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Group activity for Curriculum Preview.

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Group activity for Curriculum Preview

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Consider creating this specific anchor chart with your students. Generate a chart with the reasons why they choose to read sometimes.

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AUTHOR'S PURPOSE IS NOT "AS EASY AS PIE"

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Learn why you need to stop saying that author's purpose is as easy as PIE and how to move beyond it. These ideas and organizers help you t...

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Here is a word list that provided additional vocabulary than PIE. It has been editd to include verbage from released STAAR assessments.

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Text Evidence... it's ofimportance in the upper elementary grades! After all, it's the first standard listed for Reading: Literature and Reading: Informational Text in grades 3, 4, and 5. For those of you who work with the Common Core standards, 4th and 5th grade students are expected to be able to answer text questions by pointing to a section of the text...

I created the following lesson to use with upper elementary students. If you would like to replicate the lesson to use with your own students, click on the image below. You can download all of the printables shown in this blog post for free!

Part 1: Anchor Chart

Prior to the start of the lesson, assemble the top half of the anchor chart so that it is ready to go when class begins. (Do not include the questions or answers shown at the bottom of the anchor chart.)

To begin the lesson with students, point to the anchor chart title, and then discuss what the dot dude characters are thinking. Ask a student volunteer to read the paragraph aloud for the rest of the class. Tell students that two questions follow this text. Read the first question to the students and ask them whether it is a "right-here-in-the-text" question or an "infer-with-text-clues" question. Write the question on the correct side of the anchor chart, and then have students help you answer the question. Repeat the process with the second question.

Part 2: Introduce Sentence Starters

After you complete the anchor chart, pass out the bookmark papers to your students, and tell them that the two types of questions require slightly different sentence starters.

Part 3: Practice with a Partner

For the final part of this large group lesson, have students work with a partner. To begin, tell them to quickly decide which of them is Partner A, and which is Partner B. Hand each group a dry-erase board, marker, and eraser.
1. Place "The Cobra" passage under your document camera and invite the groups to read it quietly

to themselves. (I recommend covering the questions for now.)

2. Tell students that for this passage, Partner A will write on the clipboard while Partner B will

handle the bookmarks.
3. Display Question #1.
4. Tell partners to discuss whether it is a "right-there" question or a "stop-and-infer" question and

then answer the question.
5. Partner A should write the answer on the whiteboard. (Students must use one of the sentence

starters from the bookmark, as well.)
6. When all of the groups are done, have them display their answers. Partner A should hold up the

whiteboard, and Partner B should hold up the bookmark so that the question type that they

identified is facing you.
7. Display Question #2 and repeat steps 4-6.
8. Display Question #3 and repeat steps 4-6.

When you have completed the first passage, place the second passage under the document camera and repeat the entire process outlined above. Instruct the partners to switch roles for this new passage. Partner B is now the writer while Partner A is in charge of handling the bookmarks.

TEXT EVIDENCE... MORE PRACTICE OPPORTUNITIES!

In case you are interested, I have created a number of Text Evidence teaching resources that are available in my TpT store. Just click on the images to take a closer look at them!

Thank you for stopping by!
~Deb

Pin for future reference:

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Text Evidence: A Lesson for Upper Elementary Students

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Teaching students to find text evidence to support their answers is an important reading strategy and test taking strategy. This post contains a FREE text evidence lesson! It includes an anchor chart, text evidence sentence starters, two free reading passages. All of the printables are available for free so you can easily replicate this lesson!

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The videos hyperlinked in this section can help you prepare for your lessons, especially if you are unfamiliarized with the book.

However, keep in mind that you should use the Read Aloud book to read the text to your students.

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Annotation Bookmarks English and Spanish versions

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R.A.C.E. is a writing strategy to answer open ended questions.

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Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Lemmon, K. (2004). Individual differences in the inference of word meanings from contexts: The influence of reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and memory capacity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 671-681.

Elleman, A. M. (2017). Examining the impact of inference instruction on the literal and inferential comprehension of skilled and less skilled readers: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(6), 761-781. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000180

Gregory, A.E., & Cahill, M. (2010, March). Kindergartners Can Do It, Too! Comprehension Strategies for Early Readers. The Reading Teacher, 63(6), 515-520.

Magliano, J.P., Trabasso, T., & Graesser, A.C. (1999). Strategic processing during comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(4), 615-629.

Marzano, R. (2010). Teaching inference . Educational Leadership, 67(7), 80-01.

Ozgungor, S., & Guthrie, J. T. (2004). Interactions among elaborative interrogation, knowledge, and interest in the process of constructing knowledge from text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(3), 437-443.

Tarchi, C. (2015) Fostering reading comprehension of expository texts through the activation of readers' prior knowledge and inference-making skills. International Journal of Educational Research, Volume 72, 80-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2015.04.013

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Inferential thinking is a key comprehension skill that develops over time through explicit teaching and lots of practice. Find strategies for teaching inferencing, watch a demonstration, and observe a classroom lesson in action.

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WHEN and HOW to use commas with FANBOYS!

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WHEN and HOW to use commas with FANBOYS!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk9DrpOPLCY

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COMMAS WITH FANBOYS CONJUNCTIONS | English Lesson

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNrvAmM3M2I

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The videos hyperlinked in this section can help you prepare for your lessons, especially if you are unfamiliarized with the book.

However, keep in mind that you should use the Read Aloud book to read the text to your students.

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4th Almost Gone The World's Rarest Animals Questions

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4th Face to Face with Sharks Read Aloud with Questions

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5th Bones_ Our Skeletal System Questions

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5th Bones_ Our Skeletal System Read Aloud with Questions 

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5th The Brain_ Our Nervous System Questions (1)

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5th The Brain_ Our Nervous System Questions

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Face to Face with Sharks Questions Sheet

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Curriculum Preview Session - SW2 (Gr. 4-5)

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https://www.n2y.com/blog/4-step-plan-for-central-idea-and-theme/

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According to our scope and sequence, the first thing we are meant to teach in middle school English language arts is "Citing Evidence and Analyzing Central Idea/Theme." Can you see some of the students' eyes glaze over from where you are? I truly believe this is because concepts like central idea and theme seem rather nebulous to the students who struggle. What many people can do without much thought can be challenging for those readers who have only a vague idea of the same concept.

Struggling readers might not have the foundational understanding or the recollection of the definitions of theme and central idea. So, I realized it was important to start by exploring and learning key vocabulary. After the students had an understanding of the terms, we worked together to find central idea through examining an article. Below is the formula we developed to help them find success with this skill.

A 4-Step Plan for Finding Central Idea

Even once my students seemed to understand what central idea is, they still had a hard time pulling it out of an article. So, I started to think aloud. I talked as if I were a student trying to determine the central idea, and I asked myself questions. I heard some "Oh! That's how you do it?" type of remarks, and it was then that I realized they needed a recipe or formula to help them figure out exactly how to get to the central idea and supporting details. So, I made these four steps for them to follow:

1. Read the article, and pay attention to the text features and structures to determine the subject of the article.

2. Ask yourself, "What is the subject of the article, and what does the author reveal about the subject?" (That's the central idea!)

3. Turn the central idea into a question.

4. Answer the question. The answers are the supporting details! (Which leads to citing evidence!)

I was amazed at how many lightbulbs came on when the students were using these steps! I think this was because they really did not know how to apply the definitions they have learned. It was kind of a lightbulb moment for me too, really. Teachers think some things are obvious when they really are not. Seeing this result was great news though! I discovered that I needed to focus on the "how" in terms of the standards I teach.

A 4-Step Plan for Finding Theme

And even better news? This same four-step process also applies to determining theme in a fiction text! It is just ever so slightly different:

1. Read the story, and pay attention to the plot and story elements.

2. Ask yourself "What do people learn from reading this story?" (That's the theme!)

3. Turn the theme into a question.

4. Answer the question. The answers are the supporting details! (Which leads to citing evidence!)

Support for Students Working on Their Own

In my classroom, we took guided notes on the four steps for central idea and theme. Then I made big posters of these steps called anchor charts and hung them in the room. At home, parents could make posters too, but maybe on a smaller scale using a regular-sized piece of paper. Just be sure to hang them near the work area so that you can go through the steps like a checklist when analyzing a text.

Once we went through a few texts as a class, carefully making sure to work through each step, the students were ready to practice on their own. I provided students with creative options on a menu that required the use of the steps so they could process the content independently, in a way that matched their learning preferences. For example, students were offered the choice to make a poster reflecting the central idea of an article or to complete a graphic organizer.

I saw students able to really dig into the texts and create much more thoughtful representations of the central idea when they had a blueprint to follow. Parents could do this at home, too! Think of a topic that interests your child. Then go to commonlit.org and under the Library menu choose "Text Set." You will find groups of nonfiction and fiction texts that are all on the same topic. Use one set to go through the steps and another for independent practice.

In summary, I've learned that struggling readers need explicit instruction that shows how to apply definitions to concepts like central idea and theme as well as how to use that information to analyze text. Having a blueprint makes this possible and helps us reach all learners.

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Give Struggling Readers a 4-Step Plan for Finding Central Idea and Theme

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Explicit instruction on concepts like central and idea and theme and a blueprint for analyzing texts help educators reach all learners.