Integrating Information From Two Texts

1. Write two facts from two different sources: "Fact 1: Camels can go a week without drinking." "Fact 2: Deserts may get no rain for months."
2. Ask: "What can you say using both facts that neither says alone?" Take answers. The one to fish for: "Camels can survive in deserts because they can go a week without water, even when there is no rain for months."
3. Name the move: integrating is joining facts so they make a new point, not listing them one after another.

1. Read Text A: "Hedgehogs are small mammals covered in about 5,000 spines. They eat beetles, worms and slugs, which makes them popular with gardeners. In winter they hibernate in nests of dry leaves."
2. Read Text B: "Hedgehogs are becoming rarer in many towns. One reason is that garden fences block their routes, and a hedgehog may walk 2 kilometers a night looking for food. Some families now cut a hole the size of a CD case at the bottom of their fence to make a hedgehog highway."
3. Show a stacked paragraph first: "Text A says hedgehogs have 5,000 spines and eat slugs. Text B says hedgehogs are becoming rarer and fences block them." Ask: "Did the writer join anything?" No — it is two summaries in a row.
4. Fill the note grid together. Idea "food": A — eats slugs and beetles; B — walks 2 km a night to find food. Connection: they need a lot of garden to find enough slugs. Idea "help": A — gardeners like them; B — families cut holes in fences. Connection: gardeners who want slug-eaters can help by cutting a hole.
5. Model the combined paragraph from the grid: "Hedgehogs help gardeners by eating slugs and beetles (A), but they may need to walk 2 kilometers a night to find enough (B), so garden fences that block their routes are a real problem (B). Because gardeners value them (A), some families now cut a small hole in their fence to make a hedgehog highway (B)."
6. Circle the joining words: "but," "so," "Because." Point out that each sentence holds facts from both texts, and every fact is labeled.

“Stacking is Text A, then Text B, like two piles of books. Combining is taking one book from each pile and asking how they connect. If a sentence uses only one text, ask yourself what the other text adds to it.”

1. Pairs read Text A: "Owls hunt mainly at night. They can turn their heads about three-quarters of the way round. Their soft-edged feathers make their flight almost silent." Text B: "An owl's eyes are fixed in place and cannot move in their sockets. Owls find prey partly by hearing, and some can catch a mouse they cannot see."
2. Pairs fill the note grid with at least two ideas. The connections to fish for: eyes cannot move (B), so they turn their heads so far (A); silent flight (A) helps because they hunt by hearing (B) and their own wings would not drown out the sound.
3. Pairs write two combined sentences, each with a joining word and both labels. Circulate; if a pair writes "Owls hunt at night (A). Owls' eyes cannot move (B)," ask: "What does B explain about A? Join them with a word."
4. Take one combined sentence to the board and have the class check: both texts? joining word? labels?

“Look for the "aha" — the place where one text explains something the other one only mentions. That is where your best sentence is.”

1. Students complete the printable practice sheet alone, using information from both texts to answer each question.
2. Early finishers write a three-sentence spoken report on owls they could give to the class, combining both texts without saying "Text A says."

1. Read a student's sentence aloud and ask the class: "Stacked or combined? How can you tell?" The answer must name the joining word or its absence.