Scott Foresman Reading Street

Genre Notes
Writer’s Craft Paraphrasing
Writing Trait Focus/Ideas

Identify the
characteristics of taking
notes.
Take notes on factual
material and paraphrase
the facts in the notes.
Focus on focus/ideas.
Use a rubric.

Focus/Ideas Write the following sentences on sheets of paper, one to a sheet. Work with English learners to identify the sentence that doesn't belong: Books can be about anything. Libraries have many books. We will swim after lunch. I read many books this summer.

FOCUS/IDEAS The notes focus

on the most important
information in the article.

ORGANIZATION/PARAGRAPHS

The notes are organized by topic.

VOICE The writer's voice is

clear and knowledgeable.

WORD CHOICE The writer uses

precise words that communicate the meaning of the original source.

SENTENCES Brief sentences and

sentence fragments are used.

CONVENTIONS Grammar and

mechanics are excellent, including use of capital letters.

Model the Trait

Improve Writing

Prewrite and Draft

Draft and Revise

Connect to Unit Writing

READING-WRITING CONNECTION

The Story of the Statue of Liberty is narrative nonfiction about the Statue of Liberty.
Ideas in The Story of the Statue of Liberty were paraphrased from the authors' research and from their notes on their research.
Students will take notes on the article by paraphrasing the main ideas of what they read.

MODEL FOCUS/IDEAS Discuss transparency 26A. Then discuss the model and the trait of focus/ideas.

I see that the writer has taken notes on The Story of the Statue of Liberty. The writer has paraphrased the most important ideas in one part of the article and has restated them. The notes are in list form and are not always complete sentences. The writer uses abbreviations.

Writing Transparency 26A

with | without Answers

WRITER'S CRAFT

Paraphrasing

Display Writing Transparency 26B. Read the directions and discuss as a group what the word paraphrase means and how one paraphrases.

PARAPHRASING Tomorrow we will take notes on one part of The Story of the Statue of Liberty. I will have to decide which are the most important ideas in the selection and which I should omit. I have to write the notes in my own words, not in the words of the author. I do not have to write in complete sentences, and I can use abbreviations.

GUIDED PRACTICE Some students may need more help paraphrasing. Review a nonfiction article that students have read recently. Help them paraphrase each paragraph.

Writing Transparency 26B

with | without Answers

READ THE WRITING PROMPT

on page 301 in the Student
Edition.

The Story of the Statue of Liberty tells how a sculptor created this famous statue.

Think about the most important ideas in the selection.

Now take notes on one part of the selection.

Writing Test Tips

Decide which facts in the section are most important.
State the facts in your own words. Do not copy the exact words of the author unless you enclose them in quotation marks.
Use abbreviations, shortened sentence forms, and sentence fragments.

GETTING STARTED Students can do any of the following:

With the class, summarize sections orally.
With a small group, read one paragraph of the article. Discuss which sentences state the main idea and which state supporting details.
Practice paraphrasing individual sentences in shortened note form.

EDITING/REVISING
CHECKLIST

on page 301 in the Student Edition.

Do the notes reflect the article's main ideas?
Do the notes paraphrase instead of copy the article's exact words?
Are capital letters used correctly?
Are words with the vowel
sounds in tooth and cook spelled correctly?

See The Grammar and Writing Book, pp. 204–209.

Revising Tips

Focus Ideas

Determine the main idea of each paragraph on which you are taking notes.
State the main idea in your own words.
Do not include ideas that are less important supporting details.

PUBLISHING Students can compare their notes in small groups. Some students may wish to revise their work later.

ASSESSMENT Use the scoring rubric to evaluate students' work.

Week 1

Taking Notes
303g–303h

Week 2

Outlining 331g–331h

Week 3

Informational
Paragraph 353g–353h

Week 4

Write About a Picture
379g–379h

Week 5

Write Good
Paragraphs 407g–407h

Research Report

PREVIEW THE UNIT PROMPT

Write a research report about a
monument or statue that
symbolizes freedom in the United
States. Discuss the monument
itself, its history, and why it is
important. Find information in
sources such as books,
magazines, CD-ROMs, and the
Internet.

APPLY

A research report is an
informational article based
on research.
The first step in writing a
research report is taking
notes on information from
a variety of sources.

Writing Workshop Taking Notes

Focus/Ideas