Journeys Lesson 11- Technology Wins the Game

This week we look at how technology has benefitted the world of sports. Students will examine the question "How do inventions help athletes? In the informational text Technology Wins the Game, students will read how sports engineers have helped athletes improve performance by inventing special equipment and clothing for different types of sports.

Home Connection Activities!

Technology Trends Talk with your child about everyday technologies that people use at work and at home, such as cellphones, digital cameras, or computers. Discuss how those inventions have benefitted people.

Vocabulary on the Go Talk with your child about sports at his or her school. Have your child use the Target Vocabulary words throughout the discussion.

contribute, athletes, improve, power, process, flexible, fraction, compete

Inventions and Sports - Ask your child to write a short paragraph informing what effect a particular type of invention has on athletic performance.

Vocabulary

Build Background: Inventions

How can the latest technology in sport help those who can't hear? - Fun Kids - the UK's children's radio stationWith most sports, what you see makes up most of the action. However, if you have trouble hearing you might miss what your teammates or the referee say… There’s plenty of new technology to help people with hearing loss. Take the Roger system!

If you have ever seen a photograph of a football player from long ago, you probably thought his uniform looked very odd. Sports equipment has changed over the years. Inventors known as sports engineers have used new knowledge about the human body, along with new materials, to design better and safer equipment.

In Technology Wins the Game, you'll read about some of these important advances in sports technology. You'll also discover the process that engineers use to help athletes move more quickly and play more safely.

Read the Story: "Technology Wins the Game"

GENRE

Informational Text gives facts and other information about a topic. As you read, look for:

headings that begin sections of text with related information
photographs and captions
graphics, such as diagrams that help explain the topic

Read "Technology Wins the Game" on page 403 in your Journeys Textbook

Click for Story Comprehension Questions

Continue your discussion of Technology Wins the Game by answering these questions

How do the photographs of the athletic shoes on page 411 help your understanding of the text?

2. What did sports engineers have to do before they could improve tennis balls? Use page 406 to help you.

3. What does the word reflective mean on page 413? What context clues in the text help you understand the word's meaning?

Target Skill: Sequence of Events

In a process, one step follows another. Each step is important, and the sequence, or order, of the steps is just as important. As you read Technology Wins the Game, sue a chart to show how the sequence of events have been used to invent new sports technology are related.

Target Strategy: Question

As you read Technology Wins the Game, keep track of how the sequence of events on your chart answers questions you may have. Also, ask yourself new questions as you red on. Use text evidence to answer your question.

Listen to the Story