Before After Reading Activities Before Reading Building Academic Vocabulary and Background Knowledge Before reading a book it is important to tap into what your child or students already know about the topic This will help them develop their vocabulary increase their reading comprehension and make connections across the curriculum be about in the book’s chapters you might learn about it from this book Why or why not 1 Look at the cover of the book What will this book 2 What do you already know about the topic 3 Let’s study the Table of Contents What will you learn about 4 What would you like to learn about this topic Do you think 5 Use a reading journal to write about your knowledge of this 6 Read the book 7 8 After reading the book complete the activities below In your reading journal record what you learned about the topic and your response to the book topic Record what you already know about the topic and what you hope to learn about the topic Content Area Vocabulary Read the list What do these words mean circuit digestion grieving imbalance mass membrane organ psychiatrist react spinal cord X-ray After Reading Comprehension and Extension Activity After reading the book work on the following questions with your child or students in order to check their level of reading comprehension and content mastery 1 What does your brain control Summarize 2 Why do people behave in different ways Infer 3 How do neurons communicate with each another Asking Questions 4 How does your brain tell your muscles to move Text to Self Connection 5 How can brain research help people now and in the future Asking Questions Extension Activity Choose a brain imaging method and research how it allows neuroscientists to see inside the living human brain How does this method help neuroscientists Create a table with three columns Compare how scientists studied the brain 100 years ago how we study the brain today and imagine how we might study the human brain in the future
TABLE OF CONTENTS Brain Power A Look Inside Neuron Network The Way We Behave Imagining the Future Glossary Index Show What You Know Further Reading About the Author 4 12 18 22 26 30 31 31 31 32
BRAIN POWER Your brain is the most complex organ in your body Weighing about 3 pounds 1 4 kilograms in adult humans it’s one of the body’s biggest organs It controls the beating of the heart digestion of food and the workings of the lungs But that’s not all Our brain helps us to remember It controls our senses and gives us our unique personalities The brain is divided into two halves or hemispheres The right hemisphere controls the left half of the body The left hemisphere controls the right half of the body 4
MAIN PARTS OF THE BRAIN Cerebrum Cerebellum Brain Stem 5
