SKILL PROGRESSION SMALL GROUP #3: Carry Questions with You into Your Books You’ll need a picture for students to generate questions, as well as a copy of the “Readers ask questions to get oriented to a text” chart. You’ll need partnership copies of the teeny-tiny text Plants and Their Parts . Students should bring a book from their text sets to preview. RALLY
Post a picture, and channel students to generate questions about it. Explain how asking questions before reading can help to focus a reader’s attention. “I’m going to show you a picture. Your job is to tell your partner as many questions as you can think of about this picture. Ready?” “It might be surprising, but asking questions is another way that readers can get their brains oriented, ready to read. When you have specific ques- tions in mind, it helps you focus on what’s important and know what to pay attention to in a text.” TRY IT #1 Channel students to generate questions about a shared text.
“Let’s try this with a teeny-tiny text called Plants and Their Parts . Are you already spotting some text fea- tures? Me too! We have a title, and a diagram—and I even see a word in bold. With your partner, study the different parts, and name a bunch of questions you think you might get answers to in this text.”
“I heard questions like, ‘What parts do plants have?’ and ‘Do all plants have fruit?’ and ‘Do flowers do any- thing, or are they just pretty?’ Great thinking! Now that your mind is revved up, you can try to answer those questions as you read.” TRY IT #2/LINK Coach partners to try this work with their own text sets. Remind students to read to answer the questions they’ve asked. “With your partner, choose a book from your text set and try this work again. Go to a new section of your book and preview it—look at the headings and graphics and words in bold. Then brainstorm questions you have, questions you hope to get answered in this section. I’ll coach you as you work and then send you off to read and see if your questions do get answered!”
Coaching to Support Previewing Texts • “Remember to look at the cover, the table of contents, and even the first few pages to get a sense of how the book will go.” • “Ask yourselves, ‘What will this text probably teach? How will this text probably go?’” • “Here’s a question I have…What questions do the two of you have?”
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Bend I • Strengthen Nonfiction Research Skills: Researching Plants
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