THIRD READING: ANALYSIS – SWIRL BY SWIRL: SPIRALS IN NATURE

For the Third Reading, read the book all the way through. Share the reading responsibilities with the listener any way you wish. You may wish to alternate reading pages, or have the child retell the story. If your child is retelling the story, help your child use the details in the illustrations to guide the retelling and when to turn the page.

DISCUSSION OPTIONS:

~Explain spirals. (Include the purposes of spirals.)

~Review the words used to describe spirals. (clever, graceful, strong, bold, expanding, coiled, clinging, grasping)

~In addition to these words describing spirals, think of other parts of the natural world you could describe using these words.

~Compare a spiral to a circle. How are they alike and different?

~Which illustration did you like the best? Explain choice.

ACTIVITIES:

~Look for spirals both indoors and outdoors. Draw what you discover and use a couple  of the new vocabulary words mentioned above to describe them.

~Add a couple of the vocabulary words to your Word Wall. Read about Word Walls in our blog: Practickle Activities.

SECOND READING: TEXT AND VOCABULARY – SWIRL BY SWIRL: SPIRALS IN NATURE

The sparse text is free-verse poetry.

We’ll focus on use of the ellipsis (…) to tell us that the idea is either unfinished or the reader is to make a long pause .

There is great vocabulary to describe the spirals.

*Ask the questions after reading the pages.

Pages 1 – 2:

~ coiled: wound in a circle. Discuss what coiled means.

~Point out the ellipsis for the reader to make a long pause. What could the spiral be waiting for?

Pages 3 – 4:

~expand: spread out. Discuss what expand means.

Pages 5 – 6:

~How does the spiral get bigger?

Pages 9 – 12:

~What do these spirals have in common? (to protect)

~ On page 10, protect: defend. How might the spirals protect the animals?

~On page 11, what is another word that means the same as protect?

Pages 13 – 16:

~What word could we use in place of clings tight and grasping? (hold)

Page 17 – 22:

After reading these pages, talk about how a spiral can be clever, graceful, strong, and bold. Discuss other spirals in the book that are clever, graceful, strong, and bold.

Pages 23 – 28:

~On page 27, what does starry arms mean?

~On page 28, the word expand occurs again. What is expanding in the illustration?

~On pages 29 and 30, how is this illustration similar to the first illustration on pages 1 and 2?

Pages 31 and 32:

~These pages provide additional information. Why might certain words be in bold print?

Did the text answer all of your questions? How can you find the answers for any of your questions that remain?

FIRST READING: ILLUSTRATIONS – SWIRL by SWIRL: SPIRALS IN NATURE

The fun begins immediately! Starting with the cover, you can begin to look for spirals (a coil made around a fixed point that moves farther away from the point or closer to it).

*If the pages are not numbered, page 1 is the first page with text.

Pages 1 – 2:

~Investigate the illustration. How many spirals do you see? (4)

~What season is it? Why might the animals be underground in spirals?

Pages 3 – 4:

~What do you see in this illustration that is the same as the previous illustration? (same animals, same setting: a forest)

~What do you see that is different? (animals above ground, not in spirals, different season)

Pages 5 – 6:

~Look for spirals. (3)

~Where are these spirals found? (lake, river, or ocean)

Pages 7 – 8:

~Look for spirals.

~How are the spirals in this illustration different from the other spirals? (plants)

Pages 9 – 30:

As you can see, the questions follow a pattern.

~Find the spirals on each full page spread.

~What do the spirals in each illustration have in common? (The settings change. The types of spirals in the different settings change.)

Pages 31 – 32:

~This is the explanatory index. It will have additional information beyond the story text.

Now, you are going to be practicing the Reading Comprehension Best Practice: Reading for a Purpose. Come up with some questions about the spirals in the illustrations that you hope the text will answer.

Some questions that my grandchildren posed:

~Are these the only spirals in nature?

~Why do the millipedes and hedgehogs make spirals?

~Are all flowers spirals?

Write these questions down so that you have them ready for the Second Reading: Text and Vocabulary.