Tier-2: INVESTIGATE and OBSERVE through 'My Pen' by Christopher Myers

TPR: 'Show me INVESTIGATING (magnifying-glass gesture). Show me OBSERVING (eyes-on gesture).'

• Model gestures
• Children mirror

M-1-F-VOC-03-B Photograph

Photo of the cover of 'My Pen' by Christopher Myers (2015). Sticky note labeled 'WRITERS OBSERVE AND INVESTIGATE'. Used to introduce the day's mentor text and connect vocabulary to the writing craft.

INVESTIGATE means to LOOK CAREFULLY to find out something. Detectives investigate. Scientists investigate. OBSERVE means to WATCH closely. Observers notice details. Writers do both — they observe the world and investigate their own ideas. In 'My Pen,' the author shows us his pen makes whole worlds — he's investigating what writing can do.

• You can observe without investigating (just watch). To investigate, you have a question.

  model INVESTIGATE = look to find out something specific. OBSERVE = watch and notice.

  prompt What's the difference?
• Watching closely without changing anything.

  model 'I observe the bird sitting on the branch.'

  prompt Use OBSERVE.

• What does INVESTIGATE mean?
• What does OBSERVE mean?
• Investigate or observe: 'I want to find out why the plant died.' (investigate)

M-1-F-VOC-03-A Illustration

Two-panel anchor card. Left: 'INVESTIGATE = look carefully to find out' with a detective character holding a magnifying glass over a footprint. Right: 'OBSERVE = watch closely' with a scientist character watching a butterfly with binoculars. Both panels show diverse characters of color.

• Object investigation: each pair gets a mystery object + magnifying glass; first OBSERVE quietly, then INVESTIGATE by asking a question.

  scaffold Prompts: 'What do I see?' (observe) → 'What do I wonder?' (investigate).
• Sentence-frame share: 'I observed ___. Then I investigated ___.'

  scaffold Pair share.

• Write a sentence using INVESTIGATE.
• Write a sentence using OBSERVE.

• Chant: 'Observe = watch. Investigate = find out.'

• Find something at home that interests you. Observe it. Then think of a question to investigate.