Text Features

NGSSS

LA .S.1.7.5: Analyze a variety of . . . text features and explain their impact on meaning in text.

LA.S.2.2 .l: Locate , use, and analyze specific information from organizational text features.

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In this lesson, you will learn about certain text features, or those parts of a text that can help you locate information and identify the main idea and supporting details. Text features are like road signs; they can help you navigate through a text towards a greater understanding of what you are reading. Along with features such as bold or italic print, common text features include the following:

• The title of a passage and its headings or subheadings give hints about the main idea and supporting details. The title can also help you decide whether the text fits your purpose for reading. Subheadings divide a text into sections and tell what each section is mostly about.

• Illustrations are pictures that help explain information or ideas in a text.

• A caption is the writing under a photograph or picture. Captions help you understand how the pictures relate to the main ideas in a text.

• Words that appear in a small box within a passage, or boxed text, usually give one or two facts or ideas related to the main idea or topic.

• Poems are often divided into stanzas. Stanzas break the poem into small sections and function much like paragraphs.

Look at the following table to review these text features.

Text Feature How It Helps Readers

titles and headings give hints about main idea and supporting details

boxed text gives information re lated to the topic of a text

illustrations help explain the words or ideas in a text

captions give information about the pictures in a text

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Read this article about a healthy diet. Look for text features to answer the question below.

Eating for Health

1 Everyone knows that eating a healthy diet is important, but which foods are health iest? Have you heard of carbohydrates-foods made from grains, such as bread, pasta , and cereal? The best carbohydrates to eat are those made from whole It' grains. Some carbohydrates, such as wh ite rice, are stripped of many nutrients, and II' aren't as good for you. Fruits and vegetables are also importal1l carbohydrates because they are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which protect aga inst many diseases.

2 Everyone needs protein, too. Lack of protein can lead to slow growth, reduced immuni ty, and less muscle tissue. Meat, eggs, mil k, and fish are proteins. Plant-based proteins are nuts, seeds, and beans. Try to eat proteins that are low in fat.

How does the title relate to the main idea and details of the article?

~ Find the information about carbohydrates made from whole grains. Why are whole gra ins healthier than other kinds of grains? Whole grains have not been stripped of nutrients.

~ Find the information about fruits and vegetables. They are good sources of vitamins, mineral s, and fiber.

~ Find the information about proteins. What do proteins do for the body? Prote ins help bui ld immunity and muscle tissue.

ANSWER: The title "Eating for Health" refers to the kinds of food described in the article that people should eat to stay healthy.

Why are the words carbohydrates and prote in in bold print?

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Think About It What two questions can be answered by reading this passage?

Hint How do the subheadings make it easy to find information in this passage?

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Read the passage. Use the Think About It to guide your reading. Then answer the quest ion. Use the Hint to help you.

Torn adoes

1 W hy They Happen Tornadoes are fas t-spinning clouds of air that move from a

thunderstorm to the ground. When warm, moist air collides with cool air, the cond itions are favorable for tornadoes to form, which is why most tornadoes occur in the spring.

2 What They Do The winds of a to rnado can reach 300 miles per hour-fast

enough to topple trees, fences, sheds, and houses. Tornadoes cause millions of dollars of damage each yea r.

W hat do the subheadings tell you about the organization of the passage? A Several kinds of storms and tornadoes are compared. B Events about tornadoes are recorded in the order they occur. C A problem and several solutions are described. D Causes and effects of to rnadoes are described.

CORRECT ANSWER Answer choice D is correct.

SUPPORTING DETAILS The information under the first subheading explains what tornadoes are, and then it tells the conditions necessary for them to form . The second subhead ing explains the kinds of damage and the cost of the damage that tornadoes cause.

INCORRECT ANSWERS A is incorrect because the article does not compare tornadoes to any other storm.

B is incorrect because there are no events in the passage to put in order. C is incorrect because, although tornadoes cause problems, there are no

solutions given to the problems caused by tornadoes.

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Think About It Before reading the passage, look at the title and the illustration. What can you guess about the passage from these text features?

Read the subheadings. What can you learn about the passage based on these text features?

What caused Sally's grades to drop? Why would watching too much TV have this effect?

Read the passage. Use each Think About It to guide your reading.

Too Much of a Good Thing? 1 I'll admit it: I was watching too much reality TV.

I loved to watch competitions to see who was the best singer or dancer or designer or chef. I liked to see who filmed the funniest home videos. I enjoyed watching the nanny straighten out the misbehaving children, and I liked to see workers build a dream home for a family who had faced misfortunes in life. I was beginning to think of myself as "Reality Sally."

The Problem 2 I enjoyed watcliing all of those shows, but it was causing a problem.

I brought home my first report card of the year, and my grades had almost all dropped at least one letter grade from the year before. I'm older this year, of course, and my classes are more difficult , but the real reason my grades were dropping was because I watched too much TV.

3 My parents were angry, and they were ready to pull the plug on everyone of my shows. I promised them that I was old enough to monitor myself and that I would work hard to get my grades back up. My parents were not making idle threats, so I really did need to figure out how to raise my grades.

The Solution 4 Fi rst, I made a li st of all my classes, and then I wrote down all of

my assignments. I resolved that I would do the daily assignments first thing when 1 got home from school. The longer-term projects were more difficult to manage. 1 didn't know how much time each day 1 needed to work on a book report that wasn't due for a month. 1 didn't know how much time to allot to reading a nove l in my literature class, and 1 surely didn't know how long it would take to research the spice trade for social studies. Finally, 1 decided to work on these projects for one hour per day. If 1 felt 1 was getti ng behind, 1 would increase the time 1 worked on them.

S Only after 1 had caught up in all of my subjects didl allow myself to watch my favorite shows again. But you know what , because 1 had stopped watching so much telev ision for a few weeks, I lost interest in many of the shows. Today, 1 hard ly watch television at all , andl don't feel as if 1 am missing a thing.

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Hints

Alone, the title and illustration don't offer many clues about the passage. But, together, they give the reader a good idea about the topic of the passage.

Look at each of the subheadings. How do they help you understand what the passage is mostly about?

Look for clue words under the subheading "The Problem." This section explains the causes of the problem.

With your partner, sltare alld discuss your allswers alld supporting details .

Use the Hints to answer the questions below. Circle the letter of each correct answer, and provide supporting details from the passage.

I Based on the title and the illustration, what do you think this passage is mostly about? A why everyone should watch TV B how it's possible to watch too much TV C how it's poss ible to do too much homework D why TV should only be watched while eating

Supporting Details: ________________ _

2 What do the subheadings suggest about the passage? A The author regrets having solved a problem. B The author is faced with many problems. C The author has discovered a solution to one problem. D The author has found one solution to many problems.

Supporting Details: _ _______ _____ ___ _

3 What caused Sally's grades to drop? A She was too busy with sports and after-school activities. B School had gotten more difficult now that she was older. C She didn't know how long it would take to do her assignments. D She was watching too many reality shows on television.

Supporting Details: _ ___ _ ___________ _

Read the article" America's Odd Castles" before answering Numbers 1 through 5.

2lmrrica's <8dd ltastlrs by Samaire Root

tl[J hen most people think castles, they imagine either the fairy tale castles we've all encountered in storybooks or the regal estates in Europe designed for monarchs and heads of state. Since America was founded as a democracy, with no royal family, it might be hard to imagine castles

in America. But they do exist. They might not have been built for the same reasons as their European counterparts, but they are just as enchanting.

Castles were originally built for reasons far less romantic than housing kings and queens. Castles were built for war. The first castles, built in the 10th century, were stone fortresses designed to withstand attacks from enemies. They were built for functionality instead of beauty. These military strongholds were usually situated on high ground and featured courtyards, moats, and towers. At this time in history, people in Europe were spread far apart, and these castles were built to protect small villages from warring neighbors. Villagers could find safety inside the outer walls of the castle. Soldiers posted on the wall, as well as a moat filled with water, kept intruders from entering.

By the 1500s, castles took on a different function. New weapons, like cannons, were invented, making castles easier to destroy and invade. Eventually, castles as military fortresses became obsolete, and no one but the most wealthy Europeans could afford to live in them. Many old castles still stand in Europe, and are a glimpse at what life was like in the past. American castles are much younger, but often have equally fascinating histories.

A Castle Built on Heartbreak

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oral Castle can be found in Homestead, Florida. The castle was built by one man, Edward Leedskalnin, who labored in secret for 20 years.

Legend has it that Edward was jilted by his young fiancee right before their wedding; he never got over his lost love and built Coral Castle as a monument to the girl who broke his heart. What makes Coral Castle unique is that Leedskalnin built the entire edifice out of huge blocks of stone-some weighing as much as 30 tons-without using any modern machinery. Leedskalnin was such a skilled worker that the castle boasts a 9-ton stone gate that swings open perfectly w ith just the touch of one finger. What's more, no one knows how he did it. Because Leedskalnin worked mostly at night and guarded his privacy, not one person actually saw him build his castle. Leedskalnin's artistry and intricate design-work have been studied and admired by engineers who have spent considerable time trying to figure out exactly how Coral Castle was constructed. It remains a mystery to this day.

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Recycled Dreams

illll ing's Castle in New York is a unique work in progress. Started in the 1970s, the owners of this castle are still working on it. Peter Wing had a vision of building a grand castle to live in, but he had one big problem: He was penniless. Like a true artist, he didn't let this stop him. Using

recycled materia ls found from old railroads and barns, Wing started to build his dream house. He spent the next 40 yea rs working on his creation. Wing Castle features such oddities as faces carved into the stone walls and a fireplace fashioned after Buddha. And Wing and his wife are still building!

A Haven for Horses

~elcourt Castle in Newport, Rhode Island, was built in 1894 to function as a summer cottage and hunting lodge. Though the castle features 60 rooms, and encompasses 50,000 square

eet, most of that space wasn't actually meant for humans-it was meant for the owner's horses! The entire first floor of this castle was built to house an ex tensive stable and carriage house for the owner's prized horses. He was even able to ride his horses inside the house! Living quarters were found on the second floor, above the horses.

America's Only Official Royal Residence

~olani Palace in Hawaii is the only castle in America that can claim roya l residency. The original castle was built for King Kalakaua before Hawaii beca me a part of the United States.

King Kalakaua wanted Hawaii to improve its standing in the international world and thought a palace would boost the nation's reputation. Even though Hawaii is no longer ru led by roya lty, the castle still stands. It is open for tourists and special events. It is the only American example of a true royal residence.

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o How does the author use text features to organize the article?

A. The author uses questions and answers to tell about famous castles.

B. The author uses subheadings to tell about different castles in America.

C. The author uses order of importance to arrange the inform a tion in the article.

D. The author uses subheadings to tell the difference between American and European castles.

., According to "America's Odd Castles," why doesn't America have many castles bu ilt for royalty?

F. America is too young to have any castles built for royalty.

G. American castles are not as expensive as European castles.

H. America was founded as a democracy, with no royal family.

I. Only one American state was an independent nation before joining the Union.

e Based on the information in the first tl,ree paragraphs, what can the reader conclude about European castles?

A. They are much older than American castles.

B. They are more expensive than American castles.

C. They are much larger than American castles.

D. They get more tourists than American castles.

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Based on the photograph of Coral Castle on page 84, what can the reader conclude about its construction?

F. The castle has a large garden.

G. The castle's interior is made of stone.

H. The castle includes unique sculptures.

I. The castle was built on the side of a hill.

Based on informa tion in the section titled "Recycled Dreams," what can the reader conclude about tl1e Wing family?

A. They are interested in building a home for tourists to visit.

B. They will keep adding on to their castle for as long as they live.

C. They insist on using only the finest material for their castle.

D. They modeled their castle on the grandest homes in Europe.

Answer Form

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