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TEACHER: Can somebody point out the first key word that we read in that paragraph? Melanie?

STUDENT: Notion.

TEACHER: Notion. Wha— whe— That is in the first sentence, so why don’t we go ahead and circle notion in our books. All right? So in that sentence— Melanie, can you read that sentence, that first sentence for me?

STUDENT: Most people are of the notion that we can tell how dogs feel by watching how they act.

TEACHER: All right. In that sentence, what do we think that means, the word notion? How are they using that? What— what do you think that means? When we talk about, “Most people are of the notion that we can tell how dogs feel by watching how they act,” what do you think that— how are they using— what does it mean when they say notion in that sentence? Treasure?

STUDENT: The, um, idea.

TEACHER: All right. They have some type of idea, okay?, about how the dog feels. All right. Now, we come down— What was the second key word they used in that paragraph? Joel?

STUDENT: Whereas?

TEACHER: Whereas. So let’s go ahead and circle whereas in our book. All right? And so it reads, “For example, people usually think dogs are happy when they are wagging their tails, whereas they are scared or stressed when they cower or lower their body and look down.” So how are they using whereas in that sentence? What does that mean, when they look at whereas?

STUDENT: OK, it talks about says when they're happy and then it says when they're scared.

TEACHER: All right, so in one— in the first half of the sentence, they’re talking about when a dog’s happy; and then they use whereas and they describe how the dog is scared. So when they use whereas, they’re talkin’ about— What do you think, Tearson?

STUDENT: Talkin’ about, um— Um, when they say whereas, they mean but.

TEACHER: But.

STUDENT: But they are scared or stressed when they cower or lower their bodies and look down.

TEACHER: All right, very good. So it’s kind of a big fancy word for but. So they’re kind of describing the opposite, okay?

 

- Teacher asks the students to identify and circle key (target) words in text.

- He then asks students to determine the definition of the word "notion" by its usage in the passage.

- Students also discuss the word "whereas." Students suggest that the word's meaning is similar to "but."

Science Lesson (from Teacher Edition)

Sign posted outside classroom

 

Students Pages 26 & 27 from Word Generation (Year 3):

Without Student Responses With Student Responses

Other students' data charts and conclusions: Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4 Student 5 Student 6 Student 7