Joanne Kaminski Increasing Non-fiction Reading Levels the Easy Way

Wisconsin Girl

CLASSROOM TEACHER 3 RD AND 4 TH GRADE 1

2 Reading Specialist

3 Owner of an Online Reading Tutoring Company The Skyping Reading Tutor!

AUTHOR 31 Days to Become a Better Reader: Increasing your struggling reader’s reading level How to Raise Non-fiction Reading Levels Job Security for Life in Teaching: How to become an online tutor Three Little Sisters Learn to Get Along 4

Core Standard 1: Asking Questions Kindergarten - With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Second Grade - Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. Third Grade - Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. High School - Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Core Standards 2: Main Idea Kindergarten -With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. Second Grade -Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.. Third Grade – Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

Core Standards 4: Vocabulary Kindergarten - With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. Second Grade - Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area. Third Grade – Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area. High School - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

Core Standards 4: Book Features Kindergarten – Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book. Second Grade – Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. Third Grade – Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. High School - Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.

Core Standards 4: Author’s Purpose Kindergarten- Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text. Second Grade – Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe. Third Grade – Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text. High School - Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.

Core Standards 4: Comprehending Kindergarten - actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. Second Grade - By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. Third Grade - By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently. High School - By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Non-Fiction Book Features

Bold Headings Captions Cut-away diagrams Glossary Table of Contents Non-Fiction Features

Ask Questions Title Table of Contents Headings Glossary

Off to Work! Title: Take a look at the title and the cover picture and think of questions that come to your mind that might be answered from this book.

Off to Work! Table of Contents: Turn to the table of contents. Take each of the headings and turn them into a question. This will help you focus on the main points that the author wants you to remember.

Off to Work! New Vocabulary Words: Turn to the glossary or the index. Are there any words that the author wants you to know the meaning of that you do not know the meaning of? Write down the word and it’s definition now. When you are reading the book, write down one of the sentences that the word is in.

Ask Questions

Ways to Incorporate this Instruction 1.Whole class 2.Small Groups 3.One on one

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