Are You Reading for Understanding At Grade Level?

We read an article from the New York Times on the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What is the article about? What suggestions is the author making, and to whom? Your explication of this article should be done on this form.
Text-to-Self: Activating Prior Knowledge

Here's what we knew before reading the article:

• Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
• They had to capture the fish to preserve the population
• It did a lot of damage to the land to the biology of the area
• Floating thing to try to stop the oil from flowing
• Besides them losing money, it’s polluting the water now.
• BP (the oil company) lost money, and so did the fishermen.
• Pollution
• They are trying to use a controlled fire to burn up some of the oil in the water.
• People might get sick
• We might not be able to eat seafood
• Animals might mutate

Here Are Our Strategies for Reading for Understanding:

• Figure out words you don’t know
• Determine the source of the complaint: what is the author criticizing?
• Draw conclusions based on the reading
• Predict possible solutions