motherday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVPKABDTwA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkDEuHQMIs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsY0PgmDKYc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MX0niwS_AA

topic

Objective

1. To attract attention immediately.
2. To the selection. Screening and targeted customers.
3. To save the reader time. Due to time constraints.
4. For a map of ideas on how to write ad copy.

What is the topic sentence?
The topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph.

What does it do?
It introduces the main idea of the paragraph.

How do I write one?
Summarize the main idea of your paragraph. Indicate to the reader what your paragraph will be about.

Example:

There are three reasons why Canada is one of the best countries in the world. 

First, Canada has an excellent health care system. All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price. Second, Canada has a high standard of education. Students are taught by well-trained teachers and are encouraged to continue studying at university. Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live. As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live.

main idea

Main Idea 

 

The main idea of a passage or reading is the central thought or message. In contrast to the term topic, which refers to the subject under discussion, the term main idea refers to the point or thought being expressed. The difference between a topic and a main idea will become clearer to you if you imagine yourself overhearing a conversation in which your name is repeatedly mentioned.

When you ask your friends what they were discussing, they say they were talking about you. At that point, you have the topic but not the main idea. Undoubtedly, you wouldn’t be satisfied until you learned what your friends were saying about this particular topic. You would probably pester them until you knew the main idea, until you knew, that is, exactly what they were saying about your personality, appearance, or behavior. The same principle applies to reading. The topic is seldom enough. 

You also need to discover the main idea. Reading Tips:

1. As soon as you can define the topic, ask yourself “What general point does the author want to make about this topic?” Once you can answer that question, you have more than likely found the main idea. 

2. Most main ideas are stated or suggested early on in a reading; pay special attention to the first third of any passage, article, or chapter. That’s where you are likely to get the best statement or clearest expression of the main idea. 

3. Pay attention to any idea that is repeated in different ways. If an author returns to the same thought in several different sentences or paragraphs, that idea is the main or central thought under discussion. 

4. Once you feel sure you have found the main idea, test it. Ask yourself if the examples, reasons, statistics, studies, and facts included in the reading lend themselves as evidence or explanation in support of the main idea you have in mind. If they do, your comprehension is right on target. If they don’t, you might want to revise your first notion about the author’s main idea. 

5. The main idea of a passage can be expressed any number of ways. For example, you and your roommate might come up with the same main idea for a reading, but the language in which that idea is expressed would probably be different. When, however, you are asked to find the topic sentence, you are being asked to find the statement that expresses the main idea in the author’s words. Any number of people can come up with the main idea for a passage, but only the author of the passage can create the topic sentence. 

6. If you are taking a test that asks you to find the thesis or theme of a reading, don’t let the terms confuse you, you are still looking for the main idea.

A Minor Sentence is one that does not necessarily have a main verb in it, but which can be understood as a complete unit of meaning.

Predicting Outcomes

You can make a prediction when you use clues from the story, together with what you know from your own experiences, to figure out what will happen next.

CLUES + EXPERIENCE = PREDICTING OUTCOMES

If I mix two colors together, what will happen?

According to the art theory that you have already studied, you know that if I mix Blue and Yellow together, it will be GREEN. If I mix Red and Yellow, it will be ORANGE, and if I mix White with Red, it will be PINK.You can predict outcomes according to your prior knowledge since you have studied in your Art class.

Moreover, you can predict outcomes according to

Your prior knowledge

The clues given in text

Your feeling

Natural theory

So, when you are predicting outcomes, it is important to do which the following things.

 1. read the details carefully

 2. use what you already know

 3. look for clues to help you

When is it important to predict outcomes?

 1.when reading

 2.when you make a decision

 3. when you are watching a movie

Exercise.

If a person goes to the grocery store and buys an head of lettuce, a tomato, a cucumber, and salad dressing, you could predict that the person is going to do which of the following?

A. the person will bake a cake.

B. the person is going to set up an aquarium.

C. the person will eat fish for dinner.

D. the person will make a salad

John wanted to buy some candy at the store, but he forgot his money at home.  What do you think will happen next?

¤  He will go back home to get some money.

You walk into a room and this is what you see: blood on the floor, an empty birdcage, and a happily purring cat. You put the clues together and conclude that

¤  The cat ate the bird. 

Henry had been waiting all week to go to the beach. He was all ready to go when his mom said, “I have some bad news.” What do you think will happen next? 

¤  He will feel sad, disappointed and may cry.

Beth was all alone in the basement and it was dark. The only thing she could hear was a small scratching sound. What do you think will happen next?

¤  She will run.

Tami loved biking.  She had biked in all kinds of weather.  She had been planning this

bike trip for weeks.  Today was going to be great.   She woke up early and looked out the window.  It was raining! 

¤  Tami will go on the trip anyway.

Mandy loved animals.  She had 2 cats, a dog, a parakeet, and a goldfish.  She'd been bringing home stray or wounded animals since she was 4 years old.  She would nurse an animal back to health and then find it a good home.  Today she was walking home and saw a puppy with a hurt paw.

¤  Mandy will take the puppy home.

Ben always had trouble getting up in the morning.  His mother usually had to call him at least twice.  He'd already been late for school three times this month.  Mom had already called him once and now headed up to his room and knocked on the door.  When he didn't respond she walked in and found him fast asleep!

¤  Ben will be late for school.

Drawing Conclusion

Understanding what you read is one thing, but what if an author doesn't tell you everything you need to know about a story in writing? Using story details to draw conclusions is an important part of comprehension, and helps hone critical thinking skills. Help your third grader practice this skill by completing 5 brief stories with a logical ending.
example

The family dog hid behind the sofa as a storm roared outside. There was lightning and thunder. The dog whimpered each time it heard the thunder. Dad tried to coax the dog out, but it wasn't going anywhere.
You can guess that     
                            .

a.                   Dad was afraid of storms

b.                  The dog was playing hide and seek

c.                   Storms made the dog afraid

Video gaming is one of the largest industries in America. Each day more and more children are getting addicted to video games. There have been many video game opponents accusing the industry of becoming too violent. It is not uncommon to play a shoot'em up game where ten people are getting killed every minute. Yet, despite pressures of society to eliminate violent video games, as each day passes, more gamers are getting hooked.

What conclusions can you draw about the video game industry?]

a.                  As time goes on more and more children will play video games

b.                  As time goes on the video game industry will lose money

c.                   As time goes on more parents will prevent their children from playing violent video games

d.                  As time goes on, pressure to make games less violent will decrease the number of shooting games

He had always wanted to serve his country, but this seemed like madness. He was supposed to fight a war in a foreign land, helping to protect people whom he didn't even know. Michael had a strong sense of patriotism, but he was worried about the bombs, death, and carnage that could await him in Iraq. He pondered whether he would ever see his family again.

What conclusions can you draw about how Michael is feeling about going to war?

a.                   He feels proud of his country

b.                  He is looking forward to the challenge of being in the military

c.                   He is afraid of going into battle

d.                  He regrets joining the military


Click here for more example 

Understanding cause and effect

A cause and effect analysis is an attempt to understand why things happen as they do. People in many professions spend considerable effort trying to understand the causes and effects of human behavior and natural phenomena to gain better control over events and over ourselves. If we understand the causes of accidents, wars, and natural disasters, perhaps we can avoid them in the future. If we understand the consequences of our own behavior, perhaps we can modify our behavior in a way that will allow us to lead happier, safer lives.

Causes
liked business in high school
salaries in the field are high
have an aunt who is an accountant
am good with numbers
Effect
choose to major in accounting
___________________________________________________________
Cause
reduce work hours
Effects
less income
employer is irritated
more time to study
more time for family and friend

Online Exercise

cause and effect relationship  exercise online
Click here
Context Clues exercise online
Click here
Linking Words exercise online
Click here or click here
cause and effect exercise online
Click here / click here orclick here

Answer::Exercise pp.18

Answer::Exercise pp.18

Exercise E. page 18
Understanding Cause and Effect

E. Read the cause and write an effect. Then write one full sentence that states the cause and effect 

1. Cause :  A storm hit the city.
Effect :  All the residents fled.
Sentence: A storm hit the city , so all the residents fled.

2.  Cause : I planted some trees.
 Effect : We get more oxygen.
 Sentence: I planted some trees , so we get more oxygen.

3.  Cause : My sister stayed up past midnight.
 Effect : She is getting not enough sleep.
Sentence: My sister stayed up past midnight , so she is getting not enough sleep.

4. Cause : Lena missed school on Monday.
 Effect : She was not able to catch up with her friends.
 Sentence: Lena missed school , so she was not able to catch up with her friends.

5. Cause : David signed up for French classes.
  Effect : He speak good French language.
  Sentence: David signed up for French classes , so he speak good French language
 

Answer::Exercise pp.20

Answer::Exercise pp.20

Understanding Cause and effect
     

C. Read each sentence. Then complete table

1. Tony away from school as he was in the hospital

2. Pen- chan was scared, so she called for help

3. There was a strike and the buses did not ply

4. The plants died as there was no water

5. Eric forgot his swimsuit and therefore could not swim

6. The street lights were switched on, so we could see our way

7. The match was abandoned when it rained

8. He lost control of his car as the brakes were faulty
   

Causes	Effects
Tony was in the hospital	He  away from school
Pen- chan was scared	she called for help
There was a strike	the buses did not ply
There was no water	The plants died
Eric forgot his swimsuit	therefore could not swim
The street lights were switched on	we could see our way
rained	The match was abandoned
He lost control of his car	the brakes were faulty

  

Linking words

Summarize the Lesson::Linking Words

Linking words

7 Type of Linking word

1. - Giving examples

2. - Adding information

3. - Summarising

4. - Sequencing ideas

5. - Giving a reason

6. - Giving a result

7. - Contrasting ideas

 

Giving examples

• For example

• For instance

• Namely

 

Adding information

• And

• In addition

• As well as

• Also

• Too

• Furthermore

• Moreover

• Apart from

• In addition to

• Besides

 

Summarising

• In short

• In brief

• In summary

• To summarise

• In a nutshell

• To conclude

• In conclusion

 

Sequencing ideas

• The former, … the latter

• Firstly & secondly & finally

• The first point is

• Lastly

• The following

Giving a reason

• Due to / due to the fact that

• Owing to / owing to the fact that

• Because

• Because of

• Since

• As

Giving a result

• Therefore

• So

• Consequently

• This means that

• As a result

Contrasting ideas

• But

• Although / even though

• Despite / despite the fact that

• In spite of / in spite of the fact that

• Nevertheless

• Nonetheless

• While

• Whereas

• Unlike

• In theory… in practice…