Synthesizing Information- Getting ready for final presentations
Researchers, your presentation on your topic is on Thursday! Today in school, your research team made a plan for what you might teach and what information you would still need to gather in order to do that teaching. To get ready, you might do a bit more research to fill in any gaps, using any books, articles, websites, or videos you can find on your topic. Synthesize this new learning with your previous learning, thinking about how it adds to and changes what you already know. Add this new information to your notes and synthesize what you've learned. 
As you read, continue to practice tackling the hard parts of your nonfiction books. For instance, you might continue slowing down when you reach a hard, technical part, breaking it into parts and thinking, “What is this part teaching?” Or, you might work to form full definitions of the tricky words and concepts in your books, reading more books, going online, or talking to family members to learn more. Then write about your learning in your own words. 

SUMMARIZING PARTS NON-FICTION TEXTS:
Readers, this week you have been researching on your weather topics. Tonight, read over some your research notes and write a summary about your topic. Remember that a strong summary includes the authors main idea and key supporting details. 
You many want to use boxes and bullets to help you organize your summary before you write it. You could also use compare/contrast, problem/solution, cause/effect, or sequential notes to help you before you write. Once you have your notes written, write a summary about the topic. 

Here is an example of a summary:

REFLECTING AND SETTING NEW GOALS
Readers, for homework, tonight I am asking you to pause and think about your nonfiction reading work. You have spent more than a week reading nonfiction. Now is a good time to self-reflect. Ask yourself:
•   What are things you now do to get ready to read a nonfiction text?
•   When you finish reading, are you able to teach someone using an explaining voice, a teaching finger, gestures, intonation?
•   What is and isn’t working for you? What do you do well, and what are you working on that you could get better at?
•   Set a goal for yourself as a non-fiction reader. 

​TALKING ABOUT YOUR CHALLENGE BOOK READING
Readers, tonight, as you read a nonfiction text or two, keep reading and tackling the hard parts of your challenge books. You might also take a moment this evening to talk about your books with a reading friend or family member. Researchers who study learning say that talking about reading is one of the most powerful things you can do to become a better reader. Some possible points of discussion could be:
•   Talk about your book’s subject. What are you learning? What does your family know about your topic?
•   Talk about how your nonfiction book is challenging in a good way. What’s tricky? How are you tackling reading challenges?
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Enjoy your conversations!

Readers, this week we began our informational unit. We will be reading the world inside our informational texts. Take a few minuets to think about what topics you are interested in learning more about through the non-fiction books you will read. What are you curious about? What inspires you to learn more? Write me a letter telling me about the topics you would like to learn about in this non-fiction unit. This will help me to find the books that interest you and group you with teammates who want to learn about the same topics! I am SO excited to dive into our informational unit and learn more about the world with you! 

​PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Readers, tonight is the night for you to put all that you have learned together. Let your book really mean something to you. Flip back to the first pages of your book to read again how it all began. Last week we realized how moving it is to read those initial lines with eyes that made the story’s journey in Tiger Rising. What was just a sign the first time around is now so much more. So if you are near the end of your book, push to finish so you can do this amazing work. However, rereading earlier parts will always pay off even if you are not at the end of your book. Keep in mind all that you have learned to read interpretively. Use the charts below to help you make interpretations. Remember that to do this high-level work, you’re going to think about not just the chapters you are reading but the whole text. Keep reading, rereading, and thinking. Good luck!

READ THROUGH THE LENS OF BIG LIFE ISSUES, THEN PUT TOGETHER IDEAS FOR A CENTRAL INTERPRETATION

Readers, tonight, build a central interpretation of your own book. If you are just starting a book, work instead with a book you have already read. 
Search your book for big life issues. These may include loss, family struggles, friendship, parental pressure, and/or relationships. Keep searching until you find an important issue relating to the whole book. The issue may relate to many characters in your book. Or the life issue may connect with the beginning, middle, and end of your book. Then use that life issue to start thinking about a central interpretation.
If you get stuck in your thinking, use some prompts from the “Thought Prompts to Help Us Move from Simple to Complex Interpretations” chart.
Take time to figure out a central interpretation. It should fit the entire book (or many parts of it). Write your interpretations 

MAKE A GREAT IDEA OR INTERPRETATION EVEN BETTER
Readers, this week you will be reading and rereading your books. Keep in mind there can be more than one interpretation of a book, so you might go through your Post-its to reread your ideas. As you do so, find a great idea or interpretation you had in the last week or two. Think about that idea or interpretation again. You might also look for another Post-it in your book and see how it may connect to your idea. Does it add a different dimension or angle? Or does it help push your idea in a more sophisticated direction? If so, freewrite to deepen and improve your idea. Remember how we learned to freewrite in writing. It may help to use some of the prompts below. 

CONTINUE DELVING INTO THE COMPLEXITY OF CHARACTERS
Readers, for homework, read and think about the main character in your book. How does he or she interact with others? How does he or she act in some settings, situations, and relationships? How does he or she act differently in other contexts? As you think, also refer to the questions about character below.
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Questions to Think More about Characters...
•  How do other characters act toward my character?
•  How does my character act differently with different characters—and why?
•  What am I realizing about my character’s relationships?
•  What changes am I noticing in my character? What’s causing them?

Look for connections among your initial thoughts. Then come up with a theory about the main character’s relationships. Jot the theory on a Post-it. Find more text evidence to support your theory. Then ask yourself, “Does more than one character fit my theory?” Jot your thoughts on Post-its or in your reading notebook. Then post your response on the blog this week! 

THINK DEEPLY ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER: DESIRES AND OBSTACLES
Readers, as you read your own books, think deeply about the main character. Figure out your character’s wants, his (or her) desires. Think also about your character’s struggles, or what stands in the way. How does the character respond to those obstacles? Does your character have a hidden strength? Develop a solid, grounded idea about your character. As you read on, gather more evidence to support or develop your theory. Then stop and jot your ideas in your reading notebook. Be sure to write long and strong, filling the page. Then post your response on the reading log blog.  Refer to our anchor chart below to help you.