Using a Tail

Using a Tail is an expository nonfiction text that explains how different animals use a tail to grip, pinch/sting, send messages, move about, and display. Readers gain information from the text, fact boxes, captions, and summary chart.

Using a Tail is an Explanation to describe how or why things happen. There is a topic, headings, facts, and information shown in different ways. Critical thinking questions are provided to guide the reader. Photographs match the text and provide a visual comparison between different tails. A visual information guide is provided for teachers to draw students’ attention to the photographs, Table of Contents, Index, layout, and design. There is an infographic at the end of the book outlining the different components of Explanations. An activity on designing an informational diagram is provided for teachers to extend students’ learning.

Readers develop vocabulary such nouns (tail), verbs (sting), and singular/plural (animal/animals). Some sentences are posed as questions to encourage readers to make inferences. Opportunities arise to discuss bullets within a list. Focus on long and short vowel i and look at suffixes ly.

This title is from the Sails Literacy series. Hook readers and ignite their curiosity - over 850 levelled texts with bright, colourful, sophisticated designs.