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Bookworms:

A Comprehensive K-5 Literacy Program

Sharon Walpole

University of Delaware

Michael C. McKenna

University of Virginia

Grades 3-5 Manual

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In our professional development work, we see teachers struggling to

maintain a clear picture of what literacy development should look like for children at their grade level. Their view is understandably skewed by their own experience and by the characteristics of their class. It is often not well informed by research nor is it consistent with the demands of state or Common Core standards. The result can be a lack of attention to the need for literacy acceleration for some portion of the class; as long as students are making progress of some kind, teachers believe that their needs are being met.

Our experience in schools tells us that thoughtfully planned instruction targeting assessed needs actually does contribute to literacy development, even in whole-group settings. Unfortunately, teachers rarely provide such instruction. We attribute this fact to the guidance they are given by core programs. The procedures recommended in many present-day cores are too varied and too vague to effectively target the needs of many students. Moreover, they result in too much time devoted to teacher-directed introduction, with too little left for actual student reading. We have studied these trends as researchers for a number of years and are convinced that replacing or supplementing core programs with an evidence-based regimen of targeted instruction, involving preplanned lessons and a few simple assessments, will go far toward addressing the curricular challenges that confront classroom teachers.

Program Philosophy

We began our attention to such lessons by crafting a small-group, multiple-

entry differentiated curriculum. That curriculum is defined in How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction: Resources for Grades K-3 and in Differentiated Reading Instruction in Grades 4 and 5: Strategies and Resources. We now add the rest of the curriculum. In its design, we have honored teacher commitment to authentic texts and our own commitment to simple, repetitive, evidence-based instructional strategies.

We define shared reading as teacher-supported grade-level reading, similar to the whole-group portion of a traditional core program. Our curriculum is different in two ways: (1) it uses only intact books, and (2) it is calibrated to the Common Core State Standards for text difficulty. After grade 1, texts include approximately half fiction and half nonfiction. Just as our small-group model is unbalanced for struggling students in that it addresses only foundational skills for those children who need them, our shared reading curriculum is unbalanced as well – it devotes little time to basic skills after grade 1 and instead targets fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and text structure knowledge. In fact, those familiar with the vocabulary and comprehension lessons in our small-group model will see that the instructional procedures are much the same for shared reading.

We define interactive read-alouds as teacher-conducted read-alouds that allow for comprehension strategy modeling, high levels of student engagement, rich discussion, and vocabulary growth. With input from teachers, we have typically selected books well above grade level because of their potential to increase

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children’s oral language and background knowledge. Informed by research on read alouds, we provide teachers at all grade levels with lesson plans for read-alouds of picture books, chapter books, and magazines.

The entire program requires all of the instructional time typically allocated for a literacy block. The block that we target in our school-based work comprises three separate 45-minute chunks of time. The first chunk consists of an interactive read-aloud of a high-quality text that is above grade level and 15 minutes of instruction in grammar for about half of the days, or a full segment of process writing for the other half of the days. The next segment comprises whole-class shared reading from a grade-level trade book. The final segment comprises differentiation; we allow for three groups to meet for 15 minutes each while the other students write written responses to shared reading and to interactive read alouds or work on their ongoing process writing work.

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The Literacy Block in Grades 3-5

In grades 3, 4, and 5, our goals are to:

1. continue building students’ general, content-specific, and academic vocabulary;

2. enable students to decode and spell multisyllabic words by using spelling patterns and morphology;

3. foster students’ ability to write better sentences and short texts related to what they read and what is read aloud to them;

4. prepare students to learn from nonfiction texts in content subjects; 5. provide students with many opportunities to extend their fluency and

comprehension proficiency in texts of increasing complexity; and 6. generally prepare students for the literacy tasks they will encounter in

middle school.

Differentiated Instruction

Shared Reading

Word Study

Grammar and Writing Instruction

Read Alouds

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Approximate Time Guide: Read-aloud and Grammar or Process Writing

15 Minutes -30 Minutes

Interactive Read-Aloud Summarizing/Text Structure Instruction Writer’s Workshop

15 Minutes Sentence Combining Approach to Grammar

Approximate Time Guide: Shared Reading Instruction

15 Minutes Word Study (Spelling and Meaning) 10 Minutes

Discuss Text Structure (Information) Set a Purpose for Reading

Choral Reading Revisit that Purpose

Set a New Purpose for Rereading 10 Minutes

Rereading in Partners Revisit that Purpose

10 Minutes

Discuss Text Structure (Narrative) Comprehension Discussion

Assign Written Response

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Classroom Organization

Implementation will require that classrooms have space for the new materials. Please consider purging your classroom resources to retain only those literacy materials that could be used in your classroom library for self-selected reading, for small-group differentiated instruction, or during content area time. No worksheets will be used in this program. In fact, there will be no photocopying of materials of any kind for use during the language arts block.

Please set aside a bulletin board to display word study words for the week, copies of book covers with vocabulary words, and anchor charts that you make for each book. Students will need notebooks or journals for word study and written responses. Beginning the first Monday of instruction, all teachers should be using the shared reading lesson plans, moving through them sequentially. In 4th and 5th grade, teachers may decide to reorder the selections slightly if they align better with science or social studies units, but please maintain the lesson sequence for the first 6 weeks of third grade to ensure that the spelling content is mastered. There are 30-40 shared reading lesson plans for each 9-week period. We have tried to ensure that every fifth day contains a word study test, but some texts do not fit neatly into the 5-week structure. For shortened weeks, simply pick up with the next lesson plan. During the first two full weeks of school, help students to understand the shared reading procedures and the requirements for working on their own after shared reading. Instead of beginning differentiated instruction during that time, call individual students back to conduct initial assessments. You will see that there are not as many interactive read aloud lesson plans as their are shared reading lesson plans. This difference is deliberate. Nearly half of the 45-minute time segments for interactives must be reserved for process writing so that students learn to compose, revise, and edit their own writing pieces. We have not designed this portion of the curriculum. Teachers should work together to use consistent process writing procedures and language and to sequence the three writing genres (narrative, informative, and persuasive/argumentative) across the school year.

This program should provide a layer of consistency within and across schools. When other assessments must be given (e.g., DIBELS Next), please decide which of the three segments to replace (shared, differentiated, or read-aloud/writing). Lesson planning, then, will be greatly simplified, as will principal walkthroughs and evaluations. Teacher planning will consist of reading ahead in the shared reading text and reviewing the instructional procedures associated with that lesson. These are described below.

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Word Study

The approach to word study in this program is to move systematically across grade levels from sound to pattern to meaning. In grades 3-5, the spelling curriculum entails one set of words for the entire class, consistent instruction across the week, and a traditional spelling test every five days. Third-grade teachers should keep in mind that during second grade, we target long vowel patterns. Beginning in third grade, we address syllable juncture, focusing directly on the doubling principle. In fourth and fifth grades, we emphasize multisyllabic decoding, based on syllable types, and the link between spelling and meaning.

Words are taken from the meaning vocabulary that students encounter in shared reading selections. Consequently, Word Study not only extends skill in decoding and spelling, it provides additional encounters with new words whose meanings are important to learn. Pattern Introduction/Review (Grade 3 only). Before sorting words, provide an explicit link between the sound and pattern. Writing Sort (Grade 3 only). After you have directed a sort by sound, mix up the words again. Ask students to copy the headers and then to copy the words into their word study notebooks under the appropriate header. Identify and Explain Syllable Types (Grades 3-5). Chunking words into syllables is an aid in decoding, spelling, and meaning. Multisyllabic word study words can be analyzed at the syllable level. The goal of this instruction is flexible strategies for

Grade 3 • Syllable

Juncture • Doubling

Principle

Grade 4 • Multisyllabic

Decoding • Syllable Types • Spelling-

Meaning Link

Grade 5 • Multisyllabic

Decoding • Syllable Types • Spelling-

Meaning Link

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attacking unknown words. Below find some guidelines for naming syllables and for chunking words into syllables. You will see in the word study scope and sequence that, after the first 6 weeks of third grade, we present the vocabulary words divided into syllables and provide teachers with the syllable type names. We intend that this syllable-type language be used every day in teacher-directed instruction.

Syllable Type

Description Example

Closed A single vowel is followed by one or more consonants and is pronounced with a short sound.

Trash con tent

Open A single vowel is at the end of a syllable and is pronounced with its long sound.

She remote

Vowel-Consonant-e

A final silent e marks the long vowel sound in a syllable.

Time enrage

OR The final silent e is dropped when a vowel suffix is added, but the vowel is still long.

Blaming

R-controlled A vowel and r are linked to make a vowel sound that is neither long nor short.

Shark purpose

Vowel Team Two vowels (and sometimes w or y) work together to represent one sound. It can be long, short, or neither.

Team contain boyish

Consonant-l-e A single consonant sound is followed by le (representing the sound /ul/ in an unaccented syllable at the end of a word.

Candle enable

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Compounds Closed-Closed Open-Closed -Cle

breakfast

myself

snowstorm

throughout

folktale

downpour

napkin

happen

magnet

dentist

plastic

absent

music

robot

female

fever

human

basic

table

battle

handle

bugle

cable

sample

Divide between

words you know

Divide between

consonants

Divide between

the vowel and

the consonant

Divide

before the

Cle syllable

Prefix Only Suffix Only Both Prefix and Suffix

misjudge pretest

unicycle tripod

nonsense extend

roughly weakness plentiful lengthy cautious craziest

unhappiness mistreatment subtraction

pretreatment returning

Divide between the

prefix and the rest

of the word

Divide between

the suffix and the

rest of the word

Divide between both the prefix

and the suffix and the rest of

the word

Understanding Doubling (Grade 3 only). Word study in grade 3 will also focus on the doubling principle. Below find a summary.

Base Word Patterns Adding a Vowel Suffix Examples

CVVC, CVCC leak, dump

Add the suffix with no change to the base.

leaked, leaking dumped, dumping

CVC hop

Double the final consonant and add the suffix.

hopped, hopping

CVCe dine

Drop the final e and add the suffix.

dined, dining

Cy cry

Add -ing with no change; change the y to i before adding -ed.

crying, cried

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Vy stay

Add the suffix with no change to the base.

stayed, staying

Two-syllable words with accented last

syllable resent, uncap,

derive, rely, enjoy

Use the pattern in the final syllable to determine your action.

resented, resenting uncapped, uncapping derived, deriving relied, relying enjoyed, enjoying

Two-syllable words with unaccented

last syllable open, focus

Add the suffix with no change to the base.

opened, opening focused, focusing

Morphological Awareness (Grades 3-5). We will highlight the meaning layer of the spelling system by attending to the relationships among base words, prefixes, and suffixes. A consistent attention to generalizing from one word to related words will be a mainstay in word study. Considering whether suffixes can be used to change parts of speech and whether prefixes can be used to change meaning will be a target. You will see that we transform words into other parts of speech as a regular part of word study.

Common Prefixes

Meaning Examples

un- not, opposite of uninterested, uninformed

dis- not, reversing of an action displease, discredit

re- do again reapply, reappoint

en- to make into, to put into entrap, enclose

co- together with coexist, copilot

mis- wrong misinterpret, misrepresent

in-, im-,

il-, ir-

not incorrect, impolite, illegal,

irregular

anti- against antibiotic, antiwar

extra- beyond extraordinary, extracurricular

fore- in front foreground, forewarn

inter- between interstate, intersect

intra- within intramural, intravenous

non- not noncommercial, nonsense

post- after postseason, postmortem

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pre- before premade, preview

semi- half semicircle, semiannual

sub- under submarine, subzero

super- above supernatural, superscript

Common Noun Suffixes

-s Meaning Example

-al, -ance, -ment,

-ation, -sion, -tion

act of dismissal, continuance, payment,

specialization, division,

connection

-ation, -ment,

ness, -hood,

-dom, -ship, -ion,

-ice

state of desperation, contentment,

kindness, boyhood, freedom,

kinship, corruption, cowardice

-ist, -er, -or, -eer one who pianist, server, creditor, engineer

Common Adjective Suffixes

Meaning Examples

-ful, -ish, -y, -ive,

-able

full of, having,

capable of

regretful, selfish, guilty,

instinctive, manageable

-able capable of workable

Vocabulary

Building children’s vocabulary through purposeful instruction is a key component of this program. Repeated meaningful exposures to words builds vocabulary knowledge. That is why we ask you to post the vocabulary words in the classroom. In this program, vocabulary is a focus in both shared reading and interactive read alouds. Some of the instructional strategies are the same, but several are more appropriate in one or the other. Direct Instruction of Word Meanings (Grades 3-5). In shared reading, the words that are selected for instruction come from the day's text portion. As you introduce each word, display it on tag board under the title of the book or a picture of its cover. Review and use the words as often as possible. To make our shared reading routines consistent, we always introduce the vocabulary before reading. In conducting an interactive read-aloud of fiction, we choose two general vocabulary words (Tier 2) per session and we introduce them at the end of the session, using the procedure recommended by Isabel Beck and her colleagues. These words should be reviewed cumulatively and periodically as the year

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progresses. In read-alouds of nonfiction, we employ cluster approaches, such as concept of definition, semantic feature analysis and other graphics that stress how the words are connected. The effectiveness of these approaches is so well documented that we also incorporate them into the shared reading of nonfiction. Targeting Multiple Meanings (Grades 3-5). Almost all words have more than one meaning. During shared reading, care is taken to build awareness of how context constrains these meanings so that only one makes sense. After relatively brief direct instruction for target words, students find those words in context. Then they write sentences using the words. The beginning of word study each day asks students to share what they have written with partners to provide additional examples of the words in context. When the students share their sentences, the teacher has the opportunity to explain why each is (or is not) an accurate use of the word. These sentence contexts provide the multiple exposures necessary for word learning.

This deliberate approach is not used in the interactive read-alouds because there is too little time. The lesson plans do occasionally suggest that an alternate meaning, one that is perhaps already known to the students, be quickly acknowledged and then dismissed as not making sense in context. Explanation of Words (Grades 3-5). You will notice that the rich texts that students read provide multiple opportunities for vocabulary instruction, but we only select a small number of words for instruction. Students will likely ask questions about word meanings; if that happens, teachers should answer them. However, it will be impossible to explain all word meanings possible in shared reading.

The situation is different in conducting interactive read-alouds. Because the text is above grade level, far more unfamiliar words will be encountered and it is impossible to pause and discuss them all. In cases where the meanings of these words are essential to understanding, we recommend a technique we call fast scaffolding. Fast scaffolding occurs when a teacher supplies quick definitions or synonyms for certain words on the fly, without disrupting the flow of the read-aloud. Fast scaffolding a word is to supply its meaning almost under one's breath, as an aside. For example, in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, this passage appears: “He wished the sunshine back in the sky, and he wished a wart on his left hind fetlock would disappear.” Here a teacher might quickly say, “A fetlock’s part of his leg.” Fast scaffolding is one element of an effective interactive read-aloud that it was not feasible to include in these plans. We leave it to your judgment as a teacher to decide which words to fast scaffold. Typically, these will be relatively rare words. In deciding whether to fast scaffold, we suggest that you consider words that (1) your students are not likely to know and (2) that if undefined would impair comprehension or prove distracting. To make these decisions, you will need to read the text in advance. Just remember that you cannot make every word the subject of a vocabulary lesson! Super Sentences (Grades 3-5). Nearly all shared reading vocabulary words are practiced as part of the daily written responses. Children use a semantic web to

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plan a sentence. The target word is in the center, and the spokes are question words. A super sentence uses at least three spokes. This procedure helps children to write longer sentences with more than one simple clause. In fact, nearly all super sentences are compound or complex. Encourage children to also use other grammatical forms of the word.

Concept of Definition (Grades 3-5). Concept of Definition (COD) is a graphical representation of the relationships among concepts. The figure below depicts how the graphic is structured. The word defined is placed in the center (an example might be triangle). The category to which it belongs (polygons) is placed above, and examples of category members are positioned below (isosceles, right, etc.). A lateral line connects the target word with features it possesses (3 sides).

A COD map is read this way:

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“A [triangle] is a type of [polygon]. A [square] is also a [polygon], but it is not a [triangle]. A [triangle] has these characteristics: [3 sides]. These are examples of a [triangle: scalene, isosceles, right, equilateral].”

Concept of definition is appropriate during both interactive read-alouds and shared reading whenever the focus of the text is on a single important concept. Semantic Feature Analysis (Grades 3-5). A semantic feature analysis is useful in shared reading and in interactive read-alouds, whenever new concepts are members of an overarching category and can be compared and contrasted on the basis of a set of features. Members of the category are listed in the left-hand column and features across the top. Individual cells represent an individual member by feature. These cells are completed by writing a plus or minus sign if the category member does or does not possess the feature, the letter S if it sometimes possesses the feature, or a question mark if the matter is uncertain.

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Fluency

Fluency is built through repeated readings. Our approach is developmental. In kindergarten and the first half of first grade, we do not expect children to be fluent with the shared reading text until the end of the week. That is why we read the same full texts repeatedly, moving from more to less teacher support. Beginning in second grade and continuing through grade 5, texts become longer, and we therefore read and reread one segment of text each day rather than an entire text. As in our small-group model, we ask that teachers discuss the text after the second reading to ensure adequate practice time and facilitate a deeper understanding. Choral Reading (Grades 3-5). Lead the whole class in reading the day’s selection aloud. Circulate so that you can see and hear all of the students. Note that the lowest-achieving readers may not be able to read with you at first; allow them to track the print as you are reading. For higher-achieving readers, discourage finger pointing, moving first to sliding a bookmark instead and then to the point of not touching the page at all. Please watch the clock during this segment. If the day's selection is too long, stop choral reading and read the rest of the day's text aloud. Then move to partner reading. If you skip partner reading, you will not realize the gains in fluency and comprehension that rereading accomplishes. Partner Reading (Grades 3-5). Rank order students by achievement and then pair them so that the highest-achieving reader is paired with the top reader in the bottom half of the class. (For example, if you have a class of 20, pair the 1st with the 11th child, the 2nd with the 12th, and so on.) Teach the children the roles of reader and coach. The reader reads to his or her partner with expression. Depending on the length of the text, ask the partners to switch roles after each paragraph or after each page. The coach should track while the reader reads, and prompt the reader to reread whenever there is an error. Set a time for partner reading each day (e.g., 10 minutes). If a pair finishes before you call time, direct them to reread with a different first reader. If a pair does not finish, still move to the discussion. They have covered the entire text segment once during choral reading. NOTE: If there are some students for whom partner reading is much too difficult on the second reading, you can pull them together and redo the choral reading.

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Comprehension Providing a Focus (Grades 3-5). Always help children target important content by providing a specific focus before they read. This will help them access relevant prior knowledge and lead them toward an appropriate mental representation of text meaning. You will see that in multiple readings the students always have a new purpose for reading. Modeling (Grades 3-5). During choral reading, you will be prompted to model one of seven comprehension strategies. When you model, you tell the students how you use the strategy to increase your own comprehension of the text. Specifically, you tell what the strategy is, how you used it, and why you used it. Remember that modeling is showing your own thinking; it is different from prompting students to use strategies. Strategies targeted in these lessons are listed in the table below along with procedural cues. Note that we provide the text just before the spot where we think the modeling is most appropriate. We did this because there are sometimes discrepancies in page numbers as new editions of books are printed.

The same strategies are reflected in the interactive read-aloud lessons. Modeling a strategy is the one component of the read-aloud where we encourage you to stick rather closely to the wording provided in the lesson plans. Students must learn the procedure for applying each strategy. In fact, it must become second nature to them. Using the same language from book to book conveys the message that the reasoning process is the same.

Strategy Procedure

Making Connections 1. Identify information in the words or pictures. 2. Identify information that you already know. 3. Explicitly link the information.

Asking Questions to Aid Understanding

1. Identify a surprise or inconsistency in the text. 2. Use that information to formulate a question. 3. Answer the question if the information to answer

it has been provided, or speculate that it might be provided by reading further.

Creating Sensory Images

1. Identify specific words in the text that can be used to target the senses.

2. Explain what you know about the meaning of those words.

3. Describe the sensory image that you create by combining the words and what you know.

Inferring

1. Identify information from the text. 2. Identify information provided previously or from

prior knowledge or experience. 3. Create an idea that links the two and is not

directly stated in the text.

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Determining Importance

1. List both important information and unimportant information.

2. Label each item as important or unimportant. 3. Tell why and how you decided, based on text

structure or prior knowledge.

Synthesizing

1. Identify details from different parts of a text or from different texts.

2. Group the details into categories and subcategories, either by topic or text structure element.

3. Construct statements that link the categories.

Self-Monitoring

1. Identify information in the text that is surprising. 2. Tell why it is surprising. 3. Tell why you will either reread or read on to see if

your understanding is correct.

Comprehension Discussion (Grades 3-5). Nearly all questions provided for shared reading are inferential, meaning that students have to combine information from within the text or between the text and prior knowledge to answer. If they answer correctly, consider asking them how they know. If they answer incorrectly, ask follow-up questions to help them to find the information necessary to make the inference. Consider asking the children to answer first to their partner, and then choose one partner pair to share. Lesson plans for the interactive read-alouds are likewise based on inferential questions. However, most of the discussion occurs during the read-aloud, at key points indicated in each plan. As in shared reading, the discussion is often with a child’s partner so that all of the children are involved. Use Graphic Organizers (Grades 3-5). Brief notes about text content, organized to highlight text structures, will link content across days and also highlight repetitive text structures. These can be displayed on a smart board or on chart paper, but they must be filled in each day. Sample graphic organizers for narratives, cycles, and topic-subtopic are pictured below. These same organizers are used to introduce the text structures of the texts that are read aloud.

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Written Responses (Grades 3-5). We intend that the written responses from shared reading be completed as seatwork during small-group time. Model for students at the beginning of the year to establish norms for length and quality.

Each day, the interactive read-aloud concludes with a prompt for writing that also can be done independently during small-group time. This writing is tied directly to the read-aloud for that day and is separate from the written response to the shared reading selection. Therefore, students will have the opportunity to complete one text-based response each day, and two on the days when you are doing the read alouds. These responses demonstrate and develop their comprehension.

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For those teachers whose schedules do not permit the read aloud and shared reading to precede differentiation, please take a few minutes at the start of the differentiation period to review the previous day's text, and then reassign the response.

Pair-Share Written Responses (Grades 3-5). Before beginning new reading each day, ask students to read and discuss one another’s written responses. Doing so creates an authentic audience for those responses, reduces teacher grading time, and also serves to review important content from the previous day. Responses are designed to be inferential and open-ended; there is no one “correct” response. Since students are already paired purposefully for paired reading, it makes sense to use the same pairings.

For interactive read-alouds, we have used a similar plan for chapter books. The writing prompt for each day’s segment entails a capsule summary of key events. We chose this type of prompt for three reasons. It is among the most important kinds of writing students will do, it is closely tied to the comprehension strategy of determining the relative importance of facts, and it provides a sharing activity that sets up the new day’s text segment by reviewing recent events.

When the interactive read-aloud is a picture book, the writing prompt varies, as do the options for sharing. They may be shared on occasion in an author’s chair format, or you may read them individually.

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Grading Options

We believe that the most important evidence of comprehension is the written responses that children compose after shared and interactive reading. We ask teachers to look at the responses for an entire week and choose just one for grading. That response can be completed in the usual way, but children should have a chance to revise and edit it before turning it in for a grade. Common rubrics for grading work would make grading decisions consistent across classrooms. In addition to written responses, teachers will be able to collect one spelling and vocabulary grade each week in the weekly word study test. We encourage teachers to create one format for this test, and ensure that they are grading both spelling and meaning. We have created scope and sequence documents for those teachers who would like to send the words home each week.

Homework Options

We would like grade-level teams to collaborate to design a homework procedure. Good homework is predictable, meaningful, and simple. It provides additional practice for core concepts already taught in school. Since we will not be using any worksheets, these will no longer be provided for homework. The most beneficial homework may be wide reading. Teachers may opt to adopt a reading log for homework, provided that books from the library are sent home with all children. Word study homework is also beneficial if it increases meaningful encounters with words. Beginning in grade 2, asking students to write super sentences with their word study words requires them to think about both spelling and meaning. Upper-elementary students can also spend time writing and revising. Consider assigning some writing as homework, as long as it has been started in school and has a clear structure.

Lesson Formats for Shared Reading Shared reading has the overall five-day structure and time requirement we have outlined previously. However, the daily plans differ as the week progresses and they also differ from grade to grade. The following example from grade 5 showcases these differences. Note that you must refer to the instructional strategies defined previously to enact the strategies as designed.

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Grade 5 Shared Reading Plan (Walk Two Moons)

Two word

families and

script

Comprehension

focus for today

First reading of

text segment,

with

comprehension

modeling

New focus for

second reading

in partners

Inferential

questions after

second reading

Follow-up

suggestions after

second reading

Directions for

filling in story

map

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Remainder of

lesson follows

format similar to

Day 1

Two new

vocabulary

words

Review of

sentences

assigned on

previous day

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Remainder of

lesson follows

format similar to

Day 1

No new word

families today

Friday quiz

over word

study words of

the week

Discussion

covers this day's

text segment;

book will

continue on Day

6

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Interactive Read-Aloud The purpose of this portion of the ELA block is to use an engaging book as a means of exposing children to rich language, developing comprehension ability, expanding vocabulary, and building knowledge (Santoro, Chard, Howard, & Baker, 2008; Teale, 2003). The practice of reading aloud to children should be a mainstay throughout the elementary years, not just in the primary grades. Their advantages exist well after children have learned to decode (Cunningham, 2005). Over time, books read aloud by the teacher should present a range of organizational patterns and writing styles. Also, it is especially important to provide a balance of fiction and nonfiction. Such a balance has long been lacking in many primary classrooms (Bortnem, 2008), and we often observe this imbalance in grades 3-5 as well. In Bookworms, the read-aloud selections are above grade level. Because the teacher both decodes the words and scaffolds understanding, challenging texts are appropriate. They present more new words, ideas, and information than grade-level texts. For both fiction and nonfiction, the daily lesson format follows a before-during-after sequence, but there are key differences involving vocabulary and text structure. The following chart shows where the two formats are the same and where they differ. Fiction Nonfiction

Before Reading

Ask partners to share written responses to yesterday’s prompt.

Ask partners to share written responses to yesterday’s prompt.

Develop or activate background knowledge.

Develop or activate background knowledge.

Preview technical vocabulary. Introduce the text structure.

During Reading Ask questions during reading and model comprehension strategies.

Ask questions during reading and model comprehension strategies.

After Reading

Lead a brief discussion. Lead a brief discussion. Teach Tier 2 words. Lead the class in sentence composing.

Lead the class in sentence composing.

Assign a written response after each day.

Assign a written response after each day.

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Delivering a Read-Aloud Scripting. Each plan contains fully scripted teacher talk. In providing scripts, our intent is to save planning time. We expect these scripts to be modified and elaborated as the read-aloud is delivered. We offer them as a guide or blueprint. In other words, although we are suggesting language to use with children, the language you actually use must be yours. This is why it is important to read each plan carefully in advance. It can be kept close by, as a prompt, during the actual read-aloud, but the more familiar you become with it, the less you will need to rely on it during delivery and the more natural your language will be. We suggest that you place stickies at key places in book, or mark them with a pencil, to remember when to glance at the guide. When we do the read alouds, we actually cut up the lesson plan and tape it into our book. Keep in mind, however, that we have tried to build academic language into our scripts, including key words mentioned in the standards. We encourage you to note them. Comprehension Development. Each read-aloud features at least one comprehension strategy, to be modeled by the teacher at an appropriate point. Modeling a strategy is the one component of the read-aloud where we encourage you to stick rather closely to the wording provided in the lesson plans. Students must learn the procedure for applying each strategy. In fact, it must become second nature to them. Using the same language from book to book conveys the message that the reasoning process is the same. Questions are a mainstay in these read-alouds. They prompt engagement with the content, and they continually model the kind of self-questioning proficient readers undertake. You will find that the questions in these lesson plans are nearly all at the inferential level. Answering them requires that students combine and interpret facts and that they bring their prior knowledge to bear. We have made extensive use of Why-questions both because of their established effectiveness (Menke & Pressley, 1994; Wood, Pressley, & Winne, 1990) and the fact that they target implied causal relationships, including character motives. Overall, our goal of promoting reasoning throughout the elementary grades is similar to Text Talk (Beck & McKeown, 2001), an approach based on inferential questioning. Vocabulary. Our approaches to vocabulary are the same as those we have championed for differentiated reading instruction (Walpole & McKenna, 2009; Walpole, McKenna, & Philippakos, 2011). We adhere to a few basic approaches of established effectiveness, and these approaches are different for fiction and information books. For fiction, we recommend neither pretesting nor preteaching words in advance. Pretesting wastes valuable time given the fact that students can be expected to benefit from attention to words even if they already possess a working knowledge

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of their meanings. For fiction, we have chosen Tier 2 words (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2013), which are general in nature and which students will need to know as they move forward in school. Beck and her colleagues point out that the problem with preteaching such words is the danger that they can distract students when the teacher mentions them during the read-aloud. Accordingly, we have placed them near the end of each session. We have incorporated the teacher language they recommend for introducing Tier 2 words. For information books, on the contrary, it is important to preview key vocabulary either just prior to the read-aloud or at the point the words are encountered during the read-aloud. Previewing does not mean teaching the words to mastery. It amounts to an introduction, a method of exposing children to their meanings and how they are related. We rely on a small number of effective instructional strategies for introducing disciplinary words, including concept of definition, semantic feature analysis, and other graphic approaches. It will not take long for children to become accustomed to how these approaches work. Text Structure. As with vocabulary, our approach to text structure differs depending on whether the book is fiction or nonfiction. In the case of fiction, the format is almost invariably narrative so that previewing it in advance is unnecessary. In the case of an information book, however, an author may employ a number of organization patterns. We have included suggestions for previewing how the text of a particular information book is structured. Providing this knowledge in advance is likely to improve comprehension (e.g., Alvermann & Swafford, 1989). Just as important, continually exposing students to how nonfiction texts are structured will provide them with frameworks they can use in their own writing. Fast Scaffolds. We have coined the term fast scaffolding to describe a strategy in which the teacher supplies definitions or facts on the fly, without disrupting the flow of the read-aloud. Fast scaffolding a word is to supply its meaning at the right place and time, almost under one's breath, as an aside. For example, in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, this passage appears: “He wished the sunshine back in the sky, and he wished a wart on his left hind fetlock would disappear.” Here a teacher might quickly simply say, “A fetlock’s part of his leg.” Fast scaffolding is one element of an effective interactive read-aloud that it was not feasible to include in these plans. We leave it to your judgment as a teacher to decide which words to quick scaffold. Typically, these will be relatively rare (Tier 3) words. In deciding whether to quick scaffold, we suggest that you consider words (1) that your students are not likely to know and (2) that if ignored might impair comprehension or prove distracting. To make these decisions, you will need to read the text carefully in advance. Just remember that you cannot make every word the subject of a vocabulary lesson! A fast scaffold might also involve a fact that the author clearly assumes a reader might know but that you suspect your own students may not. Instead of providing a

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word’s meaning, you supply an on-the-spot explanation of the allusion instead. Every Pupil Response. An effective way to increase engagement is to require responses from all students at the same time. There are many proven methods of eliciting every pupil responses, and we have included these periodically in each plan. They include taking votes, providing signaled responses (e.g., thumbs up, thumbs down), or talking with a partner. Such responses are not appropriate at every stopping point, but their periodic use helps to ensure a high level of engagement. Partners. Another means of increasing student engagement is to establish pairs who can occasionally confer about questions or share something they have written the day before. You will find many places in the scripts where it is suggested that you say, “talk to your partner” or “ask your partner.” Whether these partners are the same from day-to-day or book-to-book we leave to your judgment. We suspect, however, that rapport and openness will eventually be established if partners remain the same over an extended period. The important thing is that each child know who his or her partner is and that the two sit near one another during the read-aloud.

Visibility. For many information texts in the upper grades, it is essential that students be able to see a book’s visual elements (illustrations, diagrams, and photographs). The traditional notion of holding the book up for students to see, or possibly walking around with it, will not suffice. In our experience, it is far preferable to project the book using a document camera as you read. Sentence Composing

Grammar instruction in Bookworms is based on the daily study of sentences that come from the read-aloud. This approach is called sentence composing, and it is a well established alternative to descriptive grammar instruction (Killgallon & Killgallon, 2000). Drawing sentences from the text of the day’s read-aloud has two advantages: They are crafted by professional authors and they are fresh in mind.

These sentences (sometimes in slightly modified form) are used in two brief activities each day, selected from a set of four basic possibilities. They include: Combining. The teacher presents two or three short sentences and leads the students in combining them into a single sentence with a more complex syntax (Lawlor, 1983; Saddler, 2005). The sentences typically begin with the same subject. You will see that we often include connecting words to cue the combining. Combining activities provide ample opportunity for discussing comma rules. Example, from The BFG (Grade 3): Original Sentences:

The giant rolled back the stone. The giant entered the cave. Possible Combinations:

The giant rolled back the stone and entered the cave.

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After the giant rolled back the stone, he entered the cave. Before entering the cave, the giant rolled back the stone.

Unscrambling. In advance of the lesson, the teacher breaks a relatively long sentence from the text into words and short phrases. The teacher then presents these scrambled components without punctuation or initial capitalization to the students and guides them in piecing them back together. The students must think through logical and syntactic connections, asking one another, “What goes with what?” (This is where an interactive board comes in handy because the components can be touched and dragged into new positions.)

Example, from The Worst of Friends (Grade 4): Original Sentence:

Then, when the new nation needed money to pay its bills and friends to help it fight off enemies, Tom and John sailed across the ocean to Europe.

Scrambled Sentence: enemies money to John then when Europe needed bills and the new nation help it friends to pay its fight off Tom and sailed across the ocean to

Imitating. The teacher presents a single, well-crafted sentence from the text, and then replaces one or more content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) with blanks. The teacher then prompts the students to substitute other content words. Doing so changes the meaning of the sentences but not the syntax. It also allows you to generate lists of words that you can name by part of speech. Example, from Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It? (Grade 1): Original Sentence:

How will you spend your money? Sentences with Content Words Removed:

How will you spend your ________?

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How will you _______ your money? How will you _______ your _______?

Expanding. The teacher presents a simple sentence from the text and guides the students in adding to it by attaching words, phrases, and clauses, making the syntax more complex. In sentence expanding, it is a good idea to insist that the suggestions offered by students reflect the original meaning of the text. Example, from Charlie Needs a Cloak (Kindergarten): Original Sentence: Charlie was a shepherd. Possible Expansions: Charlie was a shepherd who needed a new cloak. Charlie was a shepherd who took care of sheep. Charlie was a very good shepherd. Like the read-aloud itself, sentence composing is a whole-class activity. It is led by the teacher, who hand-writes or keyboards sentences on the board or projects them with a document camera. The students do no writing. Instead, they take an active role in offering suggestions for modifying the sentences as the teacher writes. And because the teacher does the writing, decoding is not an issue, even in kindergarten or first grade. Our classroom observations convince us that an interactive board, if available, is the best option for sentence composing. The lesson plans do not contain detailed scripts for the sentence composing portion of the read-aloud. The reason is that the activities are always dynamic and often unpredictable since student input is continually sought. You may access videos of all four approaches implemented both at kindergarten and third grade. They are contained in a module called Sentence Composing at ComprehensiveReadingSolutions.com. Written Response to a Read-Aloud After sentence composing, a follow-up writing activity gives students a chance to react to the book and demonstrate their understanding. The students respond individually to an age-appropriate prompt. They do so during small-group time, when they are not working with the teacher. The purpose of this segment is to give students a chance to develop their writing skills and at the same time demonstrate and deepen their comprehension of the book that you have read aloud to them. The prompts vary considerably, especially between fiction and nonfiction read-alouds, and they afford the children a wide range of brief writing tasks. Because in kindergarten many children have not yet acquired the skills to write in complete sentences, a drawing is often part of the prompt. However, it is never the only task – teachers are always advised to tell children to write about the drawing.

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Note that a second daily writing prompt follows the shared reading component of the block. Students are to address both prompts during small-group time. (Although a writing prompt is already built into each day’s lesson plan, you can download an extensive list of possibilities for prompts from the Interactive Read Alouds module at ComprehensiveReadingSolutions.com.) What about Writer’s Workshop?

The two prompts and sentence composing are by no means intended as a substitute for process writing instruction, which is typically provided through workshop approaches. Although process writing is not a part of the Bookworms lesson plans, time for it is allocated during the 45-minute interactive read-aloud segment. This time is available in two ways:

1. Together, the read-aloud and sentence composing activity do not require 45 minutes. Teachers can use the remaining time for ongoing writing projects.

2. There are not enough read-aloud lesson plans to fill an entire nine-week period. When the planned read-alouds run out, the teacher can use the remaining 45-minute periods for formal writing instruction, including research projects.

Lesson Format: Length and Structure

In building lesson plans, we have worked to capture the findings of research in a uniform structure that is easy to implement. Many books cannot be completed in a single 15-minute session, especially in the upper grades. For this reason, the lesson plan on the first day is structured differently from subsequent days.

As we noted earlier, different lesson templates for fiction and nonfiction are used. A key distinction is the point at which vocabulary instruction occurs. For fiction, we choose two general vocabulary words (Tier 2) per session and we introduce them at the end of the session, using the procedure recommended by Isabel Beck and her colleagues. For nonfiction, we introduce key technical terms in advance or at strategic points, using cluster approaches such as graphic organizers.

The examples that follow introduce the lesson formats and describe how each component is used. They are taken from a fiction and a nonfiction plan.

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Example 1. First Day of a Chapter Book

Partners share

responses to

prompt on

subsequent

days

Writing

prompt is

signaled at

beginning

Partner talk as

an example of

Every Pupil

Response

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Two Tier 2

words per

session, after

the reading

Brief

discussion

Two sentence

composing

activities

Writing

prompt

repeated

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Example 2. Second Day of a Chapter Book

Partners share

responses to

previous day’s

prompt, then

review

Additional Tier

2 words

Sentence

composing

activities,

varied each

day

Example of

attending to

author’s craft

New writing

prompt

Comprehension

strategy

modeled

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Example 3. First Day of Nonfiction Book

Introduction of

book,

including a

cluster

approach to

previewing

content area

vocabulary

Overview of

text structure

Suggested

comments with

page markers

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Sentence

composing

activities

Writing

prompt

Brief

discussion

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Example 4. Second Day of Nonfiction Book

Partners share

previous day’s

response to

prompt, then

teacher-led

review

Teacher

indicates key

terms as they

occur, esp. via

diagrams

Sentence

composing

activities

Writing

prompt

activities

Teacher

signals new

prompt

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. There are not enough interactive read-aloud plans to last an entire nine weeks. Should I prepare additional plans myself to make up the difference?

No. We wanted there to adequate time for process writing instruction. You can either deliver all of the read-alouds for a nine-week period and then devote the remaining 45-minute segments to writing, or you can intersperse writing instruction with the read-alouds throughout the quarter.

2. How important is the order of the interactive read-aloud plans within a nine-week period?

It’s not important at all. You should feel free to alter the order if you wish. However, the order of the shared reading plans is important because of the word study curriculum.

3. I have several students who are struggling with oral reading during shared reading. What suggestions do you have for serving these students?

One possibility is to call them to a table during partner rereading and provide another choral read as you sit in close proximity.

4. What should I do if a shared reading selection is too long on a given day?

There are two options: (1) Pause during choral reading and convert the remainder of the day’s selection into a read-aloud; then conduct partner reading during the time left; (2) continue choral reading until the end of the selection and then begin partner reading even though the students will not be able to reach the end.

5. My students are not mastering the science and social studies content in the shared or interactive selections. What should I do?

We did not try to replace science and social studies as subjects. We meant to enhance children's abilities to read and write about such content. We chose books about topics that are typically taught, but don't expect to do away with those subjects.

6. After each read-aloud, I post a cluster of vocabulary words on the wall. What should I do next?

We strongly encourage you to conduct quick periodic reviews of the words over time. Use brief opportunities that arise before transitions or at the start or end of the day, etc., and return to the words in a previously read book.

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7. Why don't we include traditional grammar instruction? There is no research evidence that descriptive grammar instruction increases student writing ability. We chose sentence composing for its authenticity and because of the strong research base for sentence combining.

8. My students are new to this curriculum. Will they be able to handle it in the upper elementary if they have not had the early primary lessons?

Our experience says yes. Because you still have the intervention block to address any lingering basic decoding problems, our experience says that even initially-weak upper elementary students grow in fluency and in comprehension when given systematic access to challenging texts.

9. Should I post the vocabulary from an information books on the wall as a word “cluster” in the same way I would for fiction?

We think it’s more effective to post the diagrams you’ve created. These not only contain the words but show how they are related.

10. When there are extra shared reading days in a marking period, what should we do?

We recommend that you plan a brief research unit. We did not include any research units, but you will find ample connections to the rich texts in shared and interactive read alouds.

11. How are the speaking and listening standards addressed?

We chose to engage children in speaking and listening every day, with a wide variety of content. You will see that children listen to and ask questions of teachers and of partners and that the comprehension questions in every day's lessons prompt actual meaningful discussions.

12. Why aren't the standards marked in the lessons?

You will see that we attended to standards-based language and to academic language every day in the design of questions and in the assignment of written responses. Our view is that the standards are challenging and interconnected and that they will never be mastered. Instead, they will be applied on a daily basis, if children are given challenging text to read and write about.

13. What should I do when a read-aloud contains a word or reference that I suspect my students may not understand?

We suggest that you offer a quick synonym or explanation “on the fly” and

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keep reading. We call this providing a “fast scaffold.” But do so sparingly. Ask yourself if not knowing a particular word or not getting a specific reference will hinder comprehension. We’ve built in many such cases into the lesson plans, of course.

14. Is it OK to ask students to write the sentences during sentence composing?

No. This should be a whole class activity guided by the teacher. The students should be engaged in helping to manipulate the sentences and gaining insights into how they work. Writing them is time consuming and may distract from the real objective.

15. When I see that a read-aloud will take too long for a given class session, what should I do?

Adjust the lesson plan by reducing the points at which you stop. Choose only those you consider most important.

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References Alvermann, D. E., & Swafford, J. (1989). Do content area strategies have a research

base? Journal of Reading, 32, 388–394. Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2001). Text Talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud

experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55, 10-20. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust

vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Bortnem, G. (2008). Teacher use of interactive read alouds using nonfiction in early

childhood classrooms. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 5(12), 29-44. Cunningham, A. E. (2005). Vocabulary growth through independent reading and

reading aloud to children. In E. H. Hiebert & M. L. Kamil (Eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice (pp. 45-67). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Killgallon, D., & Killgallon, J. (2000). Sentence composing for elementary school. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Lawlor, J. (1983). Sentence combining: A sequence for instruction. The Elementary School Journal, 84, 52-62.

Menke, D. J., & Pressley, M. (1994). Elaborative interrogation: Using ‘why’ questions to enhance the learning from text. Journal of Reading, 37, 642-645.

Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471.

Santoro, L. E., Chard, D. J., Howard, L., & Baker, S. K. (2008). Making the very most of classroom read-alouds to promote comprehension and vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 61, 396-408.

Teale, W. H. (2003). Reading aloud to young children as a classroom instructional activity: Insights from research and practice. In A. van Kleeck, A. A. Stahl, & E. B. Bauer (Eds.), On reading books to children: Parents and teachers (pp. 114-139). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2009). How to plan differentiated reading instruction: Resources for grades K-3. New York, NY: Guilford.

Walpole, S., McKenna, M. C., & Philippakos, Z. (2011). Differentiated reading instruction in grades 4 and 5: Strategies and resources. New York, NY: Guilford.

Whitehurst, G. J., Arnold, D. S., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Smith, M., Fischel, J. E. (1994). A picture book reading intervention in day care and home for children from low-income families. Developmental Psychology, 30, 679-689.

Wood, E., Pressley, M., & Winne, P. H. (1990). Elaborative interrogation effects on children's learning of factual content. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 741-748.