Responding to Literature
During Reading Workshop, you will be given an assigned amount of time to read from your assigned
group book. You will then be given time to respond to your reading. You should include portions of the
text as well as your own thinking when responding to literature. Use the following suggestions to guide
you in your responses. Try to use a variety of ways when choosing how you respond. Do not use any
one response type more than twice for any one book.
1. Respond Emotionally
Tell what you liked or disliked about the book. Tell about something in the book that surprised you. How
did the book or a character make you feel? What specific part(s) of the text made you feel this way? Did
you have a favorite character? Did your feelings about the character change throughout the book?
2. Make Connections
Tell about the connections that you made while reading the book. Tell how it reminds you of yourself, of
people you know, or of something that happened in your life. It might remind you of other books,
especially the characters, the events, or the setting.
3. Make Predictions
Tell your predictions and about whether your predictions were right. Tell about the specific part of the
text that confirmed your predictions.
4. Retelling or Recounting
Tell the events of a narrative in order, including setting and characters. Tell the important information
gained from an expository text.
5. The Main Event
Tell which event (in a narrative text) is most important. Explain why it is the most important event. For
example, did this event cause other things to happen? Did it change the outcome of the story? Tell which
fact (in an expository text) is most important and explain why.
6. Make Interpretations
Tell about your understanding of what the author is saying. What do you think the author wants you to
take away from this book? What is the author really trying to say? Use text examples to show why you
think as you do.
7. Questions I Have Before, During and After My Reading
Tell about specific parts of the book that puzzled you or that made you ask questions. Does the author
leave you with questions at the end of the chapter or book?
8. Character Study
Tell what you noticed about the characters, such as what made them act as they did or how he/she
changed. What are the character's strengths and weaknesses? Does the character remind you of yourself or
anyone else? Choose one word that best describes the character and give examples from the text that show
why this word describes the character so well.
9. Be the Character
Put yourself in the character's place. What would you be feeling and thinking? What in the text helps you
know what this character would be feeling and thinking? What might you do if you were this character?
10. Visualizing
Be an observer and visualize the scene in the text. What do you see, hear, smell, feel? This can be
demonstrated with a picture and/or with words.
11. Compare and Contrast
Compare this book to another book you have read. How are the books similar and how are they different?
("This book reminds me of…") Or, compare one character to another character.
12. Summarizing
Summarize what you learned from the text. What are the big ideas in the text?
13. Language
Tell about the language the author used and why you think the author wrote this way. Were there words or
phrases you thought were especially interesting? Were there new words? You may need to ask someone
the meaning of the word, look the word up in a dictionary, or reread to gather more information. Were
there words the author used to create a visualization for the reader? Were there specific words the author
used to help you understand a specific character?
14. Clarify
Which parts of the story were difficult to understand? Were there specific words that made it more
difficult to understand? Or, did you not understand what a character did or why they did it?
15. The Author
Discuss what you have learned about this author. What does the author do really well? How does the
author get you interested in the book? Have you read other books by the same author? Would you like to
read other books by this author? Why or why not?
Teaching Students to Respond in Writing
Along with many opportunities to talk about texts, students need opportunities to write about
texts. One of the easiest ways to do this is through the use of Reading Response Logs. This
can be purchased (a simple notebook) or made by stapling several sheets of paper together.
This is a perfect place for students to practice including text references when writing about
their thinking.
As with any new concept, you will need to scaffold student learning using the sequence of a
balanced instructional framework (demonstrated, shared, guided, independent).
Demonstrated
Choose one way to respond which you would like for your students to try. After a read aloud,
demonstrate for students this one way to respond in their response logs. Whenever possible,
include text references and your own thinking in your response. You might write this on a
chart, overhead transparency or make a large version of a reading response log. Then, add this
way to respond to a chart displayed in the room.
Shared
On another day, after a shared reading or a read aloud, ask students to help you write a
response to the text similar to the responses you have demonstrated. Encourage them to share
text references and their own ideas to support the response.
Guided
When you feel students are ready, ask them to try the response on their own in their reading
response log. Observe students carefully to assure they are responding in the appropriate
manner. Have individual or small group conferences with those students having difficulty.
During these conferences, you may need to assist students in either including text references
or elaborating on their thinking.
Independent
Turn the task over to the children. You might ask students to respond twice a week in their
reading response logs during independent reading time. They can choose from the ways to
respond which you have demonstrated.
Finally, choose another way to respond and begin the process again. Remember to add each
new way to respond to the chart. Students can use this chart throughout the year when
choosing ways to respond to texts they read.
Note: When teaching children to respond to texts in writing, do not leave the talk behind.
Talking about books will strengthen written responses.
How do I organize guided reading?
1. Get independent reading established before you start any guided reading groups.
The students should know how to choose "just right" books, how to read quietly and how
to respond in their reading log independently. Fountas & Pinnell suggest the following
guidelines:






You must always be reading a book or writing your thoughts about your reading.
You need to work silently to enable you and your peers to do your best thinking.
Use a soft voice when conferring with the teacher.
Select books that you think you'll enjoy and abandon books that aren't working for
you after you've given them a good chance.
List the book information when you begin and record the date when you finish.
Always do your best work.
2. Assess the students in order to place them in guided reading groups.
One way to assess is by using the DRA and then grouping children with similar reading
levels together.
If you are assessing between the district DRA dates or with students in upper grades, you
might want to try several of the methods Fountas & Pinnell suggest:






Listen to students read orally (100-200 words) and note accuracy, fluency, and error
behavior, as well as problem solving actions.
Examine students' response journals for evidence of comprehension.
Review students' writing to note their knowledge of language structure, text
organization and spelling of words.
Take notes as students respond during book discussions and note evidence of
comprehension and ability to make inferences.
Use benchmark readings (short pieces representative of levels of text difficulty) for
more systematic assessment. You can develop your own set of benchmark books or
use the set the reading department has placed in each building.
Discuss texts with students before and after reading to gain evidence of
comprehending.
Another way to assess a child's reading level is to have them choose a "just right" book to
read to you. If the child's reading of this book suggests that it is indeed "just right" for
them, copy a page from the book. You can compare this page to other texts in order to find
more books that will be "just right" for this child. Place the photo copied page in the child's
reading folder. Do this time each time you assess. At the end of the year, you will have a
nice visual of the child's reading growth throughout the year.
3. Once you feel that you have a clear picture of the child's reading level, you are
ready to begin placing them in guided reading groups.
Keep the following in mind when organizing your groups:



Students reading below grade level will need to be in smaller groups, probably no
more than 4 students.
These groups must be flexible. You will need to reassess on a regular basis and
adjust the groups.
You might have more than one reading level in a group. In other words, you might
have level 14 and 16 children in the same guided reading group.
4. Develop a schedule for guided reading groups.
If this is your first time using guided reading, begin with only one guided reading group.
This should be your lowest group which you will meet with every day during part of the
independent reading time. (Remember that a guided reading lesson is generally only 15-20
minutes.)
If you are planning to see all children in guided reading groups, then you will need to
develop a schedule that allows you to see the lowest children every day if possible and the
other children once or twice a week. When meeting with guided reading groups which are
on or above grade level, you might get them started on a lengthier book, like a chapter
book, and then just touch back with them to lead a discussion on what they have read so
far. They can often use their written responses in their reading log to guide the discussion.
(For example, if they are using the questioning strategy in their reading log, their questions
will guide the conversation.) Over time, you should be able to turn more of the discussion
over to the children.
Grade 2-5 teachers generally have guided reading 2 or 3 times a week, while first grade
teachers might have it more often.
5. Decide how you will organize your anecdotal notes.
You might want to use address labels or sticky notes that you can peel off and stick in the
child's reading folder. Make sure, however, that the lables or sticky notes are large enough
to write the important informatin on (such as comments on problem solving, fluency,
comprehension, your teaching point). These anecdotal notes provide important information
for report cards and parent/teacher conferences.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Making Connections: A Bridge from the Known to the New
We know that knowledge about a reading topic helps to improve comprehension.
Proficient readers use background knowledge to enhance their understanding. They
use this background knowledge to connect to text in several ways.
They use:



Text to Self Connections: Students use information from their own lives. T-S
Text to Text Connections: Students use knowledge of other selections they
have read. T-T
Text to World Connection: Students use their world knowledge. T-W
Teachers can teach the strategy of making connections within a balanced literacy
framework. Click each of the links to watch a video and learn more about teaching
this strategy in each component of a balanced framework.
Demonstration | Shared | Guided | Independent
Continuing Your Study of Making Connections
Throughout the next few weeks, many different types of lessons are presented that
help students learn to use the strategy of making connections. Lessons progress
from text-to-self connections to text-to-text (T-T) and text-to-world (T-W) connections.
Professional Resources:
Mosiac of Thought, Chapter 4 - Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmerman
Strategies That Work, Chapter 6 - Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis
Reading Roundtable Discussion Starter
Please bring a book that you have used with your students to make connections.
Share the successes of the lesson, and what you might do differently next time.
Bring any questions/concerns you have. Have you been able to make connections
across the curriculum? If so, bring your ideas.
Books Recommended for Teaching Comprehension Strategies
NOTE: Find your own special book and get started! Remember, the goal is to show
students how readers think about connections to enhance their understanding of text.
Books recommended by Ellin Keene & Susan Zimmerman in Mosaic of Thought



















The Two of Them
Koala Lou by Mem Fox
Amber on the Mountain by Tony Johnston
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Ryland
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs by Tomie dePaola
"Yellow Sonnet" a poem by Paul Zimmer
Where the River Begins
Grandfather's Face by Eloise Greenfield
My Grandson Lew
The Great Kapok Tree
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr.
I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor
The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola
"Elephant Warning" a poem from Creatures of the Earth, Sea, and Sky by
Georgia Heard
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
*FOR TEACHERS &endash; A Leak in the Heart by Faye Moskovitz
Books recommended by Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis in Strategies That Work
















Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Amos and Boris by William Steir
Going Home by Eve Bunting
Hey World, Here I am by Jean Little
I Hate English by Ellen Levine
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully
Near the Window Tree: Poems and Notes by Karla Kuskin
The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume
Rondo In C by Paul Fleischman
Snippets by Charlotte Zolotow
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Sol a Solo by Lori Marie Carlson (poems)
Up North at the Cabin by Marsha Chall
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
William's Doll by Charlotte Zolotow
Author Sets

Tomie dePaola
o The Art Lesson
o
o
o
Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs
Now One Foot, Now the Other
Oliver Button Is a Sissy
Keven Henkes
o
o
o
o
Chrysanthemum
Julius, the Baby of the World
Owen
Sheila Ray the Brave
Arnold Lobel
o
o
o
o
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Frog and Toad Together
Days with Frog and Toad
Frog and Toad All Year
Patricia Polacco
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Chicken Sunday
The Keeping Quilt
Mrs. Katz and Tush
Mrs. Mack
My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother
Some Birthday!
Thank You, Mr. Falker
Cynthia Rylant
o
o
o
o
o
Birthday Presents
Every Living Thing
Miss Maggie
The Relatives Came
When I Was Young in the Mountains
Judith Viorst
o
o
o
o
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Earrings
Rosie and Michael
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney
The following are the types of questions teachers need to be asking.
As teachers prepare questions for oral discussions and written response questions, it is
helpful to use three broad question types:

Answered "Right There" in the Text Questions
The answers can be located in one place and are explicitly stated in the text. These
are typically "who," "what," and "when" questions. As students answer these types
of questions, ask them to find their answers in the text. It is critical that students
learn how to locate information in selections and to realize that reading is not the
same as memorizing.

Think and Search Questions
The answer is in the story, but the reader has to put together information from
different parts of the text. For example, a student may be asked to locate information
in the text to create a story map or to retell the events in the story. Retelling,
summarizing and synthesizing are important reading strategies that require readers
to locate important information and to infer themes and main ideas.

Reader and Author Questions
The reader must take information from the text and his own thinking to provide an
answer that is not explicitly stated in the text. The information is relevant to the
passage, but does not appear in it. These are the "why," "how" and "what do you
think" question types. These question types require the reader to "read between the
lines" to draw conclusions. Readers use information in the text to support their own
thinking. In the "right there" questions, little divergence in answers is expected.
Moving from "think and search" to "author and you" questions, more and more
divergence is expected. "Reader and author" question types challenge readers to use
higher level thinking skills and encourage engaging classroom discussions.
Comprehension and questioning are traditionally connected. Teachers use questions to:
1. Check comprehension
2. Assist students in understanding the literal message of a text
3. Challenge students to use critical thinking strategies to synthesize, analyze, and evaluate
the author's message.
This kind of teacher questioning surely has its place in the classroom.
The comprehension strategy of questioning goes beyond the teacher-generated questions,
however, and requires the student-reader to ask the questions himself before, during and
after reading. Asking questions is a proven method for enhancing understanding of the
text. Sadly, many students don't know that questioning is an integral part of reading.
"A reader with no questions might just as well abandon the book. When our students ask
questions and search for answers, we know that they are monitoring comprehension and
interacting with the text to construct meaning, which is exactly what we hope for in
developing readers."
Strategies That Work by Harvey and Goudvis
Proficient readers ask questions to:
1. Activate prior knowledge
2. Make predictions
3. Clarify meaning
4. Determine an author's intent, style, content or format
5. Locate a specific answer in the text
6. Understand and remember events and characters in fiction selections
7. Summarize, analyze, compare and generalize ideas
8. Wonder about "big" ideas that aren't answered in the text
The reading workshop again provides the setting for focused comprehension instruction on
questioning. In-depth strategy lessons may take as long as 4-6 weeks.
Step #1: Getting Started
Step #2: Categorizing Questions
Step #1: Getting Started
Demonstration Lessons
In initial mini lessons, the teacher chooses picture books and short non-fiction selections.
Over a period of several days, she reads the passages aloud and records her questions on a
chart. The goal is to give students opportunity to "see the reading-thinking-questioning
process become visible."
Shared, Guided and Independent Experiences Follow
Other passages are chosen for shared reading. Students share and record their questions
before, during and after reading. Post-it notes are good tools to use for marking places in
the text that elicit questions. Follow-up instruction takes place in small flexible readng
groups where students focus on generating questions before, during and after reading. The
teacher gradually diversifies the genre of text used.
Below is an example of how one teacher introduced this strategy to her class:
Introducing the Strategy of Questioning
The following is an example of how an introduction to the questioning strategy might look
in a fourth grade classroom, using the text, The Seminoles, from the fourth grade
Houghton Mifflin reader.
Mini-lesson focus: Demonstration of the questioning strategy
The teacher asks the students to bring their reading books and a pencil to the carpet. She
explains that the new comprehension strategy they will be focusing on is called
questioning. She explains that this strategy is important because it helps us think more
about the books we are reading, and when we think more deeply, we will understand
better.
She models for students two questions she has about the text prior to reading. For example:
1. Who were the Seminoles?
2. Who was Coacoochee:
The teacher asks if anyone else was wondering about these things, too. Write these two
questions on Post-It® notes and stick them on the text where it prompted your questions.
Explain to students that as they read along with the text, they should write any questions
they are having on these sticky notes and place them on the text. She passes out three notes
for each child. (They may ask for more if they use all three.)
Reading & Conferring: The teacher begins reading the text as students follow along with
their eyes. Pause at the bottom of the page (or at the end of a paragraph) and ask if anyone
has a question so far. If someone does, ask that student to share it. If anyone else was
wondering that same thing, encourage him/her to jot down the question on the sticky-note
and place it in the book.
Continue in this manner, pausing to ask what questions the students are writing down. This
is not the time to discuss possible answers, but rather to encourage students to be
questioning what they read. Monitor to see that each student understands the task and is
writing questions. (It is okay if some students are "copying" the questions that other
students share: eventually they will begin to write their own questions.) If your class has
reading partners, at the end of the text, have the partners share their questions with each
other.
Wrap-up: Once you have completed the reading, and students have recorded their
questions on the sticky notes, ask students to share their thoughts about the questioning
strategy. How did asking questions help them think about the text? Students should notice
that some of their questions were answered as they continued in the reading.
Step #2 - Categorizing Questions
The goal is to have students begin to understand that there are different types of questions.
Equipped with a knowledge of basic question types will enhance understanding and help
students answer questions in the classroom and on standardized tests.
First, teach students to identify the "right there" questions. The teacher may chart questions
with an "A," for answered in the text.
Eventually, students will be able to differentiate the "think and search" and "on your own"
question types.
Strategy lessons always end with time for students to discuss their learning. The goal is to
have students who are motivated to share their questions and to think and discuss critical
topics from the selections.
Teaching Students to Code Their Questions
Mini-lesson focus: Coding and answering questions (Using The Seminoles from the
Houghton Mifflin fourth grade text)
Gather students in the meeting area with their books. Explain that today they will be
working in groups to try to answer their questions from the previous lesson. Introduce
them to the idea of "coding" their questions, by teaching the following codes:
A=the Answer was found right in the book
R-A=the Reader had to use his own thoughts along with those of the Author to get the
answer (another code for this might be I for Inference)
???=I am totally confused (Another code for this might be C for Confused)
NA=there was No Answer in the text
Show students a large piece of chart paper that has been labeled with these codes at the top
of five columns. Demonstrate how to think about and orally answer your first question
from the reading.
1. Who were the Seminoles? A The answer is found on p. 382.
Seminoles were Indians who broke from the Muskogee tribe to escape the white men.
Demonstrate for the students how to place your sticky-note on the chart under the A
column, since the answer was "right there" in the text. (See sample chart.)
Shared: Ask students to help you answer is found on p. 385.
Coacoochee was a leader of the Second Seminole War. The white men called him
"Wildcat."
To infer as we read is to go beyond literal interpretation and to open a world of
meaning deeply connected to our lives.
"It can be a conclusion drawn after considering what is read in relation to one's
beliefs, knowledge, and experience. Inference can be a critical analysis of a text: a
mental or expressed argument with an author, an active skepticism about what is
stated in the text, or recognition of propaganda. Inference is, in some situations,
synonymous with learning and remembering… Predictions are inferences. We base a
prediction on what has been stated in the text, but we add to it an informed guess
about what is to come."
Mosaic of Thought, Keene & Zimmerman Page 153
Drawing Inferences in Text: Some Key Ideas
Inferring is the process of creating a personal meaning from text. It involves a mental
process of combining what is read with relevant prior knowledge (schema). The
reader's unique interpretation of text is the product of this blending.
When proficient readers infer, they create a meaning that is not necessarily stated
explicitly in the text. The process implies that readers actively search for, or are
aware of, implicit meaning.
Inferences are revised based on the inferences and interpretations of other readers.
Therefore, it is very important to provide students with multiple opportunities to
discuss texts in a variety of settings.
When they infer, proficient readers






Draw conclusions from text;
Make reasonable predictions as they read, test and revise those predictions as
they read further;
Create dynamic interpretations of text that are adapted as they continue to read
and after they read;
Use the combination of background knowledge and explicitly stated information
from the text to answer questions they have as they read;
Make connections between conclusions they draw and other beliefs or
knowledge;
Make critical or analytical judgments about what they read.
When proficient readers infer, they are more able to




Remember and reapply what they have read;
Create new background knowledge for themselves;
Discriminate and critically analyze text and authors;
Engage in conversation and/or other analytical or reflective responses to what
they read.
Getting started with kids
Show an apple corer. Make an inference: What is it used for?
After some guesses, introduce an apple.
Show a pill cutter. Make an inference: What is it used for?
After some guesses, introduce a pill.
Give some sample sentences to students to practice making inferences.






Sue blew out the candles and got presents.
Mary plays her flute for 2 hours every day.
The boat drifted in the middle of the lake.
John went running into the street without looking.
Rasheeta was the star pitcher but she had a broken finger.
We bought tickets and some popcorn.




I forgot to set my alarm clock last night.
When I woke up, there were branches and leaves all over the yard.
Yesterday we cleaned out our desks and took everything home.
Everyone stopped when the referee blew the whistle.
Have cards on tables for students to draw. With a partner, tell what might be implied
or inferred.
1. A student yawns several times
2. Two students pass notes to one another.
3. A student falls asleep.
4. One student takes a pen from a classmate's desk.
5. Two students argue over who gets the soccer ball.
6. A group of students has not completed homework.
7. A group of students copies homework from one student.
8. Three students leave the room without permission.
9. A student returns from recess crying.
10.Two students left all their books at home.
DEMONSTRATION






Model with short pieces, a passage or memorable book that easily forms an
image.
Model building meaning by doing something with the text &endash; predicting,
disagreeing, interpreting what the author meant based on prior knowledge.
Do a "think aloud" of the inferences you are making when reading to students.
See "Books to Stimulate Inferential Thinking" list for suggested books.
Use the combination of background knowledge and explicitly stated information
from the text to infer.
Demonstrate a written extended reading response.
SHARED




See "Books to Stimulate Inferential Thinking" list for suggested books (below).
Explain that you want students to lift ideas out of a book and add their ideas to
them. Doing this helps you remember/understand the ideas in the text..
Continue discussing and encouraging the strategies used in demonstration
lessons.
Class works together to write an extended reading response.
GUIDED




Continue predicting, disagreeing, interpreting & discussing with books at their
instructional level.
Notice and Share*
Code Text with Post-it notes when an inference is made.
Guide students to write their own extended reading response.
INDEPENDENT


Code Text while reading independently
Each students writes his/her own extended reading response to text read
independently.
*In a guided reading setting students would share their own use of a particular strategy while
reading a selection. For example, a connection they made, a question they had, or an inference
they made.
Students should be able to respond to the following questions.
What is an inference?
Give an example of an inference?
When during a typical day do people make
inferences?
How are inferring and predicting
related?
Books that Stimulate Inferential Thinking
(Brief descriptions are available for each of these books in Strategies That Work,
pages 204 &endash; 206.)
Bull Run by Paul Fleischman
Dateline: Troy by Paul Fleischman
Dandelion by Eve Bunting
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Fables by Arnold Lobel
June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
The Rage Coat by Lauren Mills
Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti
See the Ocean by Extelle Condra
The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor
Teammates by Peter Golenbock
Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen
Author Sets
Alexandra Day



Frank and Ernest
Frank and Ernest Play Ball
Frank and Ernest on the Road
James Marshall



George and Martha
George and Martha Encore
George and Martha Rise and Shine
Chris Van Allsburg





The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
Jumanji
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
The Stranger
The Wreck of Zephyr
Determining Importance
DEMONSTRATION





Model thinking aloud about his/her own process of determining
importance during reading.
Modeling should occur frequently using short selections.
Teacher should focus not only on conclusions about importance,
but on how and why he or she arrived at those conclusions.
It is important to think aloud about how the focus on what he or
she believes to be important enhances comprehension.
Respond in writing to specific questions and include some of
your own knowledge.
SHARED





In small or large group mini lessons, students are gradually
invited to share their thoughts about what is important at the
whole-text level.
Later, sharing thoughts at the word and sentence level.
Students should provide some evidence or reasoning to support
their judgments.
Gradually diversify the genre of text & let students interact more.
Respond in writing to specific questions and include some of
your own knowledge.
GUIDED





Students may meet in small groups or pairs to compare ideas
about what is most important in text and how they come to that
conclusion.
Guided Reading groups should focus on determining importance
during the strategy study.
They should discuss different conclusions about important ideas
if all are reading the same text, or ways in which the members of
the group drew conclusions about importance if each is reading a
different book.
Invitational (needs-based) groups can be created for children who
need more modeling and explicit instruction.
Respond in writing to specific questions and include some of
your own knowledge.
INDEPENDENT



Conference with students during independent reading discussing
what decisions the child is making about important ideas in a
variety of texts.
Respond in Reading Log about strategy used during reading.
Sharing time at the conclusion of the reader's workshop should
focus on ideas individual children found important in their
independent reading for the day, how they arrived at their
conclusions, and how thinking about important ideas enhanced
their comprehension.
Keene & Zimmerman, Mosaic of Thought
When students highlight or mark text in
nonfiction materials, they should keep the
following guidelines in mind:








Look carefully at the first and last line of each paragraph.
Highlight only necessary words and phrases.
Don't get thrown off by interesting details.
Try not to highlight more than half of a paragraph.
Make notes in margins.
Cue words-followed by important information
Nonfiction has many features that signal important information.
Pay attention to surprising information. You may be learning
something new.
Conventions & features of Nonfiction that may
signal importance






Fonts and effects
Cue words and phrases
Illustrations and photographs
Graphics
Text organizers
Text structure
Overviewing




Noting text length and structure.
Noting important headings and subheadings.
Determining what to read and is what order.
Determining what to pay careful attention to.




Determining what to ignore.
Deciding to skip text because it contains no relevant information.
Activating prior knowledge
Deciding if the text is worth careful reading or can be skimmed
instead.
Suggested Codes to use with Determining Important
I - important
L - learned something new
* - interesting
C or Huh - confused
Topic
Details
Quote or Picture from Text
Important Idea
Why It Is Important
How Can I Remember It?
What's Important?
What's Interesting?
Title: ______________________________ Name__________________________
Author ____________________________ Date _________________________
Big Ideas Details Response
When we visualize while reading, we create pictures in our minds. Visualizing helps us to
relate to the characters in a text. We imagine what they look like and how they act. There
are many ways to give children practice with the strategy of visualizing (Adapted from
Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis):



Visualizing with Wordless Picture Books
You might think that wordless picture books would take away a child's opportunity
to visualize. While the pictures give the reader clues, there are many missing
pictures. The reader uses the pictures in the text and creates his/her own pictures to
make meaning of the story. Very young children can draw these missing pictures
they have created in their minds.
Visualizing With a Read Aloud
One way to encourage children to visualize is to hold the read aloud facing you
while you are reading the text. Too often, we read with the book facing the children
so they can see the pictures. This takes away their chance to visualize before seeing
the picture. Teach children the following guideline: When the book is facing you,
it's your turn to talk. When the book is facing them, it is their turn to talk (respond to
the text).
Visualizing from a Vivid Piece of Text
When children hear a well-written text, they can mix the author's words with their
own ideas to create a visual image. For example, a child might hear a passage from
Cynthia Rylant's book, The Relatives Came:
o
"Then it was hugging time. Talk about hugging! Those relatives just passed us all around their car, pulling
us against their wrinkled Virginia clothes, crying sometimes. They hugged us for hours. Then it was into the
house and so much laughing and shining faces and hugging in the doorways."
The child adds his/her own experiences to the words above to create a picture of the
event. Children can describe these visual images or draw a picture to illustrate the
images.



Visualizing in Nonfiction Text: Making Comparisons
Nonfiction texts will sometimes compare the new object being studied with a more
familiar object. For example, an author might compare the size of a whale to the size
of a school bus. This helps students to visualize the size of the object more
accurately. These comparisons might be written or drawn.
Visualizing in Reading, Showing Not Telling in Writing
The use of strong verbs enable students to visualize the events in a text. Search for
texts that use strong verbs.
Creating Mental Images That Go Beyond Visualizing
When we talk about visualizing, we usually talk about the pictures we see. However,
all of the senses can be used when visualizing. When an author speaks of autumn,
the reader might visualize a blazing fire and roasting marshmallows. Along with this
visual image, the reader might smell the burning logs and taste the sweet stickiness
of the marshmallows. Using all of the senses helps the reader create a more
developed image of the text.
How are visualizing and inferring connected?
When you visualize, you are adding your own thoughts to the text. For example, if the
author tells you the main character was born in Illinois on January 12th, you can use your
background knowledge to add to the image. You might picture the character coming home
wrapped in a heavy blanket. Maybe you picture the mother carrying the baby into the
house, walking carefully across the icy sidewalk. Perhaps you imagine the baby at home,
warmed by a crackling fire. You can infer these images because of your knowledge of
January weather in Illinois.
The reading workshop again provides the setting for focused comprehension instruction on
visualizing. In-depth strategy lessons may take as long as 4-6 weeks.
Synthesizing
Synthesizing is the comprehension strategy for the month of March. Synthesizing requires
combining a number of parts to form a new whole. When we read we take in a lot of facts or
information, think about them, and learn something new. Using a concrete example of making a
cake to introduce this strategy might help young students understand synthesizing. We combine
cake mix, oil, eggs, and water. We then bake it to get a whole new thing.
Some other activities for making synthesizing concrete include making orange juice, doing a
jigsaw puzzle, and building with Legos. All are activities that involve putting assorted parts
together to make a new whole, which is what synthesizing is all about.
Strategies That Work, Harvey & Goudvis
When Debbie Miller was asked how she began to understand synthesis, she replied,
"It's the ripple… You told me it was simple elements of thought transformed into a complex
whole. But you told the kids that synthesis is like throwing a rock into a pond: first there's the
splash, and then the water ripples out, making little waves that get bigger and bigger You
likened that to synthesis, remember? You said that as you read, your thinking evolves as you
encounter new information, and the meaning gets bigger and bigger, just like the ripples in the
pond. I kept playing with that analogy and two years later, voila!"
One teacher describes it this way,
"We just kept adding on and adding on and adding on to our thinking. It got bigger and bigger
and bigger, and now we totally know what the book is all about!"
Reading With Meaning, Debbie Miller
Consider using the synthesizing strategy with the well-known book by Audrey Penn, The Kissing
Hand. A summary of the book might include that Chester Raccoon is afraid to go to school for
the first time. His mother gives him a special kiss to remind him of how much she loves him
while he's at school. It makes him feel much more secure. When he's ready to go to school the
first night, he gives his mom the special kiss so she will remember that he loves her. The "new
thinking" might be that this is a story about anyone trying something new and how thinking
about certain people can help us feel strong inside, even if they haven't kissed the palm of our
hand. It might also mean that we give each other strength to do things that are new and
challenging for us. This "new thinking" is going beyond the text. When synthesizing we use
many different reading strategies to get meaning.
Charting information during read alouds would be a helpful way to get students to understand
synthesizing.
A reading conference is the time to get to know your students as readers. You will learn
more about their strengths and their needs as you engage in meaningful conversation with
them.
During a conference you might:










Listen to the student read aloud.
Discuss something in the story.
Ask a question to get the child to think more deeply about the text.
Ask the student if there's a part he didn't understand.
Refer to the minilesson. Did they try the strategy presented?
Discuss the content of the book.
Do some fluency work.
Review the student's list of books read or his list of reading interests.
Together, set some goals.
Discuss written responses in response log.
Ways to open the conversation:








How's your reading going?
What are you thinking about your book?
Where are you in your reading?
What is the best part of your reading so far?
Is this a good book choice for you?
Are you enjoying this author?
Talk to me about your reading.
That is a [book, author] I love. What are you discovering about the book/author?
Sampling a student's oral reading



Read a part you really liked.
Read from where you are.
Listen to your reading. How does it sound?
Encouraging Monitoring and Reflection







How well are you understanding your book?
Do you have any questions for me?
Are there any confusing parts?
Is this book "just right" for you?
What goals do you have for your reading?
What do you think about your reading list so far?
How can I help?
Encouraging critical thinking




Would you recommend this book to other students? Explain...
What's the best part of your reading so far?
What do you think about the author's writing?
How does this book compare with this author's other books?
Extending the student's reading interests


I suggest this [title, author, genre] because I think you would like it.
What are you thinking about reading next?
Extending Problem-Solving Strategies




Let me show you a way to figure out that word.
In today's minilesson, we... Have you tried that strategy?
How are you doing with what you just learned in the minilesson?
What problems have you encountered that I can help you with?
Reading
Sixth grade literature genres at this level include:





folklore - fables, myths, legends, fairy tales
classics
mystery
poetry
biographies
Strategies and skills incorporated in the sixth grade reading program include:









identifying and adapting thinking strategies
using language patterns to aid meaning
using structure, organization, and style to interpret text
identifying universal and recurring themes in literature
applying reading to life experiences
extending and applying what is read
making predictions based on prior experience
responding to literature in a variety of ways
discussing how fictional characters have solved real life problems
English
Sixth grade students use writing to express themselves. Students will continue to write many purposes and
audiences and will develop the mechanics through grammar instruction.
Writing






narrative essays (major focus in 8th grade)
persuasive essays (major focus in 7th grade)
expository essays (major focus in 6th grade)
poetry
creative writing
journals
Grammar


spelling
sentence structure
Listening and Spelling


informative speech
listening/audience skills
Information Fluency Skills/Technology
Technology skills, taught to students in the classroom and media center, are integrated throughout the
curriculum to support and enhance learning.