1. Dr. Jane Baker and Dr. Kristen Pennycuff Trent
Is Your Uncle an Inca?
Dr. Jane Baker and
Dr. Kristen Pennycuff Trent

2. Informative/Explanatory Writing
W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure. W.2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

3. Informative/Explanatory Writing
W.3.2 and 4.2 and 5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
Link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases (e.g., another, for example, also, because).
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.

4. Informative/Explanatory Writing
W.6.2 and W.7.2 and W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
Introduce a topic; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
Use appropriate transitions to clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
Establish and maintain a formal style.
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from the information or explanation presented.

5. Is Your Uncle an Inca?
When we make a wacky multiple choice test we can exaggerate this truth by making our wrong answers WAY wrong and our right answer totally obvious.
A water molecule is made up of hydrogen and
Mozzarella cheese
Toothpaste
Oxygen
Uranium
My friend Mark once taught me the secret to taking a multiple choice test. Two of the four answers can usually be eliminated immediately, which leaves two remaining answers to choose from.

6. Is Your Uncle an Inca?
Begin by choosing a subject and reviewing your research.
Ask a few simple questions that your research appears to answer.
Then start listing your possible answers.
After winning a soccer game an Inca
Goes to have a drink with the guys
Shakes hands with the opposing team
Gets his heart cut out and eaten by the captain of the opposing team
All of the above
Answer: c
Play with the order of your answers to see which have the funniest effect. Sometimes your funniest answer might be the true one, as in the example. If that’s the case, don’t put it first but save it as the punch line for the third or fourth answer.
When playing soccer, the Inca player uses a
Soccer ball
Cabbage
Boulder
All of the above

7. Is Your Grandmother a Sea Turtle?
True or false: Your grandmother spends part of the year in a hot place like Florida. Sea turtles are cold-blooded and cannot survive harsh winters.
True or false: At the pool, your grandmother holds her breath underwater for a long time. Sea turtles can hold their breath for 8 hours.
True or false: At the beach, your grandmother sometimes disappears behind the sand dunes for hours at a time. Mother sea turtles lay their eggs behind the dunes and their babies hatch out and walk to the sea.
True or false: When you are playing on the beach, your grandmother seems to be overly protective when seagulls come by. Only a few dozen per thousand sea turtles survive until their first birthday.
True or false: Your grandmother sometimes walks slowly, stopping occasionally to sniff for predators. Sea turtles use bumps called barbels to smell predators both on land and in water.
Instead of creating multiple choice tests, try true and false ones.
Start with the facts about your subject.
Craft questions that build on those facts.

8. Is Your Uncle an Inca? Set Up Punch
Create a wacky multiple choice or true/false test for physical change like melting and freezing.
Punch
Start with the facts about your subject.
Ask a few simple questions that your research appears to answer.
Then start listing your possible answers.

9. Peer Conferencing Reflect something you heard.
Point out what is working well.
Ask a question that will help the writer(s) revise.
Adapted from No More “I’m Done!”: Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades by Jennifer Jacobson

10. Revise and Edit A- Adding R- Replacing R- Removing R-Rearranging
C- Capitalization U- Understanding P- Punctuation S- Spelling

11. Think Like a Teacher
What are the benefits of the Is Your Uncle an Inca?
How could we use Is Your Uncle an Inca? in our instruction?