Reading Grade 4 Informational Texts

1. Show only the title and headings: "How a Submarine Dives and Surfaces — Ballast Tanks — Diving — Holding a Depth — Surfacing."
2. Ask: "Before reading a word, what kind of text is this likely to be?" The answer to fish for: a process told in order, with causes inside it — each step makes the submarine do something.
3. Say that naming the structure first gives you the shape of your notes before you start.

1. Read the first two sections aloud while students follow. "Ballast Tanks: A submarine has large tanks between its inner and outer hulls, called ballast tanks. When the tanks are full of air, the submarine is lighter than the water it pushes aside, so it floats." "Diving: To dive, the crew opens valves called vents. Air rushes out of the top of the tanks, and seawater floods in through the bottom. The submarine becomes heavier and sinks."
2. Think aloud at the hard spot: "Lighter than the water it pushes aside — I don't get that. Fix-up one: reread. Still stuck. Fix-up two: use the diagram." Point at the diagram's arrows showing water pushed aside. "So if the submarine weighs less than the water it moves out of the way, it floats. Got it." Put a sticky note on the sentence and write "diagram."
3. Model the notes as a chain that follows the structure rather than a list: "Tanks full of air → lighter → floats." "Vents open → air out, water in → heavier → sinks." Point out the arrows: the structure is a process with causes, so the notes are too.
4. Show bad notes beside them: three sentences copied from the text. Ask: "Could someone use these to explain diving without the text?" Hardly — they are the text again. Notes are the meaning made smaller.
5. Hand over the last two sections for students to read alone: "Holding a Depth: Small fins called hydroplanes tilt like the wings of an aircraft, steering the submarine up or down while the propeller pushes it forward." "Surfacing: To rise, the crew blows compressed air from storage tanks into the ballast tanks. The air forces the water out, the submarine becomes lighter, and it rises."

“Good readers get lost too. The difference is that they notice the moment, stop, and use a fix-up strategy instead of reading on and hoping. When a sentence stops making sense, put a sticky note on it — that is not failing, that is reading.”

1. Students read "Holding a Depth" and "Surfacing" alone, with a sticky note for any spot where meaning broke down and the fix-up strategy named on it.
2. They add two chains to their notes. The chains to fish for: "Hydroplanes tilt → steer up or down while moving"; "Compressed air blown in → water forced out → lighter → rises."
3. After six minutes, students swap notes with a partner, who must explain how a submarine surfaces using only the partner's notes. Where the partner gets stuck, the notes need fixing.
4. Take the most common sticky-note words to the board — likely "compressed," "hydroplanes" and "hulls" — and ask which strategy cracked each. "Hydroplanes" is explained by "small fins"; "compressed" by "from storage tanks" and the diagram.

“Your notes pass the test if someone who has never seen this text could explain it from them. If your partner has to ask you, your notes are not finished.”

1. Students complete the printable practice sheet alone, reading the text on it independently and answering the questions.
2. Before handing in, each student writes on the back: "The hardest sentence was ___ because ___. I used ___ to fix it."

1. Take two "hardest sentence" answers. Praise the specific one ("compressed air — I didn't know compressed, and the diagram helped") over the vague one ("the words"), and say why the specific one helps the reader next time.