What should it look like?
What happens…
 Beyond McKenna/Walpole phonics instruction?
 In between McKenna/Walpole phonics cycles?
Fluency and Comprehension
 Good introduction to “real” reading.
 Designed to build accuracy, rate, and
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expression using real texts.
Lots of teacher support
Reading and re-reading!
Comprehension checks
Multi-syllabic instruction
Fluency & Comprehension
Lessons Include…
 Instruction of Multisyllabic words
 Review what we’ve read, prepare to read the
next section.
 Choral or echo reading first time through
 Whisper or partner read second time through
 Comprehension questions
Vocabulary &
Comprehension Lessons
 This level is the goal we have for all readers, to
reach this place where they can read with
comprehension, discuss and write about what
they’ve read, and go deeper with
comprehension skills and strategies!
 Pick great books!
 How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction
by McKenna/Walpole is a great resource!
“ Let’s get this party started! ”
“Can we just read the book now?”
Joey Grade 3
“Why do we always have to talk about the
book?”
Jacob Grade 4
“Are we ever gonna read?”
Anonymous
“I want to make the book as easy
for you to read and understand
as I can.”
I want to stack the deck so
everyone is a winner.
What counts as
pre-reading?
 Any activity that
helps students
understand what
they are about to
read
Pre-reading activities
are designed to:
 Get students excited about (or at least interested
in) reading the text
 Give students a sense of how the text is organized
 Give students “tips” before reading
 Build confidence
 Bring forth prior knowledge that is relevant to the
text and access students’ schemata (“say
whaaat?”)
What is a schema?
Everybody’s got one!!!
(actually more than one- schemata)
Your schema is your knowledge of the world
and how that knowledge is organized in your
brain.
There’s more…
 As experiences happen and new knowledge is
encountered, schemata are added to or modified.
 So, our job in pre-reading instruction is to help
students access existing understanding, so they can
weave in new information and create a new schema.
The Vocabulary and Comp lesson plan from McKenna
/Walpole allocates 4-5 minutes to build background
knowledge
and introduce unfamiliar vocabulary
Tick, Tick, Tick
…and 4-5 minutes of
Teacher modeling to
Provide focus for reading or
listening
Examples of “teacher talk” can
be found in the McKenna/Walpole
“Rainbow Book”…
…and can be modeled by your friendly
neighborhood Instructional coach.
Vocab & Comp – Before
Reading
 Introduce the book: build background, present
vocabulary needed to understand text.
 For Fiction Selections: Use front cover and
illustrations to make predictions and set a
purpose for reading.
 For Nonfiction Selections: Describe text
features; use them to make predictions about
content and set a purpose for reading.
Vocab & Comp – During
Reading
Focus students on a comprehension strategy to be
used while reading the text:
Predicting
Monitor/Clarify
Evaluate
Questioning
Inferring
Analyzing
Main Idea/Details
Story Structure
Synthesizing
Fact/Opinion
Cause/Effect
Compare/Contrast
Text/Graphic Features
Understand Characters
Sequence of Events
Vocab & Comp – During
Reading
 Students are to whisper or partner read the part of the
book assigned .
 They will read with their purpose in mind!
 Students can go to their desks to read while the teacher
meets with another group.
 For a very low group, or for Kindergarten or 1st grade,
the teacher may read the text instead of the students –
this would be helpful for practicing comprehension
strategies or building background, but shouldn’t be used
all the time. Students need to be reading text, also.
Vocab & Comp – after
reading
 Review comprehension strategy and purpose
for reading – “debrief,” with students
expressing their thoughts. A graphic organizer
may be useful to reinforce the strategy used in
reading.
 Ask specific questions to see that students
understood the text and applied the
comprehension strategy.
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
 After Reading – choose from:
 • review the comprehension strategy – restate (or
have students restate) the use of the strategy –
 refer to (look at ) the diagram or graphic organizer
you used for this book
 • for longer books, review what you’ve learned or
read about so far, then wonder about what you
 might learn in the next section
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
 review vocabulary
* nonfiction – review content vocabulary
* fiction – review / introduce Tier 2 words
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
 review the text structure (pg. 129)
* sequential
* topic-subtopic
*simple listing
*comparison-contrast
* problem-solution
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
 Ask questions that prompt children to think
actively about the text
Vocab & Comp – After
Reading
Follow-up Activities
Journaling
Graphic Organizers
Art
Drama
Retellings
Connect to Content Area
Projects and Presentations (particularly after a
unit)
 BUT spend more time reading and writing than
on “extra” projects!
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