1. Interactive Read-aloud

2. Reading is about mind journeys and teaching reading is about outfitting the traveler: modeling how to use the map, demonstrating the key and the legend, supporting the travelers as they lose their way and take circuitous routes until they are off on their own. (Ellin O.Keene and Susan Zimmerman in “Mosaic of Thought”)

3.  Read-Alouds are a tool teachers use to show students the way.

4.  Research has demonstrated that the most effective read-alouds are those in which children are actively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions rather than passively listening...  Effective read-alouds include four components: book introduction vocabulary support techniques analytical comments & questions and an after reading “why” questions  Lea M. McGee & Judith A. Schickendanz in 5/2007 The Reading Teacher

5. Choose a focus for each read-aloud. Share it with your students. Don’t try to do it all in one lesson.Don’t try to do it all in one lesson. Model correct reading behaviors. Read with Fluency and Expression!

6. Activate Prior Knowledge Examine the book- its cover, pictures, pages together and ask students what they already know. Have children question: Ask them what they want to know. Turn the title into a question to encourage reflection. Discussion question: why is prior knowledge important? Building or Scaffolding are keys. Learning making connections. It’s opening the correct file.

7.  Use picture clues, root words, read on, reread, make notes.  Use think-aloud comments. Does part of this word sound familiar? That’s a tricky word. Let me read that part again to see if there are any clues to help us understand. This word is important to the topic. Let’s add it to our word wall. We should make a note of that new word.

8. When I finish a chapter, I always think about what just happened and ask myself, “what will happen when…” This part tells about the setting: where the story takes place. So our prediction didn’t work out. Do we need to make a new prediction? Wow. That was a good topic sentence. It gives me the big picture. Now I’ll look for the details. I need to compare what the author is telling with what I know about ____. Maybe she’s upset. I need to think about that. How is she feeling? Let’s look at the table of contents. It will tell us how the book is organized.

9. Ask questions to confirm understanding. Ask open-ended questions to generate discussion like: "What did you think of that book?" "How did the author...?" “What did the book remind you of? Why?" “What is the main conflict in the story and how was it resolved?” “How did the book make you feel? “Do you share the authors opinion about __?” “What is the main idea or theme? Why?”

10.  Is the student able to make connections between the style of this story and that of other stories they’ve read or viewed?  Can the student comment on the author’s technique?  Can the student relate real-life experiences to experiences portrayed in the text?  Is the student able to recognize their position of shared knowledge with the main character? Does the demonstrate empathy with the character?  Can the student identify the mood of the story?  Is the student able to identify character traits?  Is the student able to identify problems and solutions in the story?  Can the organize information using a structure such as the 5Ws?  Can the student infer what will happen next?  Can the student scan the text to find specific information?  Is the student able to explore an idea presented in the text?  Does the student ask questions to facilitate understanding?  Is the student able to explain clearly their idea to others?  Can the student rewrite a narrative using the structure of a factual recount?

11. Grading: With ease and while extending: Excellence _____ With good accuracy after practice and with some support: Proficient ____ With extensive support and can only answer lower level questions: Basic __ With limited success even with adaptations: Progressing Towards Grade Level OPEN FOR DISCUSSION!

12. Intensive Targeted Universal

13. Children's writer Madeline L'Engle says, "Readers sometimes grossly underestimate their own importance." This is particularly true of less experienced readers. As developing readers realize their inner conversation and begin to focus on their own thoughts and questions, reading takes on new importance. When readers interact with the text by thinking about their questions, writing them down, and pondering answers, they comprehend at a much deeper level. Classrooms change when readers begin to believe their thinking matters.”