by Brigette Gerandol
In this story, L’il Trig is on an adventure to find relatives after moving to a new town. To help him complete his mission L’il Trig uses his analytical skills.
Strategies/Skills Used
Reading Strategy 1: Access background information.
Reading Strategy 2: Predict what will be learned or what will happen
Reading Strategy 6: Connect what you read with what you already know.
Reading Strategy 7: Determine the most important ideas and events and the relationship between them.
Reading Strategy 8: Extract information from text, charts, graphs, maps and illustrations.
Reading Strategy 9: Identify and interpret literary elements in different genres.
Reading Strategy 10: Summarize what has been read.
Reading Strategy 11: Make inferences and draw conclusions.
TEACHING THE ACTIVITY: PRE-READING
(1) Use the Building From Clues framework to give students clues about what they are going to read in the short story. Show a variety of triangles on the board, some similar and some not similar. If you wish, you may also show photos of families and photos of people on an adventure in the city.
(2) Project the article “Woman ‘Freaks Out’ When She Meets Doppelganger For 1st Time In Ireland” as another clue. Review what a doppelgänger is, and ask students how they think this concept relates to the story of a triangle.
(3) Using the 3-2-1 Bridge thinking strategy from Making Thinking Visible, have students create a two-column table with the following information:
| Pre-Reading | Post-Reading | |
| Three Words | ||
| Two Sentences | ||
| One Metaphor/Simile/Phrase |
3-2-1 Bridge Worksheet available for download.
(4) Ask students to complete the chart with the following information.
- Generate three words from the introductory activities.
- Generate two questions regarding what they think the story is about. Refer to the title of the story, the photos or the website discussed.
- Create one metaphor or simile that links to the topics. For example, “Doppelgängers are like …”
TEACHING THE ACTIVITY: DURING READING
(5) Using the Concept Circles framework, have students create a concept circle for each shape that they encounter while reading the story, using the Concept Circles Graphic Organizer or their own concept circle drawings (e.g. 60-60-60 triangles, 25 degrees – 8 cm – 5 cm triangle, Lil’ Trig’s dimensions, rectangle, circle, square and semi-circle.)
(6) Encourage students to use words, pictures and numbers to represent the characteristics of each shape.
(7) Have students write a short description under each concept circle of the shape’s characteristics and the way to make similar shapes.
TEACHING THE ACTIVITY: POST-READING
(8) Complete the post-reading sections of the 3-2-1 Bridge worksheet. Students will select new words, questions and metaphors to represent new ideas developed while reading the story.
(9) Group students in threes or fours, and have them explain how their new responses compare to their initial responses.
(10) Using the Role Play activity, have each group create a dramatization of the story using the text and dialogue as a play script and incorporating their ideas from the 3-2-1 Bridge activity.
(11) Encourage the groups to be creative. Suggest having an “interviewer” ask the characters the questions outlined in the Role Play activity.
(12) Have groups present their Role Play to the class.