Main Body
Memory Magic
Learning Goals
In this chapter, you will learn to:
- Use pre-reading strategies
- Ask questions to check your understanding while you read
- Build your vocabulary
- Understand the main ideas, details, and sequence of a text
- Add suffixes to words that end in silent e
- Use commas after transition words
- Identify and correct run-on sentences
- Write a narrative paragraph
Get Ready to Read
Think about the questions below or discuss them with a partner.
- Do you have a good memory? How do you know?
- What do you do to remember information?
- Describe a time when you really wanted to remember something but couldn’t.
Think about the title Memory Magic. Which of these words do you think will be in the text?
- attention
- circus
- senses
- focus
- hurricane
- short-term
- long-term
- bullfrog
- chunk
- visualization
- vampire
Reading Strategy
Readers check their understanding of a text while they read. One strategy is to ask questions while you read, and then look for the answers. What do you wonder when you read the sentence below?
Dave Farrow is a Canadian recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for Greatest Memory.
You might wonder, “What did he do to set this record?” Continue reading with this question in mind. Asking questions and looking for answers helps keep your brain thinking while you read.
Try this strategy as you read Memory Magic.
Vocabulary
Find these words in the text. Use the context to choose the best meaning.
| dyslexia | memorize | constantly | indigo |
| partner | recall | violet |
1. ___________________ is a condition that makes it hard for a person to read, write, and spell.
2. ___________________ is a deep blue colour.
3. ___________________ is a deep purple colour.
4. A person someone is romantically involved with, runs a business with, or does an activity with is called their ___________________.
5. ___________________ means happening all the time or very often over a period of time.
6. To ___________________ is to learn something so well that you can remember it perfectly.
7. ___________________ means to remember something.
Check Your Understanding
1. What’s the main idea of paragraph four?
2. What’s the main idea of paragraph five?
3. What’s the main idea of paragraph six?
4. How does the brain remember information? Put these steps in order.
a. The information goes into your short-term memory.
b. You think about the information over and over.
c.
d. The information goes into your long-term memory.
e. Your brain pays attention to the information.
Something is incorrect in each of these sentences. Cross out the incorrect words. Add the correct words.
5. Your long-term memory only holds information for a few seconds.
6. Your short-term memory can hold about 15 things at a time.
7. Dave recommends breaking big tasks into smaller tasks, working hard for short periods of time, and taking short breaks to help your mind remember.
8. Roy G. Biv stands for red, orange, yellow, green, brown, indigo, and