Snapshot 5.2. Histogram of Important Words in the Study of Volcanoes
Integrated ELA/Literacy and Science in Grade FourThe students in Mrs. Binder’s class are busying themselves with selecting important
words from the trade book they are reading about volcanoes to support their study of Earth’s
features in science. Among the words Jason selects are dormant and active. He writes them
on separate sticky notes he has laid out in front of him and then returns to the text, reading
and rereading the last three paragraphs of the selection to identify his final words. Like
his classmates, he is searching for ten important words, that is, words that represent key
ideas from the text the class is reading. After all the students have finalized their selections,
sometimes crossing out early choices and replacing them with different words, the teacher
leads them in building a histogram at the front of the room. One table group at a time, they
place their sticky notes in columns on the chart paper, with each column displaying a different
word. Mrs. Binder deliberately does not ask students to sign their sticky notes because she
wants everyone to feel comfortable critically analyzing the words once they have all been
posted.
Jason begins a column by placing dormant on the x axis of the chart. Susanna, Nasim, and
Ricardo had also selected dormant and, one after the other, they carefully place their words
above Jason’s so the column is now four sticky notes high. Christine starts a new column with
the word molten, and others with the same word place their sticky notes above hers. As each
of the table groups adds their words to the histogram, it grows in height and width. Some
columns are very tall because every student chose the word, some are shorter because fewer
students selected those words, and some columns contain only one sticky note. Spew, for
example, appears in a column of its own.
Mrs. Binder invites the students to examine the completed histogram and share their
observations. Irena points out that some words were selected by many students, and others
were selected by only a few or even just one student. Mai comments that about half the
words were selected by a large number of students. Ryan points out the width of the chart
and says, “Obviously, we didn’t all pick the same words!” Questions start bubbling up from the
students: Which words did everyone or almost everyone select? Which words were selected
only once? Why did people choose certain words?
Mrs. Binder leads the group in a discussion about the words, starting with those that were
selected by the most students. Why, she asks, did everyone select the word volcano? The
students laugh and tell her it is what the passage is about! “What do you mean?” she asks.
They explain that the topic of the passage is volcanoes and that everything in the passage has
something to do with volcanoes—what types there are, what causes them, where they appear
in the world. “This passage couldn’t exist without the word volcano!” they say. She invites their
comments about other high frequency words, and the students explain what the words mean,
how they are used in the reading selection, and why they are important. Then she focuses
on words that were selected by fewer students and invites anyone to explain why the words
might have been selected. Why might someone else have selected it? As the students discuss
the words, explain their relevance to the topic of volcanoes, and wrestle with their importance,
they thoughtfully review the content of the reading selection and reconsider their own choices.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Mrs. Binder asks the students to write a one-sentence
summary of the passage. Their initial efforts to select important words, the chart that displays
a range of important words, and their participation in the discussion about the words andGrade 4 Chapter 5 | 443