What Kind of person is ________________?

*Show that you know the character is complicated (give more than one trait)

*tell about the character’s motivations (why he/she acts the way they do)

*give details from different parts of the story that support you thinking about the character

Answer after reading first 2 or 3 chapters

How did__________ change from the beginning of the story to the end and why?

*include how different story element (character, setting, key events) contributed to the change

Answer after the 3 or 4^th chapter or when it applies to your book

Tell how one part of the story fits with the whole. Ask yourself, why did the author include this part?

*name the story element (character, setting, problem, or solution)

*explain how the part fits with the other parts of the story

For example: Why did the author have Cinderella wear glass slippers? That seems uncomfortable and impractical.  However, we learn later that the glass slippers are very important to the whole story. It is the way the prince will be able to find his princess.  No one else wears glass slippers, but Cinderella, they’re not a popular type of shoe that everyone owns.  That slipper is part of the only pair that probably exists. So, the girl who fits it must be the one the prince seeks to marry. Also in the story, while trying to make the glass slipper fit, the step sister breaks the slipper.  However, Cinderella has the other slipper and can prove she is who the prince is looking for. If it were an ordinary shoe, lots of young ladies would have had a pair and could have tried to trick the prince in to thinking she is the girl he is looking for. The glass slipper is how the problem in the story is solved.  The story element that is developed by the glass slipper is the solution.

This is the kind of thinking and analyzing you will need to do.

Tell the theme of the story

*tell about how the theme comes through in different parts of the story

*look for evidence of the theme from early parts of the story and late in the story

*explain how those parts from across the story fits the theme

You may start to realize a theme for the book around the middle of the story. The theme can definitely be determined by the end of the book. Do this question when the book is completed.

Write a summary for a chunk of or for a whole text. Non- fiction summaries

*tell the main idea (what you learned from the reading/what it was mostly about)

*Hint to the text structure (was it an all about, a compare and contrast, a problem and solution, a cause and an effect, or chronological order sequence)

*Is brief- only about 4 or 5 sentences long.

*Includes carefully selected details from the text that support the main idea

Tell how a part of a text fits with the whole. For example is it the main idea of the text or is it a detail that supports the main idea? Tell why you think the author included the part. How did it help the reader. If the author used a text feature, such as a picture, tell why and what the reader learns from it.

Techniques and features author’s of non fiction use:

Humor,  interesting and surprising facts, quotes from an authority, pictures, diagrams, charts, tables, graphs, maps, etc.

Analyze the perspective of the text. Is it first hand (primary source) or second hand (secondary source) information? How do you know?

Did you come across any interesting words? What does the word mean? What context clues helped you figure out the meaning or did you use the glossary or a dictionary? Keep a notebook with interesting words and their meanings.