The new Common Core State Standards are increasing the complexity of texts we use with our students at every grade level. I found a wonderful example of this in a book intended for grades 2-3, Amos & Boris.
"One night, in a phosphorescent sea, he marveled at the sight of some whales spouting luminous water; and later, lying on the deck of his boat gazing at the immense, starry sky, the tiny mouse Amos, a little speck of a living thing i the vast living universe, felt thoroughly akin to it all."
Text complexity: compound sentences, challenging vocabulary, and literary devises (metaphor, hyperbole...)
Beautiful language is back--and we'll need to teach students how to handle it.
"One night, in a phosphorescent sea, he marveled at the sight of some whales spouting luminous water; and later, lying on the deck of his boat gazing at the immense, starry sky, the tiny mouse Amos, a little speck of a living thing i the vast living universe, felt thoroughly akin to it all."
Text complexity: compound sentences, challenging vocabulary, and literary devises (metaphor, hyperbole...)
Beautiful language is back--and we'll need to teach students how to handle it.