Scott Foresman Reading Street

Social Studies in Reading

Examine features of narrative nonfiction.
Practice a test-taking strategy.
Compare and contrast across texts.

PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES

As students preview "Swimming Towards Ice," have them read the opening paragraphs and look at the subheads and table. Ask:

What is the purpose of the opening paragraphs? (They introduce Lynne Cox as an important long-distance swimmer.)
What do the subheads tell you about how this selection is organized? (Events are organized in sequence and tell about Cox's swimming adventures.)

Link to Social Studies

To learn more about the sport of
swimming, students can read about swimming in encyclopedias or encyclopedia Web sites.

Access Content Lead a picture walk to introduce long-distance swimming terms, and explain what record-breaking means in the title of the table on p. 607. (The fastest time or longest swim is the record, and breaking it means swimming even faster or farther.)

Partner Reading, 607a

Writing

Grammar

Fluency

Comparative and Superlative Adverbs, 607f

Review Word List, 607j

Draft and Revise, 607h

Spelling

Fluency and Language Arts

NARRATIVE NONFICTION

Use the sidebar on p. 604 to guide discussion.

Remind students narrative nonfiction recounts a true event or a series of events.
Narrative nonfiction often organizes text sequentially from the past to the present. Subheads and time phrases such as When Lynne was 14 years old . . . are clues to this selection's text structure.
Have students review the subheads and discuss what they think each section of the text might describe.

AudioText

The text also may be described as being in chronological order. The introduction is placed before the sequence begins; it supplies background information helpful for understanding the whole selection.

Narrative nonfiction can
record an important event
in a person’s life.

Genre

Narrative
Nonfiction

Unlike the usual visitor to Antarctica,
who is bundled from head to toe, Lynne Cox
approached the continent a bit differently.
Dressed in only a swimsuit, swim cap, and
goggles, she lowered herself from a boat
into the freezing 32°F water and swam more
than a mile to Antarctica’s shore.
Lynne Cox is among
the best cold-water, long-
distance swimmers in
the world. But she wasn’t
born that way.

Two opening paragraphs
introduce the reader to
Lynne Cox.

Text Features

Narrative nonfiction often
includes researched facts
about a person and why
he or she is noteworthy.

Lynne Cox makes a test swim in the chilly waters (33°F) north of Antarctica.

Notice how the text moves from past to present.

Text Structure

When Lynne was 14 years old, she became bored
with swimming laps in a pool. Encouraged by her coach,
she entered a series of rough water swims near her home
in California. She loved the cold water, the chopping
of the waves, the quiet of the ocean, and the feeling of
freedom. Lynne Cox became hooked on long-distance,
cold-water swimming.

A Swimmer Is Born

Lynne Cox makes a test swim in
the chilly waters (33°F) north
of Antarctica.

Learn about the
International Swimming
Hall of Fame, of which
Lynne Cox is a member.
Are there other openwater
swimmers who
are members?

Link to Social Studies

A table gives information
about her record-breaking
swims.

Subheads mark passages
in her life and establish
her goals.