Introducing the
Making Meaning Third Edition
®
Developing Reading Comprehension
The Making Meaning program provides student-centered, interactive instruction that
incorporates a standards-based, best practice vision for student listening and speaking,
close reading of varied and increasingly complex texts, and questioning and evaluating
what is read. The program integrates the academic rigor of reading instruction with
collaborative structures that teach students to make sense of text, support their own
opinions, and appreciate and respect the ideas of others. Each lesson is built on the
assumption that academic and social learning flourish when they are integrated naturally,
rather than pursued separately.
What’s So Special?
The Research Basis
Trade Books as Mentor Texts
Learning to Construct Meaning
Selected read-aloud trade books provided with the program
allow all students access to the same thought-provoking
texts that are discussed during the lesson. Each grade-level
package contains 17–32 books.
Isabel Beck says, “It is important to understand that building
understanding is not extracting information from the page,
but rather involves determining what information means.
Reading is constructing meaning.”
Integration of Social Skills
Providing Good Literature Is Essential
Each lesson has social objectives that help create a climate
in which rigorous learning can occur. Social skills include:
• Working together cooperatively
• Appreciating the ideas of others
• Disagreeing respectfully
• Taking responsibility for one’s learning
Ellin Keene says, “Teachers need to use authentic and
challenging texts (literature and nonfiction) to help their
students move along the continuum from novice to
proficient reader.”
Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary lessons teach high-utility words from the
program’s read-aloud texts along with strategies for
unlocking word meanings in daily reading.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Read-aloud texts have been carefully chosen to explicitly
teach comprehension strategies known to be used by
good readers.
Individualized Daily Reading
The program applies comprehension strategies to students’
independent reading. CCC offers 240 books (120 fiction and
120 nonfiction) per grade level.
Reading Aloud Is Key
According to Lucy Calkins, “In the teaching of reading it is
essential that children need to listen to the best of children’s
literature read aloud to them.”
Cooperative Learning Improves Comprehension
The National Reading Panel says, “Having peers instruct
or interact about the text promotes intellectual discussion
and increases reading comprehension.”
Student Discussions Are Important
Michael Pressley says, “Children’s comprehension of the
ideas in text increases when they have conversations
about literature with peers and teachers.”
Complex Text and Close Reading
The program incorporates a standards-based, best practice
vision for student listening and speaking, close reading of
varied and increasingly complex texts, and questioning and
evaluating what is read.
For a complete list of citations, see
collaborativeclassroom.org/research-making-meaning-scientific-basis.
Introducing the Making Meaning® Third Edition
Developing Students as Readers
The Making Meaning® program invites students to:
• Read closely, critically, and with purpose; weigh evidence; form opinions; and develop habits of mind
• Participate in substantive discussions, understand relevance, and connect with and debate the ideas
of others on text-related topics
• Read, reread, and reflect on their understanding of a variety of complex reading materials and on the
strategies used in the texts
Individualized Daily Reading
Vocabulary
Ask yourself:
The vocabulary instruction in Making Meaning
teaches high-utility, Tier 2 words found in the
read-aloud texts along with strategies to use
for unlocking word meanings when reading
independently.
• Do your students have enough practice
really reading?
• Do your students have the opportunity to be
accountable for applying the reading skills that
you teach to the books that they choose to read?
• Do your student love reading? Are they
becoming life-long readers?
CCC’s Individualized Daily Reading program supports
implementation of state standards by providing 240book collections of leveled fiction and nonfiction
for each grade. The libraries allow all students to
find texts they can successfully read for pleasure,
information, or exploration, and offer students the
opportunity to read increasingly complex texts.
CCC also supports teachers with facilitation tips
and tools that show how to implement an effective
independent reading program.
The Vocabulary Teaching Guide invites students to:
• Learn the meanings of words and use them
in context
• Develop socially and ethically, as well as
academically, by integrating partner work into
word study
• Learn to recognize synonyms, antonyms, and
words with multiple meanings; use context clues,
prefixes, and suffixes; and analyze compound
words
• Answer questions that require them to think
more deeply about the words and relate them to
their own experiences
• Use vocabulary words in conversation, increasing
retention
Our students are being far more respectful with
each other this year, and discipline problems
throughout the school have really decreased.
I attribute that to all of the class meetings and
the protocols of how to listen, how to talk with
one another, and how to turn and look at each
other. The impact of the Making Meaning
program carries throughout the school.”
— Carol Viegelmann, principal, K–5 school
Introducing the Making Meaning® Third Edition
Building Community
Ongoing Assessment
The instruction in the Making Meaning® program
is integrated with regular community-building
activities and guided partner work that develop
in children a sense of belonging, autonomy, and
competence, combined with personal responsibility
for their own learning.
PURPOSES FOR ASSESSMENT in the
Making Meaning Third Edition
Students learn to:
• Listen to one another
• Solve problems together
• Share books and materials fairly
• Use prompts to extend thinking and talking
• Disagree respectfully
• Give and ask for help
• Include others in work and discussions
• Reach agreements before making decisions
• Ask for and receive feedback
Assessment Support:
• Inform instructional decisions
• Monitor students’ reading comprehension
• Assess reading fluency
• Evaluate the needs of the whole class
The Assessment Resource Book
•Class Comprehension Assessment
General evidence of student use of the
comprehension strategies taught each week,
at the end of each week
•Individual Comprehension Assessment
Written student application of the unit strategy,
at the end of each unit
•Social Skills Assessments
Application of the program’s social skills to
partner work, three times a year: beginning,
middle, and end
•Affective and Metacognitive Assessments
Revealing student attitudes, interests, and goals
CCSS Test Prep Book
For support and student preparation for the new
Common Core assessments
Technology Enhancements
The CCC ClassView™ assessment app: a web app for
recording assessment results
Alignment with the Common Core and other State Standards
Reading and Writing
• Students read both informational
texts and literature, including
novels and plays.
• Students regularly write about
what they read.
• Students read closely, critically,
and with purpose; they weigh
evidence and form opinions.
• Students cite text evidence to
support their thinking.
• Students acquire a body of
knowledge over time by reading
about the same topic across
grades.
Photos © Ereloom Studios
Listening and Speaking
• Students participate in substantive discussions about big ideas
in texts.
• Students connect with and debate
the ideas of others on text-related
topics.
• Students discuss ethical issues in
texts and learn to ask clarifying
questions, justify opinions, and
disagree respectfully.
Language and Vocabulary
• Students acquire word meanings
and word-learning strategies
that they apply to independent
reading.
• Students learn strategies to unlock
new words independently.
Introducing the Making Meaning® Third Edition
What’s Included in the Third Edition?
Print
Digital
Teacher’s Manual (two volumes per grade level)
Digital Teacher’s Set
• Includes professional development videos
accessed via 2D barcodes
• Technology mini-lessons and extension
activities for students
• Lessons for setting up daily reading
• Daily support for conferring
• IDR mini-lessons
Read-aloud Trade Books (17–32 per grade level)
Assessment Resource Book (consumable)
• Weekly assessments
• Unit assessments
• Social skills assessment
• Affective and metacognative assessments
Student Response Book (consumable, grades 1–5)
• Excerpts for close reading and analysis
• Strategy practice pages
• Independent reading log and journal
Parent Letters in English and Spanish
Picture cards (grades K–1)
Word Cards (grades K–2)
Pocket chart (grades K–2)
Vocabulary Teaching Guide
• Includes the grade-level-specific:
- Techer’s Manual
- Assessment Resource Book
- Vocabulary Teaching Guide
- CCSS Test Prep Book
• Live and interactive
• Links to digital resources available on the
CCC Learning Hub
• Links to professional development
best-practice videos
• Seamlessly connects all print components
• Links to the online assessment app
CCC ClassView™ Assessment App
• Captures student and class data
• Stores and retrieves data
Interactive Whiteboard Activities
• Support every lesson
Online Professional Development Tutorials
• Tutorials support the integration of digital
elements with Making Meaning lessons
Student Materials
• PDFs of all student materials are available on
the CCC Learning Hub.
• Lessons reinforce the Tier 2 words from the
read-aloud trade books
CCSS Test Prep Book (grades 3–5)
• Prepares students for the Common Core
assessments developed by SBAC and PARCC
MKT1316