Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction
 Use a conceptual theme
 Connect Inquiry (Social Studies, Science, Math, etc.) with
Literacy Instruction
 Emphasize motivational guidelines such as autonomysupport, collaboration, and support for reading efficacy;
 And directly teaching important reading comprehension
strategies
Begin with 6 weeks of science study, for example, “Birds Around the
World” conceptual theme studying feeding, communication,
locomotion, respiration, defense, predation, competition,
reproduction and adaptation to the physical environment—all
central to ecological systems. Within your conceptual theme, engage
students in four major phases of learning:
1. Observe and personalize
a. Observe birds in their natural habitats
b. Personalize their learning goals by asking questions that
pique their interests
2. Search and retrieve
a. Search for answers to their questions
 A walk in the local woodlands
 Multiple observations and mini-experiments with
bird feathers
 Owl pellet dissection
b. set personal learning goals about birds around the world
c. link to reading materials by using five class or team sets
of books and five individual books about owls to connect
their curiosities and hypotheses about owl pellet
dissection
d. help students gain conceptual knowledge both from
reading and from experimentation
e. understand that reading is the fundamental connection
between their curiosities and their growth
3. Comprehend and integrate
a. Activate background knowledge before reading about
birds and observing birds in their natural habitat
b. Teach questioning skills and search strategies (children’s
desires to learn about personal queries about bird
survival)
c. Use instructional activities to help children observe,
question, search, and retrieve important information
and teach children to:
 Summarize
 Organize graphically
 Story structuring
d. Use the above strategies in multiple settings, with texts in
multiple genres and levels and observe that children
 Become facile with strategies and competent
 Understand and use the appropriate use of each
strategy, and connect and build metacognitive
understanding relative to growing competence & use
(feedback!)
 Learn to be independent and self initiating in use of
strategies
4. Communicate to others
a. Express knowledge to others and relate to personal
learning
b. Develop charts and illustrations to depict important
concepts (feeding, respiration, etc.)
c. Use walls and bulletin boards with descriptions of
essential reading strategies children use: summarizing
organizing graphically, story structuring.
d. Use word walls and concept maps to expand learning
(cycle of reading strategy instruction, science inquiry activities,
motivational support, integrating reading/science experiences)
Reading Strategy Instruction
1) Activating background knowledge (relate personal
experiences to stories and informational texts on birds
around the world
2) Questioning, asking multiple questions to initiate reading
Science Inquiry activities
1) Observe and record information about birds in local habitats
2) Field trip to local woods to observe plants animals, and
populations
3) Design investigation (pose hypotheses and owl feeding and
design owl pellet investigations)
Motivational support
1) Support students’ interacting with the real world (support
students in noticing birds and bird features that are new or
interesting to stimulate curiosity for reading)
2) Support choice (choose three favorite questions for class
discussion and posting; choose and take ownership for
favorite sub-theme to study)
3) Maintain and pique curiosity (Would an owl be able to live in
the arctic? Would a penguin be able to live in our schoolyard
woods? We will study different places or habitats where birds
live (deserts, polar areas, and in our own back yards). Think
about how plants and animals survive in our own back yard—
walk through, collect, take notes, and gather materials to
bring back to the classroom; build a terrarium, share prior
knowledge, ask personal questions; support with books to
expand thinking and questioning—Owl Moon, how was our
experience similar or different?)
Integrating Reading and Science
1) Relating: relate birds in stories to field observations of birds
and their surroundings
2) Comparing and Contrasting: identify questions that can be
answered through reading and science observations.
3) Motivate: Students are typically interested in things that they
know a little something about; arouse interests to develop
long-term motivations for reading; use real-world
interactions, concrete experiences; aspire children to learn
more about what they observe through reading.
4) Support: Children are the directors of the curriculum; student
questions become the learning goals; set purposes for
reading; questions are the springboard for learning as
interest and prior knowledge merge together.
5) Extend: Teachers scaffold, support and direct observation,
how to record data, how to interpret information, supply
resources and tools to guide discovery; scaffold questioning
and personalization; modeling and scaffolding to help students
write high-level conceptual questions; and use team-mates to
foster more questioning, searching, and discovery.
Search and Retrieve:
1) Searching: Gather information from multiple texts and media
to answer personal questions
2) Collecting Data: Dissect owl pellet and observe bird feathers
3) Expand Knowledge Goals and expand reading; Show mastery
of knowledge related to personal questions
4) Connect to Interests, notice similarities across experiences
and reading stories and informational books
5) Search and Retrieve scientific information, integrating
science observations, experimentation, and reading (for
example, it takes a great deal of experience for children to
learn the difference between a table of contents and an index,
and persistence for students to become self-initiating in using
appropriate text features in appropriate reading situations)
6) Develop reading plans and identify texts and the sections of
text with are goal-relevant to answer questions, and search
for information and collect scientific data within texts.
7) Search through text to increase comprehension—children
with advanced searching skills have better comprehension!
Comprehend and Integrate
1) Summarizing: Express gist of informational and literary texts;
write summaries of several books.
2) Organizing Graphically: Construct concept map about one
bird’s survival. Use up to nine ecological concepts containg
links and relationships
3) Representing data: Make histogram to show owl feeding
preferences
4) Organizing Investigation: Make poster of owl pellet study,
showing scientific method and conclusions.
5) Using Interesting Texts: Use multiple texts and internet
sources to find information about a bird of choice
6) Collaborating: In small groups, exchange ideas and expertise
on habitats, birds and how they survive. Exchange literacy
knowledge regarding strategy use.
7) Contrasting Domain Learning: Distinguish text and science
avenue to learn about ecology and populations.
8) Combining Conceptual Learning: Merge results from bird
investigations with knowledge gained from books.
9) Comprehending and Integrating: Competence in
comprehension and integration is essential to intrinsic
motivation; reciprocal relationship between understanding
and enjoying text; students who struggle with understanding
the meaning of what they read cannot enjoy subtleties of
meaning, pursue knowledge, or improve stance toward
reading.
10)
Build Curiosity: The goal is to become curious about text
information and extend personal knowledge, and to express
knowledge in socially satisfying ways.
Communicating with Others
1) Becoming an expert
2) Summarizing & Presenting information
3) Explaining concepts