the replace, which is the pronoun. We're searching for the reword, which is the synonym. Those are the things we're searching for. And they all should trace and mean the same thing. And at the end, we should be able to answer the question, Who? or What? is the passage about? Are you ready?
Narrator: Teacher Julie Turner and reading specialist Carla Stanford have been working with third graders at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta on how to trace the subject, the who or the what in a sentence. In this part of the lesson, students get more practice spotting the pronouns and synonyms whose job it is to stand in for the subject in a passage about desert plants.
Julie Turner: All right, boys and girls. Ready?
Together: "Plants have to adapt to survive in their habitats. Desert plants like cactus can store water in their fleshy stems. They use the stored water when rain is scarce. These water-efficient plants are able to thrive in the desert."
Carla Stanford: Touch your temple and think. Good readers, who or what is this passage about?
Students: Plants.
Carla Stanford: Plants. Does everyone agree?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: Plants. Let's look and trace it all the way through and see if we can be more specific than just plants. Are you ready? Okay. Let's look at the second sentence, which is here. And I want you to think about who or what is that sentence about.
Student: Plants.
Carla Stanford: Plants?
Student: Yes.
Student: Desert plants, like cactus.
Carla Stanford: This is a longer description. So instead of just plants ... [Ms. Stanford highlights text.] Look at that one. Right? More specific. Giving us more information about the who or what. Are you ready for the next sentence?
Students: Yeah.
Carla Stanford: Here we are. You ready?
Students: They.
Carla Stanford: What is that?
Students: They.
Carla Stanford: One more time.
Students: They!
Carla Stanford: What kind of word is they?
Students: A pronoun.
Carla Stanford: A pronoun. So what is they replacing?
Students: [overlapping voices]
Carla Stanford: I think they have it.
Julie Turner: I think they got it.
Carla Stanford: I love it. "They use the stored water when rain is scarce." What does scarce mean?
Student: Not a lot.
Carla Stanford: Not a lot of rain, right? A very scientific word for scarce amount of rain is drought. Everyone say drought.
Students: Drought.
Carla Stanford: Good. Read with me.
Together: "These water-efficient plants are able to thrive in the desert."
Carla Stanford: Who or what is this sentence about?
Students: Water-efficient plants.
Carla Stanford: You guys, there's no tricking you. You're really thinking. You are tracking that who or what all the way through. And this is what good readers do. Good readers realize that when you're reading a book or maybe on the computer where we're gaining knowledge or reading a chapter book, the author is not going to repeat the same word over and over.
We have to be detectives and we have to follow because good readers are constantly making meaning. Every word. And if you read and you get to a point and you're not understanding, it's your job to go back and track it and figure it out. And now you have a plan for figuring out the who or what.
Narrator: With all the guided practice tracing the who or the what under their belts, the next step for these students is to try it on their own.
Carla Stanford: I think you're ready to do one by yourselves. Do you think you're ready to do one by yourselves?
Students: Yes.
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy, Reading is Essential for All People and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book.
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Julie Turner: Okay, boys and girls. So what I want you to do on this paper that is in front of you is I want you to first silently read the whole thing to yourself so you can ask yourself after who or what is this whole paragraph about.
Narrator: Tracing the who or the what through a story is an important part of understanding more complex texts. At Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta, teacher Julie Turner and reading specialist Carla Stanford have been guiding their third graders through each step of the process, showing them how pronouns replace and synonyms reword. Earlier in this lesson, they practice spotting those moves as a group, and now it's time to try it independently.
Julie Turner: You'll use your pencil to circle that who or what in the first sentence. And just like Ms. Carla showed us, you are going to go through the whole paragraph and trace that who or what through the reworded synonyms and the replaced pronouns all the way through. So your first job is to do what? All the way through.
Students: Read.
Julie Turner: Alright. Read it and then we will circle and trace those words through. So let's start with the first step. Who or what is this whole paragraph about?
Student: Woodpecker.
Julie Turner: The woodpecker. So circle that word in the first sentence. Great. Now read the second sentence and see, did they call the woodpecker something else in the next sentence?
Student: This feathered driller.
Julie Turner: Excellent. So you said that who or what is that sentence about?
Student: Woodpecker.
Julie Turner: Okay, but what did they call the woodpecker?
Student: Driller.
Julie Turner: Is it just the driller? The whole thing. That whole descriptive word. "This feathered driller." So circle that whole thing. You got it. Excellent.
Carla Stanford: All right, sweet friends. This was excellent work. This is really hard thinking. And there were a lot of interesting words that were being substituted in for that who or what. You ready to identify them with me?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: All right. Who or what is this whole passage about?
Students: The woodpecker.
Carla Stanford: So friends that is so important as readers, we are always making meaning, and we always need to think about who or what is this about? You have figured out how to identify that. Now let's talk about what are the other words that represented that who or what, because you know how to trace it so you didn't get confused because that second one is tricky. Everyone put your finger on the second sentence. Let's read that one together. You ready?
Together: "This feathered driller."
Carla Stanford: Wait a minute, stop. Woodpecker. If we had not really been working on tracing throughout, this could have been tricky. "This feathered driller." Think about a woodpecker. Pretend like you're a woodpecker. Use your head and pretend you're pecking, but you're also drilling because what do they drill? The holes, right? And it's describing feathered. Is a woodpecker feathered?
Students: Yes.
Carla Stanford: What a clever way to not say woodpecker again. Do you see that?
Student: Yes.
Carla Stanford: But if we didn't have our word detective glasses on, we may have missed that. We may have been confused about what in the world is this author talking about? But now you know that authors are often looking for other ways to say the who or what. Let's go to the next one. Let's read that whole sentence. You ready?
Together: "This feather driller converts the whole into a home."
Carla Stanford: Next sentence.
Students: "He ..."
Carla Stanford: Wait a minute! "He," what does that represent?
Students: A pronoun.
Carla Stanford: It's a pronoun. And what is it taking the place of?
Students: The woodpecker.
Carla Stanford: The woodpecker and ...
Together: the feathered driller.
Carla Stanford: Excellent. All right. Let's go to the next and the last sentence. Let's read it together. You ready?
Together: "This Gila woodpecker is the first animal in the Cactus Hotel."
Carla Stanford: Who or what is that sentence about?
Students: The Gila woodpecker.
Carla Stanford: Excellent. So we traced all the way through the who or what, and now you are certain who or what is this passage about?
Students: The woodpecker.
Carla Stanford: You guys have done excellent work. I hope that when you go off, you now feel like you have this strong strategy to track the who or what all the way through a passage. And as writers, you can be very intentional and you can select words so that your readers can trace to all the way through the who or what. Excellent job. Let's do a round of applause.
Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy. Reading is Essential for All People and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
