Compare/Contrast with "The Right Dog for The Job"

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Read these directions carefully: Click on the image below to be taken to a Google Doc containing everything you need to compare and contrast these two texts!  Feel free to import that PDF into Notability, but first, be sure to click on the Link in the Doc for "Should Dogs Work?" because links stop working in PDFs.

Compare/Contrast with "The Right Dog for The Job"

Here is a link to the Expository Prompt and the Companion Materials:

Here is a link to the Read-Write-Think website:

4th Grade End-of-Year LinkIt Prep Assessment

Here is the link to your End-of-Year LinkIt Prep Assessment:

Finding the Main Idea and Using Direct and Indirect Details

“Stargazing” & “Catch a Breeze”

ReadWorks Passage: Stargazing	ReadWorks Passage: Catch a Breeze
Main Idea:	Main Idea:
Copy and paste from the PDF to the appropriate space below	Copy and paste from the PDF to the appropriate space below
Direct Detail: Without this information, the MAIN IDEA wouldn’t exist.) 1. 2. 3.	Direct Detail: Without this information, the MAIN IDEA wouldn’t exist.) 1. 2. 3.
Indirect Detail: Information that’s good to have, but the MAIN IDEA can exist without it. 1. 2.	Indirect Detail: Information that’s good to have, but the MAIN IDEA can exist without it. 1. 2.
Retell the Main Idea Directions: In your own words--not to be taken directly from the text--state the main idea	Retell the Main Idea Directions: In your own words--not to be taken directly from the text--state the main idea

Genre Study - Compare & Contrast

Genre Study: “Forms of Art - Watercolor” & “The Painter’s Studio”

PARCC Constructed Response Questions

Literary Text	Informational Text
Can be more entertaining, BUT you usually have much more thinking to do about deciding what the Main Idea is and what information supports the Main Idea.	Can be less entertaining, BUT the information is all there in front of you.  Sometimes there’s so much information, you have to decide what’s most important to the Main Idea.
ReadWorks Passage: The Painter’s Studio	ReadWorks Passage: Forms of Art - Watercolor
“The Painter’s Studio” Main Idea: Copy and paste from the PDF to the appropriate space below Direct Detail: Indirect Detail:	“Forms of Art - Watercolor” Main Idea: Copy and paste from the PDF to the appropriate space below Direct Detail: Indirect Detail:
What’s significantly SIMILAR about these two texts?	What’s significantly DIFFERENT about these two texts?

Colonization and Revolutionary War Jamestown

Main Idea: Copy and paste from the PDF to the appropriate space below Direct Detail: Indirect Detail: Not a Detail:	ReadWorks Passage: Colonization and Revolutionary War Jamestown
Retell the Main Idea Directions: In your own words--not to be taken directly from the text--explain why the main idea is that of early development and hardships of Jamestown.

Now Practice Searching for and Retelling the Main Idea

“Stargazing”

Main Idea: Copy and paste from the PDF to the appropriate space below Direct Detail: Indirect Detail: Not a Detail:	ReadWorks Passage: Stargazing Annotated ReadWorks Passage: Stargazing:
Retell the Main Idea Directions: In your own words--not to be taken directly from the text--explain why some stars in the night sky brighter than others…

How Do We Get the Main Idea from a Text?

MAIN IDEA: This is the “Big Picture,” the one MAIN thought s/he is trying to say.  Sometimes this can be found in the first sentence of the first paragraph, sometimes in the last sentence of the first paragraph...and sometimes it’s nowhere to be found and you have to do some serious thinking!   What this means for you is that when you read, you should always be thinking about the “big picture”--what is the one MAIN thought the author is trying to say? DIRECT DETAIL: Without this information, the MAIN IDEA wouldn’t exist. INDIRECT DETAIL: This is good information to have that SORT OF relates to the MAIN IDEA, but the MAIN IDEA would exist without it. NOT A DETAIL: This is information that might not have anything to do with the MAIN IDEA.  It’s put there because it’s nice to know, but the MAIN IDEA can totally exist without it.   (Sometimes people who make tests use this information to purposely distract test-takers--just ask yourself “Can the MAIN IDEA exist without this information?” and you’ll be fine!) Just like in Math, you can “check your work.”  Look at the following example from the ReadWorks passage “Time for Change.” Main Idea: Coins are fun! Direct Detail: None from passage. Indirect Detail: None from passage. There is no information from “Time for Change” we can use as proof to support the Main Idea that “Coins are fun!”  This means we have to reject this as the Main Idea and come up with something else. Main Idea: New coins are will be introduced in 2007. Direct Detail: The whole 1st paragraph. The first and last sentences of the 2nd paragraph. The last sentence of the 6th paragraph. Indirect Detail: The 3rd paragraph. The 4th paragraph. ✓ There is so much information from “Time for Change” we can use as proof to support the Main Idea that “New coins are will be introduced in 2007,” that we need to accept it as the MAIN IDEA.

BrainPop Video - Main Idea ReadWorks - Time for Change ReadWorks - Time for Change Student Questions ReadWorks MAIN IDEA Parts Highlighted