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BEFORE READING
Prereading Strategies
OBJECTIVES
Target Skill Identify fact and opinion to improve comprehension.
Target Skill Use fact and opinion to monitor and fix up.
GENRE STUDY
Biography
America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle is a biography. A biography may cover a person's whole life, part of it, or even just a single incident.
PREVIEW AND PREDICT
Have students preview the selection title and illustrations and discuss the topics or ideas they think this selection will cover. Encourage students to use lesson vocabulary as they talk about what they expect to learn.
Strategy Response Log
Predict Have students write their
predictions for the selection. Students
will check their predictions in the
Strategy Response Log activity on
p. 97.
SET PURPOSE
Read the first page of the selection aloud to students. Have them consider their preview discussion and tell what they hope to find out as they read.
Remind students to look for facts and opinions as they read.
STRATEGY RECALL
Students have now used these before-reading strategies:
  • preview the selection to be aware of its genre, features, and possible content;
  • activate prior knowledge about that content and what to expect of that genre;
  • make predictions;
  • set a purpose for reading.
Remind students that, as they read, they should monitor their own comprehension. If they realize something does not make sense, they can regain their comprehension by using fix-up strategies they have learned, such as:
  • use phonics and word structure to decode new words;
  • use context clues or a dictionary to figure out meanings of new words;
  • adjust their reading rate—slow down for difficult text, speed up for easy or familiar text, or skim and scan just for specific information;
  • reread parts of the text;
  • read on (continue to read for clarification);
  • use text features such as headings, subheadings, charts, illustrations, and so on as visual aids to comprehension;
  • make a graphic organizer or a semantic organizer to aid comprehension;
  • use reference sources, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, or synonym finder;
  • use another person, such as a teacher, a peer, a librarian, or an outside expert, as a resource.
After reading, students will use these strategies:
  • summarize or retell the text;
  • answer questions they or others pose;
  • reflect to make new information become part of their prior knowledge.
Audio CD AudioText
AMERICA'S CHAMPION SWIMMER: GERTRUDE EDERLE

"America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle"
by David A. Adler

Student Edition
Unit 4, pp. 90–105

This Snapshot is from a biography about Gertrude Ederle. A biography gives facts about a real person's life.

President Calvin Coolidge called her "America's Best Girl" in 1926. She had a huge parade in her honor, the mayor of New York praised her, and she was known all over the world.
Gertrude Ederle was born in 1906. She grew up in New York City with five brothers and sisters. When she was seven she fell into a pond and almost drowned, so her father decided to teach her to swim. No one could have guessed how much she would love it.
When she was thirteen, Trudy took swimming lessons. Two years later she won a big race. The next year she swam a 21-mile course from Manhattan to New Jersey. She beat the men's record--and newspapers began to notice her.
In 1924, her eighteenth year, Trudy Ederle made the U.S. Olympic team and won three medals. By 1925 she had set twenty-nine U.S. and world records. Her next challenge? To be the first woman to swim the English Channel. She almost made it.
In August 1926, more determined and better prepared, she tried again. Her sister covered her with heavy grease to keep her warm in the cold Atlantic current. A tugboat followed her to make sure Trudy was safe. A second escort boat carried reporters and photographers.
Trudy started from the coast of France at around 7:00 a.m. She kept swimming through rain and wind. Twenty-foot waves and strong tides stirred the water against her every stroke. She was exhausted, but she continued. Finally, around 9:30 that night, her feet touched the land of England. People waded into the water to welcome her. Her father wrapped her in a warm robe.
Trudy Ederle broke the record of five men by almost two hours. She swam the Channel in 14 hours and 31 minutes. Newspapers around the world pictured her. She herself said, "I knew if it could be done, it had to be done, and I did it. All the women of the world will celebrate." And they did. So did the men.

From America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, copyright © 2000 by David A. Adler, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.

Copyright © Pearson Education.

 
   
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ELL
Access Content Lead a picture walk to reinforce vocabulary, such as raised (p. 92), pond (p. 93), and paddle like a dog (p. 93).
Encourage students to keep a small notepad with them to write new words in alphabetical order.
Consider having students read the selection summary in English or in students' home languages. See the Multilingual Summaries in the ELL Teaching Guide, pp. 131–133.