CAFE STRATEGIES

Compare and Contrast

How do we use compare and contrast?

Thinking about how things are alike or different can help us understand new ideas in text.

It helps us think critically. Think about similarities, likenesses, and

differences.

How do we use compare and contrast?

Compare: Explain how two or more things are alike.

Contrast: Explain how two or more things are different.

Compare/Contrast: Explain how two or more things are alike and different.

What are some example compare and contrast words?

Comparing Words Contrasting Words

Like Unlike

Same as In contrast to

More Different from

Similar Less

Likewise Whereas

And, as well as However

Also, too But

Just as, as do, as did, as does As opposed to

Both On the other hand

Example Passage

The grocery store held a contest. Whoever could guess the correct number of jelly beans in the big jar would win a prize. There were exactly 372 jelly beans. Two people guessed the right answer – Joey and Harry. Since there were two winners, both of them were given a $20 gift card. Joey decided to spend his prize money on his favorite foods. He brought vanilla ice cream, animal cookies, angel food cake, and a chocolate candy bar. Harry had a different idea. He wanted to make breakfast for his family. Harry used his money to buy bacon, eggs, cereal, and waffles.

What are some example compare and contrast questions?

How are Harry and Joey similar? In what ways are Harry and Joey

different? How do the groceries that Harry bought

compare to the groceries Joey bought?

Determine and Analyze Author’s Purpose

What is Author’s Purpose?

The reason an author wrote a piece of text.

Could be to entertain, persuade, or inform.

How do we identify the author’s purpose?

To tell a thrilling story

To tell an enjoyable story

To tell a funny story

To tell To explain

To teach To show To change

thinking or ideas To convince To show how to To make you feel

or want

Think about which statement you think the author would agree with:

Example Passage

The  giant panda is a bearlike animal that has thick white fur with black markings on its ears, limbs, shoulders, and around its eyes. The giant panda feeds on bamboo forests at high altitudes in western China. It also eats bulbs, roots, eggs, and some small mammals. The cubs are born in late winter. The giant panda is an endangered species and is protected by the Chinese government.

What are some example Author’s Purpose questions?

What is the author’s purpose in this article?

What does the author use to get her point across?

Why did the author write this piece?

Inferring and Supporting with Evidence

What is inferring?

Inference questions ask you to figure something out in the passage. The text will give you clues that you may have to think about.

The answer probably will not be in the text.

You may have to predict what will happen, draw a conclusion, or come up with an effect.

What can we learn from inferring?

Inferring forces us to think more deeply about the text.

When we make inferences, we are interacting with the text using our own schemas and information the author has given us.

Example Passage

Mary was very proud of her garden.  She'd planted the seeds early in the spring and tended to the plants every day since then. She pulled the weeds so they'd have lots of space.  She knew that the plants needed plenty of water, so she watered them every day too.

Last Saturday her friend Pam called early in the morning and invited Mary to spend the day at the mall.  They left early and spent the day there, even taking in a movie.  Pam then invited Mary to sleep over Saturday night too, and she happily accepted.  When Mary arrived home on Sunday afternoon, her beautiful plants were bent and drooping.

What are some example inferring questions?

What most likely happened while they were away?

Why were the plants drooping?

What will most likely happen next?

Which of the following statements is best supported by the passage?

Which of the following sentences would the author most likely add to the passage?

Example Passage Questions

Other Possible Questions

Using Main Idea and Supporting Details

How do we use main idea?

We need to be able to pick out the main idea so that we can summarize passages or stories.

The main idea is NOT the topic or the theme.

It is the most important idea about the topic usually expressed in a sentence. Hint: the topic or theme is usually only a

word or phrase, not a sentence.

How do we identify the main idea and add supporting details?

Try starting with the topic of the passage and add at least one detail to support it.

You can find supporting details right in the passage, but you may have to infer the main idea. Remember: you infer using your own

schema and information the author gives you

Example Passage

No one knows how language began, but one interesting idea is the “bow wow” theory. It says that people first spoke by imitating the sounds they heard. A tribe would all use the same barking sound to talk about a dog.

These are called “echoic” words, or onomatopoeia, because they echo the sound they describe. English has more echoic words than any other language. We know that not all dogs have the same bark. St. Bernards and poodles sound very different. Similar to dogs, other languages use different words.

What are some example main idea questions?

In a few words, what is this selection about?

What would you say is the most important idea about this topic?

What is the main idea of this passage? What is your evidence?

Summarizing Text

What is summarizing?

It’s taking larger selections of text and reducing them to their bare essentials. The gist The key ideas The main points that are worth noting and

remembering Capture the most important parts of the

text, but expresses them in shorter, more easily remembered version

How do we summarize?

Summarizing helps us reduce a lot of information down to the main ideas.

Try using MIDAS M – Main idea I – Identify supporting details D – Disregard unimportant information A – Analyze redundant information S – Simplify, categorize, and label

important information

Example Passage

It is estimated that over twenty million pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each year. Brach’s, the top manufacturer, sells enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25 times if each piece were laid end to end. That’s a lot of candy corn, but that’s nothing compared to Tootsie Roll production. Over 64 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day! But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the candy industry’s staple product, chocolate. Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion pounds of chocolate in the United States each year. Now that’s a mouthful!

What are some example summarizing questions?

What is this selection about? What are the main ideas of this

selection? What evidence do you have to support

the main idea? What is not important to remember in

the selection?

QAR

Question-Answer Relationship

What is QAR?

Question-Answer Relationship QAR helps us understand different kinds of

questions. Right There – find the answers right there in

the text Think and Search – gather info from different

parts of the text and put it all together Author and You – use info from the text and

from your own schema On my Own – use your own schema – you

don’t have to read the text

How do we use QAR?

QAR can help us find the answers to questions faster and more accurately

It helps you make connections to the text and beyond

All questions are either going to come from the text (Right There or Think and Search) or from your head (Author and You and On My Own)

Example Passage

The first battle of the American Revolution occurred at Lexington, Massachusetts in 1775. The American colonists were angry about numerous taxes issued by the British king. In 1776, the colonists issued the Declaration of Independence, a document written by Thomas Jefferson that outlined America’s intention to become a new country separate from England. England wanted to maintain control of America, and vowed to fight the colonists. The Americans won many important battles. Many American heroes emerged during this time. Finally, in 1783, the British surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia and a new nation was born.

What are some example QAR questions?

Where did the first battle of the American Revolution occur?

How long did the American Revolution last?

Do you think you would have enjoyed being a soldier during the American Revolution?

What can you infer about American leaders and soldiers during the American Revolution from this passage?

Cause and Effect

How do we use cause and effect?

CauseA cause is why

something happens.

EffectAn effect is what

happens.

A cause may have more than one effect. An effect may have

more than one cause. An effect may become

a cause of something else.

Cause and effect makes us think about the relationships between events.

Signal words: because, so, as a result, or since

What are some example cause and effect questions?

What happened as a result of this event? Why would this have happened? What was the cause of this event? What do you think the effect of this

event will be?

The United States and its allies hated

the Soviet Union and its supporters.

Each threatened to destroy the other.

They thought democracy didn’t help poor working people enough.

For this reason, they supported

communism.

Cuba had been a colony of Spain and

later came under the “protection” of the

United States.

Even though Cuba was officially

independent, the U.S. had a lot of

influence over its government and

economy.

Eventually, Fidel Castro seized control

of the Cuban government and

adopted communism.

This made U.S. citizens very

worried. In October 1962, the United

States sent spies to Cuba.

They discovered that the Soviet Union was

building a nuclear missile site in Cuba.

Eventually, President Kennedy decided to ask the

Soviet Union to remove its missiles and stop sending

any more to Cuba.

Eventually, President Kennedy decided to ask the Soviet Union

to remove its missiles and stop

sending any more to Cuba.

Luckily, the missiles were

pulled out of Cuba and the crisis ended without

bloodshed.

If he allowed the Soviet Union to keep shipping missiles to

Cuba

They could attack the United States

at any time.

He could have sent the U.S. Army into

Cuba to remove the missiles.

But, that might have made Castro angry and set off a missile right away.

He warned that if any missiles were fired at the United States from Cuba

He would hold the Soviet Union responsible.

Cuba is still communist, and the U.S. refuses to trade

with Cuba.

Today, Cuba and the United States

are still on bad terms.

The United States and its allies hated

the Soviet Union and its supporters.

Each threatened to destroy the other.

They thought democracy didn’t help poor working people enough.

For this reason, they supported

communism.

Cuba had been a colony of Spain and

later came under the “protection” of the

United States.

Even though Cuba was officially

independent, the U.S. had a lot of

influence over its government and

economy.

Eventually, Fidel Castro seized control

of the Cuban government and

adopted communism.

This made U.S. citizens very

worried. In October 1962, the United

States sent spies to Cuba.

They discovered that the Soviet Union was

building a nuclear missile site in Cuba.

Eventually, President Kennedy decided to ask the

Soviet Union to remove its missiles and stop sending

any more to Cuba.

1

2

3

Eventually, President Kennedy decided to ask the Soviet Union

to remove its missiles and stop

sending any more to Cuba.

Luckily, the missiles were

pulled out of Cuba and the crisis ended without

bloodshed.

If he allowed the Soviet Union to keep shipping missiles to

Cuba

They could attack the United States

at any time.

He could have sent the U.S. Army into

Cuba to remove the missiles.

But, that might have made Castro angry and set off a missile right away.

He warned that if any missiles were fired at the United States from Cuba

He would hold the Soviet Union responsible.

Cuba is still communist, and the U.S. refuses to trade

with Cuba.

Today, Cuba and the United States

are still on bad terms.

4

5

Sequencing

When we sequence, we put things in chronologically Cause and effect naturally follows

chronological order Signal Words: before, after, first,

last, then, or next