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Getting to Know Your Textbook

Getting to Know Your Textbook
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.2

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    periodic, classification, format, colored, writing, material, appendix, text, better, entire, rate, purpose, section, introduction, history, contents

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Getting to Know Your Textbook
By Patti Hutchison 		  
1     It is the first day of school. Your history teacher hands you the fattest textbook you've ever seen. You and this text are going to be friends the entire school year. You might as well get acquainted with it. What should you know about your textbook? Here are some questions you should ask yourself as you go through it.
 
2     First ask, "Who is the author?" Many times there is information about the author in the front of the book. There might even be a picture of her. Sometimes the author writes a note to the student. It tells about her background and purpose for writing the text. Knowing about the author might help you to better understand the information she has written.
 
3     Next ask, "How is this textbook organized?" The table of contents might give you a clue. All texts have some system for organizing the information. The table of contents can tell you how the information is divided. Many texts are broken down into units. The units are divided into chapters; chapters are divided into sections. History books are written in chronological order. Science units may be grouped by classification or other concept. Knowing this system can help you find topics easily in the textbook.

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