Salamander Crossing

In the spring, mole salamanders migrate. They

travel on the first rainy March night. Where are they

going? These salamanders are moving from their

forest homes to vernal pools. Vernal pools are big

puddles that last through the whole spring. The

salamanders go to the vernal pools to mate and lay

eggs.

But mole salamanders face a problem. As people

have built more homes, some salamanders have to

cross roads to get to their vernal pools. On rainy

March nights, this can be a problem. Drivers have

trouble seeing the little amphibians. Many

salamanders get run over!

In many towns, people have tried to come up

with a solution to save the salamanders. Sometimes,

volunteers come out with flashlights. They warn

drivers and help to make sure that the salamanders

get across the road safely. In one town, they have

even built a tunnel! The salamanders can crawl

through the tunnel and get to their vernal pools.

Emily Kissner 2011

Salamander Crossing Cloze

In the spring, mole migrate.

They travel on first rainy March night.

are they going? These

are moving from their

homes to vernal pools. pools

are big puddles last through the whole

. The salamanders go to

vernal pools to mate lay eggs.

But mole face a problem.

As

have built more homes,

salamanders have to cross

to get to their

Emily Kissner 2011

pools. On rainy March

, this can be a . Drivers

have trouble seeing

little amphibians. Many salamanders

run over!

In many , people have tried to

up with a solution save the

salamanders. Sometimes,

come out with flashlights.

warn drivers and help make sure

that the

get across the

road . In one town, they have

built a tunnel! The can

crawl through the

and get to their vernal pools.

Emily Kissner 2011

How did you use the CONTEXT of the words to figure

out what to add?

Independent 17/30 +Instructional 12-16/30Frustrational <12

Emily Kissner 2011

1. salamanders2. the3. Where4. Salamanders5. Forest6. Vernal7. That8. Spring9. The10. and11. salamanders12. people13. some14. roads15. vernal16. nights17. problem18. the19. get20. towns21. come22. to23. volunteers24. They25. to26. salamanders27. safely28. even29. salamanders30. tunnel

Emily Kissner 2011

Teacher Notes: Salamander Crossing Cloze

Begin by teaching students about context clues. How can readers fill in gaps in their reading? Model making inferences about missing words and word meanings.

Tell students that they will practice this kind of thinking with a cloze activity. In a cloze, words are taken out of sentences. Their task is to try to use the context to figure out the missing words. Some will be easier than others! Be sure to keep the atmosphere light and supportive.

I do not generally have students score their own papers. Instead, I collect them and score them that night. Only words that match the target word exactly are counted as correct. In order to score at the independent range, students only need to get 60% of the words correct.

o Look carefully at student responses! To me, looking at what kids put into the blanks is more interesting than their number correct. Are they missing endings? This means that some discussion of subject/verb agreement is in order. Are kids able to use clues from one sentence to fill in a sentence that comes later? This means that they are starting to take a more global approach to reading.

The next day, I project the passage and we talk about what goes into the blanks. Depending on the class, you can do it together, or you can give students the complete passage and have them read it and compare their responses.

Some kids will like this very much, while others will not. Interestingly, it doesn’t break out along ability lines. Some very capable readers will find this to be a pain, while others who are less capable will enjoy the puzzle aspect of it. All in all, it’s just another good tool for talking about reading.

Emily Kissner 2011