Basketball (Making the Play)
by Valerie Bodden (Author)
Booktalk: The BIG Picture
Do you think about science when you play baseball? Probably not. But you use science anyway. See how the physics of launch angles and inertia affect dribbling and shooting.
#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details
STEADY SPEED
A ball keeps going where
you threw it until something
stops it. This is called
inertia (in-NUR-shuh).
This page defines the word inertia, but it doesn’t do so by beginning with an unfamiliar word. It defines the new word by beginning with something that young readers understand:
A ball keeps going where
you threw it until something
stops it.
After showing readers what inertia looks like in the sport of basketball, the name is introduced:
This is called
inertia (in-NUR-shuh).
The phonetic spelling helps young readers pronounce this new unfamiliar word.
A new word is best defined by moving from a familiar idea to an unfamiliar one. Begin with something that young readers understand and then name it.
It’s Nonfiction Monday!
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