Post on 01-May-2023
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved.
Sensory Images
What images do I see, hear, feel,
taste, and smell?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 2
Prior Knowledge What prior knowledge about
comprehension do students need to
have before entering this Unit of
Study?
What is schema?
Monitoring for Meaning
Definition What is creating sensory images?
Creating sensory images is a strategy readers use to think
more deeply about a text. It is when a reader combines
their schema and the information in the text to create an
image in their mind. This image can represent all of the five
senses (visual, smell, taste, sound, touch or feeling). Creating
sensory images also helps a reader draw on specific details in
the text (e.g. a character’s thoughts, words or actions;
elements of tone, meaning or beauty of a text), creating an
interaction between the reader and the text. When readers
make sensory images as they read, it helps them understand
and enjoy the story more. It is as if you are experiencing the
text as it is happening and it is hard to stop reading.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 3
Literary Elements:
WHAT an author uses to compose
the text. Readers pay attention to
the literary elements when reading
(details in a text) in order to infer
the text’s deeper meaning.
Literary Elements Include:
Characters
Setting
Problem/Conflict
Solution/Resolution
Theme
Title
How do images help us notice and infer about CHARACTERS:
What characters say, act or think
Characters’ feelings
How do characters look and sound
Characters’ motivations
Characters’ perspectives or points of view
How characters respond to problems/conflicts
(internal or external)
How characters change (internally versus externally)
How characters impact or influence each other
How do images help us notice and infer about SETTING:
What kind of place is this
How does this place look, sound, smell, feel
How the social, historical, political or economic
context for this text for this setting help me know
how it looks, sounds, smells and feels
How do images help us notice and infer about
PROBLEMS/CONFLICTS:
Describe major events (see, hear, feel, smell)
Describe how characters respond to conflicts (see,
hear, feel, smell)
Understand internal conflicts characters face (man
vs. himself) (man vs man) (see, hear, feel, smell)
Understand how characters respond to conflict
How do images help us notice and infer about
SOLUTIONS/RESOLUTIONS
Understand how characters solve or resolve problems
(see, hear, feel, smell)
Understand what characters learn (see, hear, feel,
smell)
Describe how characters respond to conflict and how
this impacts the resolution (see, hear, feel, smell)
THEME: Readers pay attention to what characters’ learn
and how characters’ change in order to infer the bigger
messages in the text
How do images help us notice and infer about THEMES:
How does the themes/message/moral make us feel
How do images help us notice and infer about TITLE:
What is the title
Why the author chose the title
How the title connects to characters
How the title connects to themes
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 4
Literary Crafts/Devices –
HOW an author chooses to convey
meaning. Literary devices are tools
an author uses convey deeper
meaning.
Word Choice/Figurative Language
Structure
Theme
Mood
Symbolism
Point of View
WORD CHOICE: We notice the words authors’ choose and
we infer how these decisions add imagery to the text.
Figurative Language:
Repetition – Authors repeat words or phrases to
draw attention
Similes – Authors use comparisons using like or as to
show how two unlike objects or ideas are similar
Metaphor –Authors use comparisons to show how two
unlike objects or ideas are similar
STRUCTURE: We notice the way authors’ structure texts
and we infer why authors make these specific decisions to
impact the imagery in the text:
Organization of overall text (chapters show
different time periods, different character’s points
of view)
Dialogue between characters
Description
Characters’ inner thinking
POINT OF VIEW: The different perspectives of the
characters, the author and the reader and how point of view
impacts the imagery in the text
Who is telling the story
Whose point of view is missing
What is the author’s point of view
How do the characters points of view differ
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 5
Sample Anchor Lessons
For Strategies, Literary
Elements, Crafts and
Devices
What is Sensory Images? Why do readers create sensory
images?
1. What is creating sensory images?
2. Creating sensory images helps you love
reading
3. Creating sensory images keeps you engaged
as a reader
4. How is creating sensory images like an
inference?
5. Sensory images are more than what we
see.—they are also what we hear, smell, feel
and taste
6. Sensory images can be used to understand a
variety of genres (poetry)
7 Sensory images can be used to understand a
variety of genres (information)
How do readers use sensory images to understand text?
8. Sensory images change as you read through a piece of
text
9. Sensory images are used to retell a text
10. Sensory images are used to form unique
interpretations of the text
11. Sensory images are used to draw conclusions
and understand the story better
12. Sensory images help the reader understand
who is speaking in non-referenced dialogue
13. Sensory images are influenced by shared
images of others
14. Readers use creating images in combination with other reading strategies.
15. How do readers record their sensory
images?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 6
Anchor Charts GENERAL ANCHOR CHARTS FOR SENSORY IMAGES
What is a sensory image?
How is a sensory image an inference?
What is evidence?
Different ways readers create sensory images
How does creating sensory images help us as
readers?
How do readers talk about sensory images?
WAYS TO USE SENSORY IMAGES TO COMPREHEND
How do sensory images help readers engage in a
text?
How do sensory images help readers retell a text?
How do sensory images help readers infer?
CREATING SENSORY IMAGES ABOUT CHARACTERS
Creating sensory images about characters – how do
they look, sound, feel?
How readers use sensory images to understand
characters’ motivations, responses and points of
view?
Sensory images help the reader understand
who is speaking in non-referenced dialogue
CREATING SENSORY IMAGES ABOUT SETTING
Creating sensory images about setting – how does it
look, sound, feel, smell?
How readers use sensory images to understand the
setting and how it impacts the story?
CREATING SENSORY IMAGES TO HELP UNDERSTAND
THEME
How readers use sensory images to form unique
interpretations of the text
How readers use sensory images to draw conclusions
and understand the story better
USING SENSORY IMAGES TO THINK ABOUT AN
AUTHOR/GENRE/TOPIC
How do we create sensory images when we read
different genres?
Noticing word choice and how these decisions impact
our images as readers.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 7
Ways to Record Thinking Graphic Organizers, Post-its,
Journals
Post-its
Graphic organizers
Writing
Drawing
Stop and Jot
Turn and Talk
Two or Three Column Charts
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 8
On-Demand Prompts
(Pre, During and Post)
WHAT IS A SENSORY IMAGE?
What is a sensory image and how does it help you as a
reader?
What is an inference and how does it help you as a
reader?
WAYS WE USE SENSORY IMAGES TO COMPREHEND
Tell/write/draw the images are in your head. What
words helped you create that image? How does this
help you understand the text?
How does creating sensory images help you retell
your book?
WAYS WE USE SENSORY IMAGES TO UNDERSTAND
CHARACTERS
What words helped you feel what the character was
feeling?
How did your sensory images help you understand the
character motivations, responses, actions and point
of view?
How have your sensory images help you understand
the characters in your text?
WAYS WE USE SENSORY IMAGES TO UNDERSTAND
SETTING
Write, draw or describe orally the sensory images
you created about the setting – how does it look,
sound, feel, smell?
How have your sensory images helped you to picture
and understand the setting and how it impacts the
story?
WAYS WE USE SENSORY IMAGES TO HELP
UNDERSTAND THEME
Write, draw or describe orally the big ideas or
themes of this text. How did your sensory images
help you think about the theme or big idea?
USING SENSORY IMAGES TO THINK ABOUT AN
AUTHOR/GENRE/TOPIC
How do you use sensory images to understand
different genres?
How does the author’s word choice help you create
sensory images? Please provide a few examples.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 9
Evidence of Understanding
and Independence (Oral and written)
Turn and talk conversations
Oral retellings with partners
Oral book talks
Written retellings
Constructed responses
Post-its
Graphic organizers
Drawing
Stop and Jot
Pre and post on-demand assessments
Conference notes
Responses to Literature –Essays, Blog Posts,
Presentations, Discussions
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 10
P – With Prompting and Support I – Independent Application S – Secure Application
Concepts to Teach K – 2 Common Core
Standards
3 – 5 Common Core
Standards
K 1 2 3 4 5
1. What is creating sensory
images?
N/A N/A P I I S S S
2. Creating sensory images helps
you love reading
N/A N/A P I I S S S
3. Creating sensory images keeps
you engaged as a reader
RL 1-10
RI 1-10
RL 1-10
RI 1-10
P I I S S S
4. How is creating sensory images
like an inference?
RL 2,3,6,7,8,9,10 RL 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 P I I S S S
5. Sensory images are more than
what we see – they are also
what we hear, smell, feel and
taste
RL 2,3,6,7,8,9,10 RL 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 P I I S S S
6. Sensory images can be used to
understand a variety of genres
(poetry)
RL 5 RL 5 P I I S S S
7. Sensory images can be used to
understand a variety of genres
(information)
RL 4, 5
RI Standards
RI Standards P P I I S S
8. Sensory images change as you
read through a piece of text
RL 7 RL 7 P I I S S S
9. Sensory images are used to
retell a text
RL 1, 2, 3, 7, 10
SL 2
RL 1, 2, 3, 10
SL 2
P I I S S S
10.Sensory images are used to
form unique interpretations of the
text
RL 2,3,6,7,8,9,10 RL 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 P I I S S S
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 11
P – With Prompting and Support I – Independent Application S – Secure Application
Concepts to Teach K – 2 Common Core
Standards
3 – 5 Common Core
Standards
K 1 2 3 4 5
11.Sensory images are used to
draw conclusions and understand
the story better.
RL 2,3,6,7,8,9,10 RL 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10 P I I S S S
12.Sensory images help the reader
understand who is speaking in non-
referenced dialogue
RL 6 RL 6 P I I I S S
13.Sensory images are influenced
by shared images of others
RL 10
SL 1,2,3,6
RL 10
SL 1,2,3,4,6
P I I S S S
14.Readers use creating images in
combination with other reading
strategies
RL 1-9
RI 1-9
RL 1-9
RI 1-9
P P I S S S
15.How do readers record their
sensory images?
WS 1,8 WS 1,8,9 P P I I S S
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 12
Recommended Model Texts for Sensory Images
Title Author Notes
All the Places to Love Patricia Maclachlan
All the Small Poems Valerie Worth Poetry
Color Me A Rhyme Jane Yolen Poetry
Creatures of Earth, Sea and
Sky Georgia Heard Poetry
Fireflies Julie Brinkloe
Good Dog Carl Alexandra Day (Many of thee authors have
written several texts that will
work well for this unit of study)
Grandpa’s Face Eloise Greenfield
Hello Ocean Pam Munoz Ryan
Honey I Love Eloise Greenfield poetry
Hurricane Jonathan London
I’m in Charge of Celebrations Byrd Baylor
Owl Moon Jane Yolen
The Napping House Audrey Wood
Night in the Country Cynthia Rylant
Pocket Poems Bobbi Katz poetry
The Quiet Book Deborah Underwood
The Raft Jim Lamarche
Roller Coaster Marla Frazee
The Salamander Room Anne Mazer
Seven Blind Mice Ed Young
The Storm Book Charlotte Zolotow
Smokey Night Eve Bunting
Soft House Jane Yolen
Wilfred Gordon McDonald
Partridge Mem Fox
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 13
Anchor Lesson: 1 What is creating sensory images?
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about your five senses. Tell about a time you were able to see, hear or feel something from the words in a book while you were reading.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Owl Moon, Jane Yolen.
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
Creating sensory images is a strategy readers use to think more deeply about a text. When a reader combines their schema and the information in the text to create an image in their mind. This image can represent all the five senses – seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, touching or feeling. When readers make sensory images as they read it helps them not only understand the story and enjoy the story more. A reader feels as if they are right there with the character watching, listening and feeling everything the characters are going through.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud.
Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Watch me. I am going to read a piece of this story and then tell you the senses I am experiencing in my mind. I am going to create a sensory image as I read. Read the first page and think aloud.
I can see in my mind the forest at night. I can feel just how still the air is. I don’t hear any animal scurrying or the trees swaying in the wind. I only hear their footsteps crunching in the snow. The words in the text that help me create this image in my mind are: “There was no wind. The trees stood still as giant statues.” Repeat this process for the next several
paragraphs.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 14
When readers create sensory images in their minds it helps them to understand the text. Our images make us feel as if we are right there in the book standing next to the characters.
Provide Guided
Practice
Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
We will continue to think about this strategy for the next few weeks. When we use this strategy we will talk about it by using these words:
I see… The words in the text that help me create an image are… I can picture… When I read that, I felt… Add to the classroom anchor chart: Ways to Talk about our Sensory Images
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
Today, when you go off to RW, think about any images you are creating in your mind. We will continue to use this strategy for several weeks.
Conference Points Tell me what images are in your head. What words helped you create that
image?
Share/Reinforce Ask one student to share an excerpt from
their independent reading book and a
sensory image that s/he made.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 15
Anchor Lesson: 2 Creating sensory images helps you
love reading
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about a time that you couldn’t put a book down because you
enjoyed it so much.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, Mem Fox
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
Readers, have you ever had an experience as you have been reading that you feel as if you are actually in the text with the characters? Have you ever stayed up late reading because you couldn’t put your book down? You make sensory images- when you cry, laugh, or feel afraid while you are reading. When this happens it means that you are a lover of reading! When you feel something for the character and feel nervous just like them, or excited just like them, you are creating sensory images. Creating sensory images in our minds is what we do that makes us love to read. Our sensory images help us feel as if we are right there in the book standing next to our characters. Watch me as I read Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think Aloud.
Show: Model.
Explain: How this will help
them as a reader.
Read aloud and stop and share your sensory
images - What you see, hear, and feel in your
mind.
As Miss Nancy starts to remember her life
when Wilfred gives her different objects, talk
to the class about how Wilfred is helping Miss
Nancy remember and create sensory images in
her own mind. Point to the picture of Miss
Nancy on the beach.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 16
Right here readers. I can see the smile on Miss Nancy’s face as she thinks back to being on the beach. I can feel the warmth of the sand on her toes. I can also see the smile on Wilfred’s face as he watches Miss Nancy remember. I can feel his excitement.
Read a few more pages.
After you read, “she bounced the football to Wilfred Gordon and remembered the day she had met him and all the secrets they had told.”
Share your images with the students.
When I read this, I can feel how happy and proud Wilfred feels. He now knows that Miss Nancy is remembering her life and she is even remembering who he is. Wilfred’s idea is working and Miss Nancy is now remembering their friendship. Begin the Classroom Anchor Chart: Why Do
Readers Create Sensory Images?
Provide Guided
Practice
Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Read the next page and ask the students to
turn and talk about the sensory images they
are creating in their minds:
What do you see?
How are the characters feeling?
What are the expressions on their faces?
What in the text makes you think that?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 17
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read…
“When you go to RW try…”
Do you see how as we read this book, we just couldn’t stop talking about it. We were worried about whether or not Wilfred’s plan would work. We were excited when Miss Nancy started to remember. We were sad when Miss Nancy remembered her brother who died in the war but happy at the same time that she actually remembered her own brother. This is reading and our sensory images help us feel like we are a part of the book. We are actually standing next to our characters experiencing everything they experience. Remember when you are reading, take time to create the sensory images in your mind so that you can see, hear and feel everything your characters are experiencing. I can’t wait to hear all about the images you are creating in your minds
Conference Points Tell me about the sensory images you are
creating in your mind? Take me to a place in the text where your
sensory images are most vivid. Do you have any books that you have
trouble putting down? Which ones? Which characters do you feel connected
to? Tell me about your sensory images of
that character.
Share/Reinforce Have a few students talk about the sensory
images they experienced while reading.
Which parts of the text were most vivid?
Which sensory images made them feel as if
they were right there with the characters?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 18
Anchor Lesson:3 Creating sensory images keeps you
engaged as a reader
Pre-assessment How can creating sensory images keep you reading? Turn and talk to your partner.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials The Raft, Jim Lamarche
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that…” “A strategy readers use is…” Introduce the Text
We have been learning how readers create sensory images as they read so that they can think deeply about a text. When readers combine their schema and the information in the text to create an image in their mind, this image can represent all our senses - seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, touching and/or feeling. When readers make sensory images as they read, it helps them not only understand the story but feel as if they are right there with the characters - watching, listening and feeling everything the characters are going through. As readers, we all get distracted sometimes. We may be reading the words but our mind is not always paying attention to what we are reading. We know when we are not paying attention because our mind stops creating sensory images about the text. When this happens, we stop and reread. As we reread we create sensory images in our minds so that we understand everything that is happening in our story and we can feel everything our characters are feeling.
Add to the Anchor Chart, Why Do Readers
Create Sensory Images?
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think Aloud.
Show: Model.
Explain: How this will help
them as a reader
As I begin reading, watch as I catch myself when my mind stops creating sensory images. Read the first page or two and share your
sensory images. Now read another page and
share with the students that you are having
trouble creating sensory images because you
got distracted.
This lesson can also be
taught using
informational text.
Discuss how when you
are learning something
new, you may not
understand the
concept so you can’t
make an image.
Creating sensory
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 19
Readers, right here on page 6, after I read about the chores the boy had to do, my mind started wandering. I was thinking about all of the chores I need to do at home. As I read this paragraph my mind stopped creating sensory images. Now, the last thing I can picture is the grandmother carving the wooden bear but I cannot picture the boy doing chores. I am going to reread this paragraph again so I can create sensory images.
Share a few of your sensory images with the
students.
Did you notice how creating sensory images helped me?
images helps us to truly
understand what we
are reading.
Provide Guided
Practice
Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Read a bit more of the book, stopping to
make sensory images about Nicky and the
way he is feeling (he mumbles, is amazed
that grandma sees him do things when he
doesn’t think she is looking, and as he goes
fishing for the first time and gets skunked,
he says, “There’s no fish in this stupid
river,” I said out loud, disgusted.”
Ask the students to turn and talk about
each part of the text that helps them stay
engaged by creating sensory images about
how he is feeling.
Now ask the students to think about
something else as you read the next page.
Have them turn to their partner and explain
what to do when your mind stops making
sensory images. Reread the page and
continue encouraging students to create
sensory images.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 20
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read…
“When you go to RW try…”
Have students continue to read books in
their own book bags.
Please pay attention to when your mind stops creating sensory images. When you notice that you aren’t creating images in your mind, remember to stop, reread and create those images so that you understand the text.
Conference Points Tell me about the sensory images you are creating in your mind.
Is there a place where you got distracted while reading? What did you do when you got distracted?
What sensory images have you created about the character in your story?
Share/Reinforce Have a couple of students share their
thoughts about the engagement they feel
towards their characters. What sensory
image do they have of their character and
how does that sensory image help them to
stay engaged when reading?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 21
Anchor Lesson: 4 How is creating sensory images
like an inference?
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how you use your schema when creating sensory images.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Owl Moon Jane Yolen
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
Creating sensory images is a strategy readers use to think deeply about a text and get immersed in a text. This image can represent all our senses – seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, touching and/or feeling. When readers combine their schema and the information in the text to create an image in their mind this is also called an inference. An inference is something that is probably true. The author or illustrator doesn’t directly tell us everything in a story, but sometimes they give us clues to help us think about things that are probably true. When we create a sensory image we are inferring. The author doesn’t tell us exactly what the character is thinking and feeling but we can infer this by paying attention to the images we create. Show the students the Venn diagram that
illustrates inference as the intersection of
meaning.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 22
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud.
Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Watch me. I am going to read a piece of this text and then tell you about the sensory images I am creating. I am going to create a sensory image as I read. Read the text and stop to think aloud.
Right here where it says, “I had been waiting to go owling with Pa for a long, long time.” I can feel this child’s excitement. The text doesn’t say s/he is excited but I can infer that the character is excited because of the images I see in my mind. I see the child’s face. S/he is trying to be quiet while also smiling. Point to the Venn diagram as you share your
images. Show them how the words in the
text and your schema helps you to make
inferences.
Repeat this process for the next several
paragraphs and use the Venn diagram to
explain your thinking.
When we create sensory images in our
minds we are inferring. Our images help us
think deeply about the text and understand
ideas that are not explicitly stated but are
probably true.
This is a create place to
act out the character’s
facial expressions and
emotions.
Provide Guided
Practice
Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Turn and Talk. What did you notice about the sensory image I made? Continue reading. Stop periodically and ask
students to share the images they created
in their minds. Students should also share
the words in the text and their schema
that helped them create their images.
Point to the different circles on the Venn
diagram as students share.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 23
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
Invite students to post-it places in the
text where their sensory images were very
vivid.
Conference Points Tell me one of the sensory images in your head.
What words helped you create that image?
What in your schema helped you to create that image?
What is probably true about your character? How is s/he feeling? How do you know?
Share/Reinforce Ask one student to share an excerpt from
his book and explain sensory image that he
made. Encourage the student to use the
Venn diagram to also share the words in the
text and his schema that helped him create
this image.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 24
Name______________________________________________ Date ____________________
Title_______________________________________________
An Inference is the Intersection of Meaning
Inference Evidence
Clues from
the Text
Schema
Background
Knowledge
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 25
Anchor Lesson: 5 Sensory images are more than
what we see – they are also what
we hear, smell, feel and taste.
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about your five senses.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Choose a text that
supports the strategy.
Owl Moon, Jane Yolen.
Other suggested materials include:
The Napping House, Audrey Wood
Skunk, Valerie Worth
Raw Carrots, Valerie Worth
What is Gold?, Mary O’Neill
Popsicle, Joan Bransfield Graham
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …”
Introduce the Text
Creating sensory images is a strategy readers use to think deeply about a text. It is when a reader combines their schema and the information in the text to create an image in his mind. This image can represent the five senses. We have been talking about how we create pictures in our mind. We can also create images that we hear, feel, taste and smell. When readers make sensory images it puts you right in the text. It is like you are experiencing it in the moment. This help you not only understand the text better, but enjoy the story more.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Before the lesson, make a T-chart. Label
the chart like the example at the end of this
lesson. Using Owl Moon, read a few pages
aloud looking for examples of sensory
images. Fill out the T-chart as you go.
Examples from Owl Moon:
I see a large white and gray moon in the sky. The words in the text that helped me create that image are, “moon so bright the sky seemed to shine.”
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 26
I hear a faint train whistle. The words in the text that helped me create that image are, “the train whistle blew a sad song.” I can taste the wool scarf in my mouth. The words in the text that helped me create that image are, “furry scarf over my mouth.” Do you see how my sensory images help me to be right in the story with the characters? I can hear the noises s/he hears. I can taste what s/he tastes. I can feel the emotions s/he feels. My sensory images make the story come alive for me and I just want to keep reading.
Provide Guided
Practice
Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Partners choose one of the four poems to
read. Have them record their images and
the evidence in the text on a T-chart. Ask
for volunteers to share what they found and
how creating sensory images helped them
stay engaged in the text.
Students may also
record by drawing
their images
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
With books from their book bags and poetry
books that you make available to them, have
students read independently noticing the
images they are making. Ask the students
to pay attention to not only what they see
but also what they can feel, hear, touch and
taste. Encourage them to record their
thinking on the T-chart.
Conference Points Show me an example of a sensory image from your reading.
Explain your image to me. How does this help you as a reader? What do you think the character is
feeling (hearing, touching, seeing, etc.)? How do you know?
How are your images making you feel like you are right inside this text?
Share/Reinforce Ask the students to share what they
recorded.
Add this strategy to the anchor chart: How
do readers create sensory images?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 27
Name: ________________________________
Readers create images to form unique interpretations, clarify thinking, draw
conclusions and enhance understanding.
Evidence in the Text
My Sensory Image – What I See,
Hear and Feel
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 28
Anchor Lesson: 6 Sensory images can be used to
understand a variety of genres
(poetry)
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how you create sensory images while reading poetry.
Note to Build
Next Lesson
Select the Materials
Sudden Storm, Elizabeth Coatsworth.
Other titles include:
Fog, Carl Sandburg
Have students make a
sensory image for one
stanza when using a
longer poem (Blocks by
Robert Louis
Stevenson).
Name the Strategy
Explain
I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …”
Introduce the Text
Readers make sensory images with a variety of genres. When we create sensory images with poetry it can be a bit different. We really have to pay close attention to the poet’s word choice. Poets do not always use as many words and the words don’t often tell a story. The words in a poem often give the reader a message, an image in her mind, or ask the reader to think about an idea in a new way. I will use my schema and the poet’s words to create sensory images as I read. Watch how my images help me to understand the poem.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud.
Show: Model.
Explain: How this will help
them as a reader.
In a moment I am going to read a poem to
you. I will create sensory images in my mind
as I read. I will explain my sensory images
to you by drawing what I see, hear and feel
in my mind and then sharing with you what
words in the poem helped me to draw
particular things.
Read aloud Sudden Storm.
I saw rain coming down very quickly in sheets washing the streets clean, and umbrellas popping open. The umbrellas are all different colors. Since the rain is so coming down so quickly, everyone is standing close together and the umbrellas are actually touching each other
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 29
I can see this in my mind because the poet compares umbrellas to mushrooms and flowers. I hear the rain hitting the ground and I feel the air and how moist it is. This poem helps me think about a rainstorm in a new way. I smile as I think about flowers standing close together and how that is the same as people with umbrellas standing close together. Begin Anchor Chart: How Do Readers
Create Sensory Images in Different
Genres?
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Tell students to close their eyes and listen
to you as you read the selected poem. They
will draw a sketch of the sensory image they
created in their mind. Remind them to think
about what sensory images come to mind as
they listen to the words you read.
Pass out poem (Fog by Carl Sandburg) to
class.
Now I want you to try sketching your own sensory image after you read this poem. Afterwards, you will turn to your partner and explain why you drew what you did and how it helped you understand the poem. What is the image the poem created in your mind? How does the poem help you to think about an idea in a new way?
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before
they go off to read
”When you go to RW try…”
Today I would like you to read lots of poems during reader’s workshop and make sensory images while reading this genre. Please think about how creating sensory images when reading poetry is different from creating sensory images while reading fiction.
Conference Points What sensory images are you making? What words helped you to make that
image? What have you learned about creating
sensory images while reading poetry? How does creating sensory images help
you to understand the poem?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 30
Share/Reinforce Ask a few students to share their sketches
and explain how it helps them understand
the meaning of the poem they read.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 31
Sudden Storm by Elizabeth Coatsworth
The rain comes in sheets
Sweeping the streets,
Here, here, and here,
Umbrellas appear,
Red, blue, yellow, green,
They tilt and they lean
Like mushrooms, like flowers,
That grow when it showers.
Source: Junior Journal, No.5, Learning Media, 1990.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 32
Anchor Lesson: 7 Sensory images can be used to
understand a variety of genres
(information)
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how you might use sensory images to help you read informational text.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Bats, National Geographic Kids, Elizabeth
Carney
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …”
Introduce the Text
Readers create images in their mind to help them understand what they’re reading. Today we’re going to think about how we use this strategy differently with different genres. So far we have talked a lot about creating images with poetry and fiction. Today we are going to discuss how to create sensory images when reading information text.
When I read informational text, I can use my sensory images to really understand the new information I am learning. I can read the words and use my images to understand new concepts. I can look at the charts, diagrams and maps and actually see in my mind how the things that I am learning about in the text actually work in the real world.
Repeat lessons that are
essential for your
students with each
genre
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud.
Show: Model.
Explain: How this will help
them as a reader.
Watch me. I’m going to read a page from this text. I will tell you what images form in my mind, and tell you how creating these images in my mind help me understand and learn the information in the text. The text says, “In the pitch-black night, bats can scoop up a tiny insect with ease. No flashlight required! How do they do it? They make a sound that travels until it hits an object. Then, it bounces off the object and travels back to the bat.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 33
From this echo the bat can tell an object’s size and how far away it is. This is called echolocation. ”After I read this page, I create sensory images in my mind to help me understand and learn this information. When I read these sentences, I hear a bat making a sound. Now I see the “sound” almost hitting a tiny insect. Then I see the sound coming back and hitting the bat in the face. I can see the bat almost smiling as he flies towards the bug and gobbles it up. My images helped me really understand the way echolocation works. Read another page aloud and vividly
describes what images you see and how
those images help you understand and learn
the information in the text.
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
I am going to read some more from this text. You and your reading partner will sit next to each other, and when I am finished you will share your sensory images with your partner. Remember to discuss how your images helped you understand and learn new information. Remember to also talk about which words in the text helped you to create your images.
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before
they go off to read …
“When you go to RW try …”
When you have RW today, I will ask you to think about the sensory images that come into your mind, and how they are helping you to understand what you read and learn new information.
Conference Points How is creating sensory images when reading informational text different than creating sensory images when reading fiction?
How did your sensory images help you to understand the text?
How does creating sensory images make reading fun for you?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 34
Share/Reinforce Choose two or three students to share
their images and how their images helped
them understand their text. Choose at
least one student who read informational
text. Have this student explain how the
strategy works differently in information
text.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 35
Anchor Lesson: 8 Sensory images change as you read
through a piece of text
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how to use your schema to create sensory images.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials
What is Gold?, Mary O’Neill
What is Pink?, Christina G. Rosetti
My Dog, He is an Ugly Dog, Jack Prelutsky
This lesson can be
retaught using a variety
of genres.
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is...” Introduce the Text
We have been learning how readers use sensory images to put themselves “inside” the text. Today I want to show you how your sensory images change as you read a text. Readers create sensory images in their heads and these images change as you read throughout the text – just like in a movie when the images change on the screen. When the text continues and you read more words your images change because you are getting new ideas to add to your schema. You may start to visualize the setting differently or feel differently about a character. When you think about the text and change your images as you read you understand and enjoy the text more.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Watch me as I read this poem. Read the first stanza and describe the image that you see in your head. Underline the words in the first stanza that helped you to form that image and sketch a quick illustration of what you see. Now watch how my image changes when I read the next stanza. Read the second stanza and describe the image that you see in your head. Underline the words in the second stanza that helped you to form that image and sketch your image. Explain how the image has changed.
This lesson can be
taught using drawing,
acting or writing.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 36
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Read the next two stanzas to the students
and ask students to talk with their partner
and then sketch what they see. Encourage
students to share how their images changed
between the two stanzas.
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before they go off to read. “When you go to RW try…”
Today at RW, I would like you to notice how your sensory images change as you are reading. As you read your poem, sketch your images as they change.
Conference Points Show me how your images changed as you were reading.
What words in the text helped you to form that image?
Which part of the text had the most vivid image for you?
What part of the text was difficult to see in your mind?
Share/Reinforce Please share with your turn and talk partner your illustrations for the text you read today. How did your images change as you continued to read?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 37
Name: __________________________________
Evidence
What changes your images?
Images
Now…
Now…
Now…
Now…
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 38
Name: ____________________________ Date: __________________
Sensory Images During Poetry
Evidence Images
After stanza 1
After stanza 2
After stanza 3
After stanza 4
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 39
Anchor Lesson: 9 Sensory images are used to retell
a text
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner. Why do readers create sensory images?
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Fireflies, Judy Brinkloe
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
When we read we create sensory images. These images bring us into the text so that it is like we are actually there in the moment. When our images bring us into the text we can hear it, see it, smell it, taste it and feel it. All of these images help us remember the important parts of the story. I have noticed that when I remember the story using my sensory images I can retell it more clearly and completely.
Repeat with
informational text
showing students how
sensory images help
readers to remember
and learn new
information.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Sensory images help me remember and retell the text. I can picture the setting in my mind as I read. My images help me think about and remember how the characters are feeling, what they are thinking, or what they might do next. My sensory images also help me to remember the plot, what is happening in the story, because I can see, hear and feel in my mind everything that the characters are experiencing. Watch how I do this. I am going to read a few pages from this story and then I’ll stop and tell you the images I am creating.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 40
Read the first three pages and stop.
When I think about this story I’m picturing the little boy sitting at the dinner table looking out the window. I can feel him getting sad because it’s starting to get dark outside. Then he sees a flicker of a firefly. Picture the dark sky and bright light flickering and moving. I can picture that boy’s excitement seeing that firefly—I can feel his heart jump when he sees it. He probably wants to go right outside, but he has to eat his dinner. When I create these images in my mind it is easier for me to tell you what was happening because I can picture the setting. I can picture what the character is doing, saying and feeling. When I create these images they help me remember the story and retell it. Add to the Anchor Chart, Why Do Readers Create Sensory Images?
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Now I’m going to read a few more pages. Close your eyes and try to create images in your mind as I read. Think about your schema, the memories you have about the words in the text and how your schema helps you think about the images in the text – what do you see happening, what do you hear, smell, taste and feel. This will help you get into the text and understand it better. Read the next 2 pages and stop. Invite
individuals to share their sensory images,
how they created them and which words
helped them create the image.
Read 2 more pages and then have partners
turn and talk and share their sensory
images with each other.
Continue with guided practice stopping
periodically throughout the story.
Students can also act
out their sensory images
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 41
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
Today when you are reading, practice stopping and getting into the text by creating sensory images in your mind. Be sure to picture the setting, what is happening in the story and what the characters look like, say and feel.
Conference Points What did you see when you read these words?
What words added details to your sensory image?
How do these sensory images help you understand and remember what you read?
Tell me about the setting of this text. What do you picture in your mind?
Can you show me with your own face, exactly how that character feels? How do you know?
Please retell this text. How are your sensory images helping you remember?
Share/Reinforce Invite a student to read aloud a page and
then tell their partners about the setting,
the characters and the plot. What
sensory images did they see, hear and/or
feel as they were reading?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 42
Anchor Lesson: 10 Sensory images are used to form
unique interpretations of the text
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how your images can be different from someone else’s.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials The Pickity Fence, David McCord.
Other titles include:
Things To Do If You Are In A Subway,
Bobbi Katz
If You Can Catch a Firefly, Lillian Moore
Marbles, Valerie Worth
Whale Chant, Georgia Heard
Dandelion, Valerie Worth
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …”
Introduce the Text
Readers create sensory images as they read. When we read the words of a text, these words remind us of things in our lives. The memories we have in our schema push us to remember what we saw, felt, and heard. Since each person’s schema is different, the images we create are often different too. Today we will read some poems and think about the images we create. Some of our images may be different because we all have different schema.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud.
Show: Model.
Explain: How this will help
them as a reader.
As I read, listen to the words and watch me as I create images. I will then reread the poem and sketch the images I create in my mind. I see a white picket fence. I am running along and dragging a stick along the pickets. I always think of the sound it makes as you run along the fence with a stick. (make the
sound)
The words in the text that helped me create an image in my mind are: “The pickety fence The pickety fence Give it a lick it’s The pickety fence”
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 43
Remind students that the picture they
created in their heads may be different
because their schema is different. (Give an
example).
Repeat this process as you continue to read
the poem.
Readers create their own images in their minds to help them understand the text. Today we will choose poems and put our sensory images on paper using pictures and words. When we come back to share, we will compare our images to see how they are the same and different.
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance
What did students notice about how I made an image?
Ask students how their sensory images are
different from mine. Discuss how our
sensory images are different because our
schema is different. Also discuss how our
sensory images are similar because we read
the same text.
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before
they go off to read …
“When you go to RW, try …”
Read aloud the selected poems. Provide
students with a packet of all poems and the
handout titled “Recording Sensory Images.”
Tell students to find a quiet spot and
reread their favorite poem. Instruct
students to record their sensory images on
a T-chart.
Students can draw
and/or write to show
their sensory images.
Conference Points What words from the poem helped you make the picture?
How did your schema help you create the picture?
How did your sensory image help you better understand the poem?
Share/Reinforce Ask students with the same poem to meet
together and share their pictures.
Ask students to discuss how and why their
illustrations are different. Remind
students that our schema helps us to
create the sensory images in our heads.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 44
Anchor Lesson: 11 Sensory images are used to draw
conclusions and understand the
story better.
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to a partner about how creating sensory images help you understand a text better.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Spork, Kyo Maclear
.
Name the Strategy
Explain.
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
Readers create sensory images as they read. Our images bring us into the text and help us draw conclusions to understand the text. When we think about the words an author wrote, we think about what they mean and why the author chose those particular words. Then we form an image in our mind based on our own schema. I know the author doesn’t tell me everything so I have to draw my own conclusions about why the author made the characters act a certain way and what the author’s message is to the reader. As a reader, I use the pictures and the words to draw conclusions. When I draw conclusions, I understand the bigger ideas in the text. This is inferring.
You can also teach this
lesson using poetry and
informational texts, as
well.
Demonstrate the
Strategy Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Let me show you. Watch me. After a few pages, model your thinking as
you draw conclusions about the bigger
meaning of the text. Read up to page 9.
Right here I am thinking that the bigger idea in this text is that you should be proud of who you are. Spork is not happy with who he is so he is pretending to be a spoon. I am wondering if the author chose a Spork as a character because they are an uncommon piece of silverware. I am wondering if the bigger idea is to appreciate who you are. The words in the text that help me to draw these conclusions are, “It must be easier to be a single thing.”
Schema
Background
Knowledge
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 45
Continue reading aloud and modeling your thinking. As I read and create sensory images, I can picture Spork's face. When he dresses up as a fork and a spoon, he is happy at first because he thinks he will fit in. However, once the other characters see him, he feels deflated because he knows that he really doesn’t fit in. I think the author chose to have Spork have these different emotions so that the reader learns the importance of believing in yourself and being true to who you are.
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Have the students try it with other picture
books. Ask them to draw conclusions about
why the author made the characters act a
certain way and what the author’s message
is to the reader.
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
When you go back and read today, remember to use your sensory images to draw conclusions to understand what you are reading and the author’s bigger message.
Conference Points How do your sensory images help you to draw conclusions about why the author made the characters act a certain way?
What conclusions can you draw about the author’s message?
Share/Reinforce Have students share sensory images they
made and how it helped them to draw
conclusions.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 46
Name: ______________________ Date: _____________________
Book: ___________________________________________________
Sensory Image (evidence) Conclusion (inference)
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 47
Anchor Lesson: 12 Sensory images help the reader
understand who is speaking in non-
referenced dialogue
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how you know who is speaking in a story when the author use the words, said, asked, etc.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Pinky and Rex, James Howe and Melissa Sweet
Read aloud this text
prior to beginning this
lesson.
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
We have been learning how readers use sensory images to understand what they read. Today I want to show you how to use your sensory images to help you read dialogue. When there are lots of characters and they are talking to each other it is easy to get confused about who is talking and about the tone of their voice. When we use sensory images to get into the text, we can almost see who is talking, hear how they are saying it and feel the tone behind those words. When we use sensory images when we read we can read “as-if” we were those characters and make the voices we are hearing as we read sound like those characters.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Watch Me: I am going to read aloud this section of the Pinky and Rex story that we read yesterday. In this part of the story, the author does not always write said, or asked. S/he leaves that out so we have to really use our sensory images in order to understand the story. Read the text and stop after a few lines and say, “I see…. He is speaking to ___________ and saying_________. Repeat this a few times.
This lesson can also be
taught by using acting
and/or drawing.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 48
Notice how I used my sensory images to keep track of who was talking. When I do this, I really can think about how they were feeling, and read it as if I am the character using the tone of voice the author wants me to use. This helps me enjoy the story so much more. Add to the Anchor Chart: Why Readers
Create Sensory Images
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Reread the next page. Ask students to turn and talk with their partner about what they see, hear or feel about the character. How did they know who was speaking? Encourage students to share their images and what they think the characters are saying or feeling.
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
Today at RW, I would like you to use your sensory images while you are reading. Pay attention to when characters are speaking. How they are saying things? Let us know how this strategy helped you to keep track of your characters.
Conference Points Did you find a place in your story with dialogue?
Show me how you read the dialogue. Tell me about the sensory images in
your head as you read that section. How are your sensory images helping
you to understand that part of your story?
Share/Reinforce Please share with your partner a place in the text where you used your sensory images to understand the story. I am hoping that some of you found some dialogue and can show how you used your images to understand who was talking and to read it as if you were the character.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 49
Anchor Lesson: 13 Sensory images are influenced by
shared images of others
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about how your partner can help you make sensory images.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials The Salamander Room, Anne Mazer
Other Recommended Texts:
Grandpa’s Face, Floyd Cooper
The Family of Earth, Schim Schimmel
Keepers of the Earth, Schim Schimmel
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
Creating sensory images is a strategy that readers use to get into a text and think deeply about it. We know that our images are different based on our schema. If I have different schema for a topic or concept than you, our images will differ. When readers talk about a text with other readers, they share their images and why they have their images. These conversations change our schema and then our images also change. Talking about texts, our thinking and our images with other readers, helps us understand and enjoy the texts we are reading.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Watch me. I’m going to read a page from this book. I will tell you about the images I am creating in my mind. As I read on, I want you to think about what images – pictures, sounds, smells, textures, feelings, and tastes form in your mind and why you formed those images. We want to know which words in the text activated your schema and helped you create those images.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 50
Here we go. Close your eyes and I’ll begin to read! “Brian found a salamander in the woods. It was a little orange salamander that crawled through the dried leaves of the forest floor. The salamander was warm and cozy in the boy’s hand. “I see a little orange salamander about as big as the palm of my hand. I can hear it making the leaves rustle and then the boy picks it up. It is warm in his hand and I can feel that warm feeling on my hand. I created all of these images because of my schema. I know what salamanders look like. I have seen them scurrying in the woods and have held them in my hands, too. The words in the text and my schema help me to create sensory images about the salamander and how the boy feels about it.
Now that I’ve read the first page to you, and told you what images appeared in my mind, who would like to share what images appeared in their mind?
Share your images and ask a student to
share his images. Compares/contrasts the
images, and model how your images have
changed based on the conversation.
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
I am going to read some more from this story. You and your partner will sit next to each other, and when I am finished you will share your sensory images with your partner. Remember to discuss how your images changed as you shared. Read the next page, where Brian talks
about the bed he will make for the
salamander. Ask partners to share their
images. Continue reading until you are sure
they are able to create images. Ask the
students to discuss their images with a
partner. Then ask them to talk about how
their images changed after they listened to
their partner.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 51
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try
…”
When you have RW today, I will ask you and your partner to read this same text. Then you and your partner will complete the Sensory Images T-chart. First you will fill out the My Image half of the paper. Then you will share your images with your partner, and then complete the second half of the T-chart.
Remember, everyone has different experiences, different schemas, and different prior knowledge to draw upon and we can learn from each other.
Conference Points How did your sensory images change after you shared with your partner?
How did talking with a partner help you understand the text?
Share/Reinforce Ask one pair of students to share how their
images changed.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 52
Name:_______________________________________ Date:____________________
Title of Text:____________________________________________________________
Evidence from Text
(words I used)
My image
My partner’s thoughts My new image
Evidence from Text
(words I used)
My image
My partner’s thoughts My new image
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 53
Anchor Lesson: 14 Readers use creating images in
combination with other reading
strategies.
Pre-assessment Turn and talk to your partner about all of the strategies you use as you read.
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Grandpa’s Face, Eloise Greenfield
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …”
Introduce the Text
We have learned so much about creating sensory images and today I want to teach you how readers use creating sensory images with other reading strategies. When readers read, they are always combining reading strategies. We use our schema, create sensory images, infer the characters feelings, predict what will happen next, figure out unfamiliar words, etc.. We do all of these things simultaneously to help us understand the text. We use many strategies all at once, sometimes without realizing that we are even doing it.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud. Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
I’m going to read this book and show you how I use more than one strategy to help me understand the text. (Refer to your
anchor chart of strategies)
Think aloud and share your schema for this book. When I preview this book, I think it will be a story about a girl and her grandpa. It looks like they are having fun. I’m using my schema to decide what it will be about.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 54
I’m expecting that it is fiction, so there will be characters, setting, a problem and a solution. It’s hard to imagine what the problem will be when they look so happy. Read on and pause to share your thinking
when she sees her grandpa’s face looking
so angry. “It was a face that could never
love her or anyone.”
When I read those words I have a sensory image that reminds me of when _______ was angry. I remember how I felt. I think I she is very scared. I think she is wondering why he is so angry.
Provide Guided
Practice Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
Read to the part where Tamika spills her
milk. Invite students to share their
sensory images and to use their schema to
make a prediction of what might happen
next.
You could continue this book for several
days stopping to share your thinking using
a combination of strategies. Invite
students to participate by sharing their
thinking.
Provide Independent
Practice Remind students before
they go off to read … “When you go to RW try …”
When you go off to read remember to try to combine using sensory images with the other strategies that we have learned. You can look at the anchor chart (strategy bookmark) to help you remember your strategies.
Conference Points What words in the text helped you make that sensory image?
How did your schema add to the details of this sensory image?
Now that you’ve pictured what’s going on in this book, what predictions do you have for what will happen next?
Read a bit and then think aloud. Let me hear what you are thinking.
Share/Reinforce
Turn and talk with your partner and show them a couple of places in the text where you used different reading strategies.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 55
What is Gold?
Gold is a metal
Gold is a ring
Gold is a very
Beautiful thing.
Gold is the sunshine
Light and thin
Warm as a muffin
On your skin.
Gold is the moon
Gold are the stars;
Jupiter, Venus
Saturn and Mars,
Gold is the color of
Clover honey
Gold is a certain
Kind of money.
Gold is alive
In a flickering fish
That lives its life
In a crystal dish.
Gold is the answer
To many a wish.
Gold is the feeling
Like a king
It’s like having the most
Of everything –
Long time ago
I was told
Yellow’s mother’s name
Is gold …
Mary O’Neill
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 56
Sudden Storm by Elizabeth Coatsworth
The rain comes in sheets
Sweeping the streets,
Here, here, and here,
Umbrellas appear,
Red, blue, yellow, green,
They tilt and they lean
Like mushrooms, like flowers,
That grow when it showers.
Source: Junior Journal, No.5, Learning Media, 1990.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 57
What Is Pink?
What is pink? A rose is pink
By a fountain’s brink.
What is red? A poppy’s read
In its barley bed.
What is blue? The sky is blue
Where the clouds float thro’.
What is white? A swan is white
Sailing in the light.
What is yellow? Pears are yellow,
Rich and ripe and mellow.
What is green? The grass is green,
With small flowers between.
What is violet? Clouds are violet
In the summer twilight.
What is orange? Why, an orange,
Just an orange!
Christina G. Rosetti
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 58
Riding on the Train
I see
Fences and fields
Bams and bridges
Stations and stores
Trees
Other trains
Horses and hills
Water tanks
Towers
Streams
Old cars
Old men
Roofs
Raindrops crawling backwards on the window
Eloise Greenfield
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 59
Poem
I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There’s nothing more to say.
The poem ends,
Soft as it began –
I loved my friend.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 60
April Rain Song
Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night.
And I love the rain.
Langston Hughes
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 61
Things To Do If You Are In a Subway
Pretend you are a dragon,
Live in underground caves.
Roar about underneath the city.
Swallow piles of people.
Spit them out at the next station.
Zoom through the darkness.
Go fast.
Make as much noise as you please.
Bobbi Katz
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 62
Sound of Water
The sound of water is
Rain,
Lap,
Fold,
Slap,
Gurgle,
Splash,
Churn,
Crash,
Murmur,
Pour,
Ripple,
Roar,
Plunge,
Drip,
Spout,
Skip,
Sprinkle,
Flow,
Ice,
Snow.
Mary O’Neill
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 63
Mama
Mama was funny
was full of jokes
was pretty
dark brown-skinned
laughter
was hard hugs
and kisses
a mad mama
sometimes
but always
always
was love
Eloise Greenfield
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 64
Rain Poem
The rain was like a little mouse,
Quiet, small and gray.
It pattered all around the house
And then it went away.
It did not come, I understand,
Indoors at all, until
It found an open window and
Left tracks across the sill.
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 65
Two Friends
Lydia and Shirley have
two pierced ears and
two bare ones
five pigtails
two pairs of sneakers
two berets
two smiles
one necklace
one bracelet
lots of stripes and
one good friendship
Nikki Giovanni
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 66
My Dog, He is an Ugly Dog By Jack Prelutsky
My dog, he is an ugly dog,
He’s put together wrong
His legs are much too short for him,
His ears are much too long.
My dog, he is a scruffy dog,
He’s missing clumps of hair,
His face is quite ridiculous,
His tail is scarcely there.
My dog, he is a dingy dog,
His fur is full of fleas,
He sometimes smells like dirty socks,
He sometimes smells like cheese.
My dog, he is a noisy dog,
He’s hardly ever still,
He barks at almost anything,
His voice is loud and shrill.
My dog, he is a stupid dog,
His mind is slow and thick,
He’s never learned to catch a ball,
He cannot fetch a stick.
My dog, he is a greedy dog,
He eats enough for three,
His belly bulges to the ground,
He is the dog for me.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 67
marbles
Marbles picked up
Heavy by the handful
And held, weighted,
Hard, glossy,
Glassy, cold,
Then poured clicking,
Water-smooth, back
To their bag, seem
Treasure: round jewels,
Slithering gold.
Valerie Worth
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 68
Whale Chant
I see a
Blue whale,
Fin whale,
Humpback,
Gray,
Little piked,
Right whale,
Bottlenose,
Sei,
Killer whale,
Pilot,
Sperm, and narwhale
Swimming
In the deep
Blue
Sea!
Georgia Heard
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 69
Rain
Summer rain
is soft and cool,
so I go barefoot
in a pool.
But winter rain
is cold, and pours,
so I must watch it
from indoors.
Myra Cohn Livingston
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 70
dandelion
Out of
Green space,
A sun:
Bright for
A day, burning
A way to
A husk, a
Cratered moon:
Burst
In a week
To dust:
Seeding
The Infinite
Lawn with
Its starry
Smithereens.
Valerie Worth
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 71
Barefoot Days
In the morning, very early,
That’s the time I love to go
Barefoot where the fern grows curly
And grass is cool between each toe,
On a summer morning-O!
On a summer morning!
That is when the birds go by
Up the sunny slopes of air,
And each rose ahs a butterfly
Or a golden bee to wear;
And I am glad in every tow-
Such a summer morning-O!
Such a summer morning!
Rachel Field
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 72
Weather
Weather is full
of the nicest sounds:
it sings
and rustles
and pings
and pounds
and hums
and tinkles
and strums
and twangs
and whishes
and splashes
and bangs
and mumbles
and grumbles
and rumbles
and flashes
and CRASHES.
Aileen Fisher
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 73
Fog
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Carl Sandburg
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 74
What is Brown?
Brown is the color of a country road
Back of a turtle
Back of a toad.
Brown is cinnamon
And morning toast
And the good smell of
The Sunday roast.
Brown is the color of work
And the sound of a river,
Brown is bronze and a bow
And a quiver.
Brown is the house
On the edge of town
Where wind is tearing
The shingles down.
Brown is a freckle
Brown is a mole
Brown is the earth
When you dig a hole.
Brown is the hair
On many a head
Brown is chocolate
And gingerbread.
Brown is a feeling
You get inside
When wondering makes
Your mind grow wide.
Brown is a leather show
And a good glove –
Brown is as comfortable
As love.
Mary O’Neill
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 75
Ron
His name is Ron
and he’s a good dog.
When I call, he’s there.
Goes everywhere I do, only farther,
Does everything I do, only rougher.
When I growl, he growls tougher.
When I’m sad, he puts his nose
close to my face and just waits.
Ron makes a good pillow:
his fur is plush, like a bear’s.
And he doesn’t eat much.
Sometimes he licks me.
Ron likes me, but I don’t own him.
He comes and goes, like steam.
Never musses my bed, where he sleeps
At night, because he’s made up
of light things –
like air, like dreams.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 76
This is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
William Carlos Williams
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 77
Coat hangers
Open the closet
And there they
Wait, in a
Trim obedient row;
Stirred by the
Air, they only
Touch wires with
A vacant jangle;
But try to
Remove just one,
And they suddenly
Clash and clink,
And fling them –
Selves to the
Floor in an
Inextricable tangle.
Valerie Worth
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 78
The Newt
Orange nose.
Orange toes.
Orange chin.
Orange skin.
Orange tail.
Orange newt.
Orange you cute
In your bright orange suit.
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 79
Spring Is
Spring is when
the morning sputters like
bacon
and
your
sneakers
run
down
the
stairs
so fast you can hardly keep up with them,
and
spring is when
your scrambled eggs
jump
off
the
plate
and turn into a million daffodils
trembling in the sunshine.
Bobbi Katz
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 80
Name: ________________________________________
Sensory images from: ______________________ by ________________ (title) (author)
My image My image after having a conversation
with _________________________
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 81
Anchor Lesson: 15 How do readers record their
sensory images?
Pre-assessment Turn and Talk. What have you learned about creating sensory images?
Notes to Build Next
Lesson
Select the Materials Night in the Country, Cynthia Rylant
This lesson can be
repeated with
informational text or
poetry
Name the Strategy
Explain
“I have noticed that …” “A strategy readers use is …” Introduce the Text
Creating sensory images is a strategy readers use to think deeply about a text and become immersed in the story. These images can represent all our senses - seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing, touching and/or feeling. These images are our thinking, and our thinking is important. As readers we want to record our thinking so that we can share it with others and remember our ideas.
Demonstrate the
Strategy
Say: Think aloud.
Show: Model. Explain: How this will help them as a reader.
Watch me. I am going to read part of this text and then tell you about the sensory images I am creating. Read a few pages of the text. Stop and
share your sensory image with the class.
As I read I have images in my mind. I am lying in my bed in the middle of the night. I hear the frogs saying reek, reek, reek and the owls are hooting. The sounds are comforting and I feel peaceful. Now I need to write my thinking down. I want to write down what I see, hear and feel and what words in the text helped me to create those images. Column 1 – Evidence from the Text
Little houses people lie sleeping.
Night frog – reek,
Owls who swoop among the trees
If you cannot sleep you will hear the sounds
of the night.
Sensory images can be
recorded by drawing
and/or writing
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 82
Column 2 – My Sensory Images
I am lying in my bed in the middle of the
night. I hear the frogs saying reek, reek,
reek and the owls are hooting. I feel
peaceful.
Provide Guided
Practice
Invite the students to
practice the strategy with
teacher guidance.
After I read a few more pages I will ask you to stop and jot your sensory images and the words in the text (evidence) that helped you create those images. Read a few more pages and ask students to stop and jot. Please share what you wrote down with your partner. How did you record the words in the text? How did you write/draw your images?
Provide Independent
Practice
Remind students before
they go off to read …
“When you go to RW try
…”
As you are reading today, please stop and jot 2 or 3 times to record important sensory images and the evidence that supports those images on the 2-column chart (T-chart). If you don’t have an image, please jot down why you think you are not creating images as you read.
Conference Points Tell me about your images. How will you record that information?
Show me an example of a sensory image from your reading.
Explain your image to me. How does this help you as a reader? What do you think the character is
feeling (hearing, touching, seeing, etc.)? How do you know?
Share/Reinforce Ask the students share with their partner how they recorded their sensory images. Add this strategy to the anchor chart: How do readers create sensory images?
Unit of Study: Sensory Images
© 2012 Teachers For Teachers. All rights reserved. 83
End of unit assessment:
Name: _____________________________ Date: ___________________
We just completed our unit on using sensory image while we read:
1. What is a sensory image?
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2. How does making sensory images help you when you read?
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3. Do we all have the same sensory images when we read? Why?
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