Direct Instruction of active reading strategies through text-dependent questions and tasks
- previewing
- self-questioning
- making connections
- visualizing
- knowing how words work
- monitoring
- summarizing
- evaluating
Practice of reading comprehension skills
- inferring
- plot
- symbolism
- theme
- cause and effect
- and more!
Students practice and master fiction and informational literacy skills
Development of vocabulary strategies
Students apply useful vocabulary strategies as they read.
- recognizing antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, idioms, root words, and affixes
- identifying multiple-meaning words
- using a thesaurus
High-interest fiction and informational selections span a wide range of genres and topics
- short stories
- expository articles
- novel excerpts
- poems
- folk tales
- Web sites
- editorials
- and more!
A variety of before-, during-, and after-reading activities address multiple learning styles
Review for mastery
A writing prompt at the end of each lesson allows students to demonstrate their comprehension skills. Two review lessons monitor students' progress and allow students to practice new skills and strategies.
Listening comprehension
A listening lesson after each review helps students become active and attentive listeners by making and confirming predictions about a selection read to them.
Writing activities and review lessons assess progress
Each lesson has six consistent sections that guide learning. Students use essential reading strategies as they complete a variety of multimodal activities.
- Before Reading: Heads Up
- Students access prior knowlege to provide a framework for deeper textual understanding.
- During Reading: Think-Along Questions
- Readers interact with the text through questioning, predicting, and making connections.
- After Reading: Make Sense of Words
- Vocabulary strategies build vocabulary and provide tools for independent reading.
- After Reading: Read with Understanding
- Multiple-choice questions, similar to those on state and national tests, provide practice for the targeted skill.
- After Reading: Understand by Seeing It
- Students use visual mapping strategies with a variety of graphic organizers.
- After Reading: Write to Learn
- Students demonstrate mastery of comprehension skills and reading strategies through writing activities.