Columbus Day – Close Reading
Primary Grades
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Title: Christopher Columbus
Date Created/Published: [no date recorded on caption card]
Summary: Portrait, bust, 3/4 facing right.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-1784 (b&w film copy neg.)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a05534/
Columbus Day is a holiday in October to honor
the explorer Christopher Columbus. Columbus
lived in Europe. In 1492, he was hired by the
queen of Spain to find a new route to Asia. He
never made it to Asia, but he did make it to the
new world. Although he is known for discovering
the new world, Columbus was not the first to
land in the Americas. He made four trips to the
and told everyone about the new land.
1ST READ
( READ TO, OR ON THEIR OWN)
• Read the passage all the way through.
• Partner Talk
• Model and set expectations for partner
sharing. ..Turn to your elbow partner and talk
about your what you read.
• Listen for level of engagement.
• Share Out
2nd Reading
(read with a pencil)
• Read the passage again, stopping to model
confusing parts or comprehension. Model how
to ..read with a pencil. Pick one or two code to
practice.
• Example: ..I didn’t know that queen of Spain
• gave Christopher Columbus the money for his
• journey, so I am going to write an exclamation
• mark next to this sentence... New information
• Example: ..I am not sure what the word “known”
means, so I am going to put a question mark next to it.
After 2nd read, ask some text
dependent questions.
Such as: Why do we celebrate Columbus Day ?
Where was Columbus trying to go when he
found America? “
Why do you think the Queen choose Columbus
to make the voyage? “I could infer”
What year was it when Columbus was asked to
travel?
Text Evidence
Sentence starters
Have students get used to answering with these starters…
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The author said...
On page ___, the author said ____
According to the text...
Based on what I read...
The illustration shows...
I can infer from...
For example...
Sample questions …… (text dependent)
• What is the main idea of this passage?
• Retell the facts you learned about Columbus Day?
• How did the author help us understand what explorer
means?
What did the author feel was important for the reader to
• know?
• Why do you think the Queen of Spain gave Christopher
Columbus the money for his journey?
• Do you think the author did a good job explaining why
we
• celebrate Columbus Day?
Final reading
• Read the passage again.
• Reading response
• Complete the Graphic Organizer- Question It
or
• answer the questions who, what, when,
where,
• how, and why in reading journals.
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
WHO?
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHEN?
WHY?
HOW?
Journal Response
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What would
Columbus have
written about his
trips to the Queen ?