Throw away standards

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• 
  Secrets from the Ice (one copy per student)
  
• 
  Planet in Distress (one copy per student)
  

Informational texts often have special features to highlight or explain important points or ideas. Three of these features are graphs, charts, and diagrams.

1. Give participants copies of the text.

2. Tell participants that text features help students comprehend informational text.

Text features may include maps, charts, graphs, time lines, tables, and diagrams.

3. Tell participants to scan the text and identify examples of text features.

4. Tell participants, “Graphs are drawings that show relationship between numbers

or amounts, often over periods of time. Graphs may show a change or trend that

is important to understand a point in the text.”

5. Ask participants to open Planet in Distress to page 6. Tell participants, “Look at the

graph at the bottom of the page. Examine the graph. What conclusions can you

draw from it? (The graph shows how global temperatures are rising over time.)

6. Ask participants to read the text on page 6. Ask, “What further conclusions can be

drawn from the graph?”

7. Tell participants, “Another text feature found in informational text is a diagram.

Diagrams are drawings or photos that show how things work or how they are

constructed. They are usually labeled and provide information important to

understand the text.”

8. Ask participants to open Secrets from the Ice to page 27. Say, “Read the text

caption, then examine the diagram. How does the diagram help you understand

the text?” (The diagram shows how the scientists use the layers of the Vostok ice

core in Antarctica to indicate climate changes over a period of 140,000 years. By

studying the color key, you can see at a glance how the temperatures in Antarctica

changed through the years.)

9. Ask participants to turn to page 17. Read the labels and caption aloud. Say, “What

information is gained from this diagram? How does the glacier fit inside the

volcano?”

10. Tell participants, “Charts are another source of facts in informational text. Charts are

tables with or without pictures.”

11. Ask participants to open Secrets from the Ice to page 7. Say, “The chart shows the

percentage of air at each stage as snow turns into glacial ice. At a

glance I can see that snow has 85 to 90 percent air, and blue ice has less that 20

percent air.”

12. Ask participants to turn to pate 11. Say, “What is explained by this chart? How does

it help you understand Agassiz’s theory of an Ice Age?”

13. Ask participants to recall the three text features. Using the text, ask them to create a

graph, chart, or diagram to enhance the information in the text.

GLE 0701.6.3 Read, interpret, and analyze text features that support

Informational texts.
State Performance Indicators

SPI 0701.6.4 Interpret factual, quantitative, technical, or mathematical

information presented in text features (e.g., maps, charts, graphs, time lines,

tables and diagrams.)