One Crazy Lady

Educational, Inspiring
Intriguing
Insane, Factual

The Shark Lady True Adventures of Eugenie Clark

by Ann McGovern

Hello bloggers, welcome to another fun week of learning in Little Readers Paradise, for this week I choose a book that is dear to my heart because of my passion with aquatic animals and especially sharks, Shark Lady.  This book was a very simplistic read that gave numerous illustrations to deepen the readers understanding and comprehension.  Other than being about sharks what drew me to this book was the fact that it was a biography which I haven't fully engaged in thus far but which is extremely important to include in your reader's library for a variety of reasons.  Biographies are a different type of read because they are basically long summaries of a person's life which mean unlike a Disney story or fairy tale the story that revolves around a particular main character is 100% accurate.  It's essentially a history lesson that they would likely enjoy reading about.  

I would highly reccomend this book for any type of reading style because of how it includes images and is easy to follow (perfect for whole group) it has a lot of elements which can be discussed and analyzed (small group) and is the perfect book for a student to use to enhance their comprehension skills and just get lost in (indpendent study).  If I had to pick though I would lean towards using a whole group instruction because of how much you could build into the reading, you can have students research marine animals mentioned in the book, look up the research facility Eugenie founded, look up the video of a trained shark, or even get a few pet fish to put in the class as a mascot to the book.  This book truly has a lot of potential in a classroom.

Lexile Score: 750

Recommended Grade Level: Grade 4-5

Before the Reading

To get students engaged in the topic for the reading first generate a list of types of sharks in an open discussion with the class and once you have a good number have them get into groups and decide which kinds of sharks they want to research based on the list.  From there they should spend a short while looking up as much information as they can on their shark and have them make a blabberize with pictures of their shark where the pictures of their shark educate the class on their species.  The students should gather at least six pieces of evidence regarding their shark.

During the Reading

Have them stay in their groups and assign each group a chapter to summarize (obviously max 13 groups) and when that groups turn comes have them write a paragraph of five sentences that fully encompasses the value of what transpired in that chapter of the book.  Once they finish their summaries have them place their summary in the class journal and once you complete the book read through that summary to the class.  What this will do is first it will basically involve the students in assessing a chapter for it's key information when they write the summary, it will re-engage the students in the reading a second time, and most importantly, knowing that their work will be presented to the class will encourage the students to make sure that what they submit is good.

After the Reading

When students complete the reading I recommend using a strategy known as ReQuest which goes involves a reversal of jobs with the student taking on the role of generating questions and the teacher takes on the role of answering these questions.  This activity poses a lot of potential because you know that they would love to test the teacher in any scenario but it assists reading comprehension in two different ways.  It enhances comprehension by making them analyze the text to find questions they think might trip up the teacher and then the teacher enhances their comprehension by answering their question and reinforcing the information.  Should their questions be too general then you can help teach them how to refine their question thus improving their ability to generate strong questions.

Great Electronic Sources

http://www.sharksider.com/types-of-sharks/

This is the perfect website for the research activity and includes a full list of every type of shark, with each page having a larger summary of the shark.

www.blabberize.com

This is the website where students can make pictures talk I included an example for the project below
(example will be added soon, my computer is having issues recording)

Vocabulary words to go over

• dissect = to cut open to study the insides
• Ichthyologist = the area of science that focuses on fish
• horizontal = a flat line that goes from left to right
• Vertical = a straight line that goes from the top to the bottom
• Facility = a building or site
• Thimbleful = a very small amount of liquid