The Importance of Reading Science Non-Fiction
For K-3 Students
Using Science, Talents, and Abilitie
Students ~ Promoting Learn
Underrepresented Stud
Mary Ruth Coleman, Elizabeth Mallegni
Jennifer Job, & Sneha Shah-Coltrane
U-STARS~PLUS
© 2011 CEC
Using Science, Talents, and Abilities to Recognize Students~
Promoting Learning for Underrepresented Students
Module 3
U-STARS~PLUS “The Big Star”
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U-STARS~PLUS
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The Heart of U-STARS~PLUS
Bringing Out the Best in Student Potential
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U-STARS~PLUS
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To appropriately recognize potential
in students,
1. A teacher must know what to look for.
2. Classroom responses should support highend learning.
3. The classroom climate should be
emotionally supportive, so children will
show us their best.
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U-STARS~PLUS
Gifted and Talented Programming
Allen-Field School
Module 3
“Every child is special if we create conditions
in which that child can be a specialist within a
specialty group” Renzulli, 1994
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U-STARS~PLUS
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School vision
Allen-Field is a place of excellence where
every student will be equipped with 21st
century skills to succeed in middle school and
beyond.
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Allen-Field is committed to:
• Teaching ways of thinking. Creativity, critical thinking,
problem-solving, decision-making and learning
• Modeling and teaching ways of working. Communication and
collaboration
• Teaching tools for working. Information and communication
technology (ICT) and information literacy
• Teaching skills for living in the world. Citizenship, life and career,
and personal and social responsibility
© 2011 CEC
U-STARS~PLUS
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Allen-Field is a High Needs Urban School
Our Data Shows:
1. Current
enrollment shows
a decrease of
student
enrollment since
the 2010-2011
school year.
2. Increase of %SWD
by 5.5.
3. Increase of %
Free/Red by 2.3
4. Increase of 3.8%
of African Amer.
students
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Our Current Reading Data
65% of our K5-5th
grade students and
ELL students with
proficiency level of 3
or higher are
performing below
target.
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Our Goal
• Allen-Field School will reform its current
bilingual gifted and talented program to
become a School Wide Enrichment school.
It will utilize U-Stars Plus student and
parent Reading activities to provide high
end rigorous learning experiences to ALL
students.
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Differentiation for High-End
Learning
Working to adjust the teaching/learning
activities to address individual learning
needs
Coleman, M. R. (1998). Are we serious about meeting students’
needs? Gifted Child Today, 21(1), 40–41.
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Ways to Modify the Curriculum
for Gifted Learners
1. Acceleration – adjusting the pace of learning
2. Enrichment – allowing for more depth and
exploration
3. Sophistication – bringing more complexity and
abstraction to the subject
4. Novelty – providing opportunities not generally
offered in the curriculum
Gallagher, J., & Gallagher, S. (1994). Teaching the gifted child (4th ed.). Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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Toolkit of strategies for differentiation in
the general education classroom
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Curriculum compacting
Tiered assignments
Learning centers/stations
Independent/small group contracts and
projects
• Questioning techniques/effective
questioning to promote higher order
thinking skills
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Making More Connections!
Reading in the content areas is
a major focus of the common
core standards! Nonfiction
reading in science is exciting!
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U-STARS~PLUS
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U-STARS~PLUS Nonfiction Connections
Building content area reading skills in Science
Book summaries (Grades K–3)
Concept maps
Discussion questions and activities
based on Bloom’s Taxonomy
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Reading Nonfiction
Thank you to Jennifer Job for her contributions to this work!
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Importance of Nonfiction Reading
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© 2011 CEC
Activating Prior Knowledge More Directly
Exploring Interests Real World
Providing Explicit Instruction
Building Academic Vocabulary
Enhancing Higher Level Thinking
Strengthening Expository Writing Skills
U-STARS~PLUS
Module 3
Building Vocabulary
• Builds Academic Vocabulary/Knowledge
• Facilities Discussion of Information
• Introduces Words like “species,” “heard,”
“migration”
• Provides Authentic use of Words in Context
• Uses Pictures, Graphics, & Text to Show
Meanings
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Expository Writing
• Organization Features (heading,
glossaries, graphs)
• Text Structures (chronological,
categorization, characterization, causeeffect, problem-solving)
• Visual Features (pictures, charts, graphics)
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Nonfiction Reading Standards
(review handout and discuss)
• Why is reading nonfiction so important?
• How do these standards enhance
“explicit” teaching?
• In what ways will these skills be useful
through out life?
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Fiction vs. Nonfiction
• Identifying Vocabulary
• Predicting of Plot
Development
• Retelling/Restating
• Summarizing
• Recognizing Themes
• Attending to Details
• Identifying Characters
(roles)
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• Developing Vocabulary
• Categorizing/Classifying
• Activating and Building
Prior Knowledge
• Identifying Main
Ideas/Support
• Interpreting Visuals
• Developing Questions
• Connecting Ideas Across
Texts
U-STARS~PLUS
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Reading Nonfiction is also Different
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Skimming
Researching/Inquiry Projects
Seeking Answer to a Specific Question
Looking for Key Ideas or Support
Building a “Case”
Connecting with other Content Areas
U-STARS~PLUS
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Strategies for Nonfiction
• Improve Understanding Before Reading
(vocabulary, contextually information,
preview pictures/graphics, explicit
teaching/background information)
• Check Comprehension (SQ3R)
• Note Taking and Study Strategies
• Concept Mapping with Students
(Ciullo & Billingsley, 2014)
© 2011 CEC
U-STARS~PLUS
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Questions for Nonfiction
• “Right There” Facts – directly in the text
• “Think & Search” – may be in two or more
places in the text
• “The Author and You” – requires judgment,
opinion/conclusion supported by text
(Ciullo & Billingsley, 2014)
© 2011 CEC
U-STARS~PLUS
Module 3
Creating Your Own Connections
• Select your Book
• What are the major science connections?
• Which New Generation Science Standards
are addressed?
• Which language arts standards are
addressed (nonfiction)?
© 2011 CEC
U-STARS~PLUS
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USTARS~PLUS
Lesson Outline: Nonfiction
Title:
Lexical Score:
Author:
Pages:
Illustrator:
Translations:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Major Topics:
Generalization:
Concept Map:
U-STARS Fiction Books:
National Science Standards:
Common Core Standards:
Literacy:
Math:
Summary of Book (focus on content learned, key facts, etc.):
Thinking Questions Based on Blooms:
Knowledge/Remember –
Comprehension/Understand –
Application/Apply –
Analysis/Analyze –
Synthesis/Create –
Evaluation/Evaluate –
Follow-up Activities
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U-STARS~PLUS
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Appendix D:
Blooms Words
Original and Revised Lists
Coleman, M.R., Shah-Coltrane, S. (2011). U-STARS~PLUS: Professional
development kit. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.
© 2011 CEC
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Taxonomy of Cognitive Thinking
Domain
Knowledge/
Remember
Definition
Keywords
Assessment
Ability to remember
something
previously
learned/recall
information
Tell, recite, list,
memorize,
remember, define,
locate, state, who,
when, where, how,
what, identify, select
from list
Workbooks, quizzes,
tests, vocabulary,
timelines, fact cards,
recitations, lists,
matching, multiple
choice, T/F
Restate, give
examples, explain,
summarize, translate,
show, symbols,
predict, define,
describe, illustrate,
paraphrase,
categorize,
extrapolate, predict,
map-match
Drawing, diagram,
response to
question, revision,
basic project report,
sequencing,
translate, define,
establish categories,
make predictions
based on
information given
Retrieve/Identify
Comprehension/
Understand
Demonstrate basic
understanding of
concepts/curriculum
Translate to other
words/retell in own
words
Construct meaning
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Taxonomy of Cognitive Thinking
Domain
Application/ Apply
Definition
Transfer knowledge
learned in one situation
to another, applying
information
Use information
Analysis/Analyze
Understand how parts
relate to a whole
Understand structure
and motive
Note fallacies
Identify structure and
purpose
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Keywords
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Assessment
Demonstrate, use
guides/maps/charts,
make/cook, interpret,
predict, relate,
simulate, organize,
develop
Model, display, collect,
written product,
recipe/cooked
product,
artwork/crafts,
demonstration, handson demonstration, use
information in context
or real world situation
Investigate, classify,
outline, categorize,
review, compare,
contracts, solve, survey,
diagram, infer,
prioritize, discriminate,
select, focus on main
ideas, deconstruct
Survey, editorial,
questionnaire, plan,
solution, report,
review prospectus,
hypothesis, model,
create an outline,
compare and contrast
chart
U-STARS~PLUS
Module 3
Taxonomy of Cognitive Thinking
Domain
Synthesis/Create
Definition
Re-form individual
parts to make a new
whole
Create something new
Evaluation/Evaluate
Judge the value of
something vis-à-vis
criteria, support
judgment
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Keywords
Assessment
Compose, design,
invent, create,
conclude, construct,
propose, forecast,
collect, rearrange parts,
imagine, extend,
hypothesize, construct
Lesson plan, song,
poem, story,
advertisement,
invention, expert
project, experiment
with scientific process,
present new ideas
Judge, evaluate, give
opinion, viewpoint,
rate, prioritize, choose,
recommend, critique,
support, challenge,
discuss, monitor, test,
set criteria
Decisions, rank,
rating/grades,
editorial, debate,
critique,
defense/verdict, build
criteria
See: Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives, handbook I: The cognitive
domain. New York: McKay.
Anderson, L.W. & Krathwohl, D. R. (et. al.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and
Assessing. New York: Longman.
© 2011 CEC
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Summary
• Nonfiction is part of everyday life and everyone
must be competent in reading it.
• Young children are very capable of understanding
and enjoying nonfiction.
• For advanced readers, nonfiction provides an
appropriate venue for reading.
• For struggling readers, nonfiction provides
additional motivation for reading in areas of
interest.
© 2011 CEC
U-STARS~PLUS