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.