Article
Courtesy of San Francisco International Airport
The Lazy Editor,

Why Is This Pig at the Airport?

This short, delightful nonfiction article about therapy animals is packed with mentor sentences modeling the correct use of lists.

By Maggie Pierce
From the February 2018 Issue

Learning Objective: to analyze the mechanics of listing two or more items in a series

Featured Skill: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics,
Other Key Skills: punctuating lists
Topic: Animals,
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    L.1, L.2, L.3
  • Grade 6
    L.6.1, L.6.2, L.6.3
  • Grade 7
    L.7.1, L.7.2, L.7.3
  • Grade 8
    L.8.1, L.8.2, L.8.3
TEKS Standards
  • Grade 6
    6.14d; 6.20
  • Grade 7
    7.14d; 7. 20
  • Grade 8
    8.14d; 8.20

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Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Dig Deeper!
Video: Therapy Dogs

This video (2:25) shows therapy dogs at work at the airport in Mumbai, India.

Video: Miniature Therapy Horses

This video (2:30) explains how miniature therapy horses can benefit at-risk children, hospital patients, and first responders and their families.

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

1. PREPARING TO READ

Set a purpose for reading by calling attention to the featured skill printed in the upper left corner of the first page.

2. READING THE ARTICLE

Read the article once through as a shared, guided, or independent reading.

3. SKILL BUILDING: HELP THE LAZY EDITOR

  • After students read the article, follow the prompts in the “Help the Lazy Editor” box to find sentences within the text that highlight the featured grammar skill. This can be completed as a class, in small groups, or individually.
  • After finding mentor sentences containing the featured grammar skill, have students think about the different ways the skill is used. Then have students write some rules for the skill based on their observations.
  • Next, using the rules they just created, have students edit the last paragraph of the article, in which the Lazy Editor forgot to fix some mistakes.
  • Last, have students write their own paragraph using the featured skill. If using the Lazy Editor as a mini-lesson for writing workshop, students can then apply the featured skill to revising their own compositions.

4. ADDITIONAL PRACTICE (Optional)

  • Use the Scavenger Hunt activity. In this activity, students mine articles throughout the magazine for more mentor sentences that highlight the featured skill.
  • Use the additional skill reinforcement activity provided.
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