Close Reading

Thinking Notes * Key detail/main idea – underline and circle key words . Thinking Notes * Key detail/main idea – underline and circle key words ! I love this part! Great writing or idea ? Raises a question-possible discussion for class ?? Something is unclear or confusing to me

1. Number the Paragraphs The Common Core asks you to be able to cite and refer to the text. One simple way to do this is by numbering each paragraph, section or stanza in the left hand margin. When you refer to the text, I want you to state which paragraph you are referring to. The rest of the class will be able to quickly find the line being referred to. 

2. Chunking the Text When faced with a full page of text, reading it can quickly become overwhelming. Breaking up the text into smaller sections (or chunks) makes the page much more manageable. You do this by drawing a horizontal line between paragraphs to divide the page into smaller sections.

3. Underline and circle… with a purpose When reading science texts,  underline “claims” or key ideas. Circle “Key terms” in the text. Key terms are words that: 1. Are defined. 2. Are repeated throughout the text. 3. If you only circled five key terms in the entire text, you would have a pretty good idea about what the entire text is about

4. Left margin: What is the author SAYING? Summarize each chunk in 10 words or less.

5. Right margin: Dig deeper into the text Use a power verb to describe what the author is DOING. (For example: Describing, illustrating, arguing, etc..)  Represent the information with a picture. Ask questions

Oil and water don’t mix. You have probably heard this old saying Oil and water don’t mix. You have probably heard this old saying. It isn’t just folk wisdom, however. It’s chemistry. Another common expression — like water off of a duck’s back — illustrates the same basic principle. The oil on a duck’s feathers repels water and prevents the bird from getting soaked in the rain. Naturally oily feathers also help keep a bird dry as it swims. Chemistry is just one way to repel water in nature. Structure, or the shape of things, is another. To excel at water repellency, the lotus leaf relies on both.

Unlike water lilies, the lotus holds its leaves and flowers high above a pond’s surface. Still, each lotus is amply prepared to fend off a drenching. The waxy surface of the leaves helps repel water chemically. But very tiny surface bumps also afford each leaf physical protection. The closely spaced bumps are far smaller than the width of most water droplets. Together, these bumps hold water droplets above a leaf’s surface, so that raindrops just bead up on top of them. You might picture this as something like a person resting on a bed of tightly spaced nails.

“The leaf of the lotus is one of nature’s most water-repellent surfaces,” notes Anish Tuteja at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. And he says, “There’s a lot we can learn from nature.” He should know. As a materials scientist, he studies how the structure, composition and other aspects of a material affect its properties. By mimicking processes and structures seen in nature, but using materials created by people, he and others are developing a new world of super-repellent surfaces. Scientists call such surfaces omniphobic. This term combines the Latin word for everything (omni) with the Greek word for fear (phobia). If something is omniphobic, it “fears everything.” And that describes pretty well a surface that repels all sorts of liquids, including water and oil.

Tujeta’s Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ICw5k1tDZSk