Flicking the Switch 6-pack Author: Brian Birchall ISBN: 9780478124880 Grade Level: 2 Reading Level: M Strategy/Skill: Comparing and contrasting, Information skills, Main ideas, Text structure Genre: Procedure, Report Theme/Topic: History, Invention, Physical Science Classification: Nonfiction

Book Summary

This text invites the reader to imagine what life was like 150 years ago with no electricity.  The book does this by comparing the life of a boy born in 1851 with the lives of children today.  It also provides information about how some modern electrical appliances work.

Features of the Book

• Nonfiction text features – diagrams, photographs, glossary, index
• Written instructions
• Different illustrative styles for past and present
• Familiar activities and events used to compare past and present
• Use of a child to evoke past times
• Simple explanations of familiar technology
• Specialized vocabulary – electricity, refrigerators, stove, ignition, spiral, signals
• Punctuation – question marks, exclamation points for emphasis

Purpose

Flicking the Switch can be used to introduce and reinforce the following skills:

• recognizing and discussing the organization of a book
• finding the main idea
• locating important information
• reading and writing procedural text
• making comparisons within a book

For more information please see our Lesson Plan