Spend two days on each lesson to give scholars practice.
Lesson 1: Nonfiction readers always read the title and think about the title as they read.
Lesson 2: Nonfiction readers learn from the text and text features.
Lesson 3: Nonfiction readers stop at the end of each page and think about the most important thing they’ve learned from reading it.
Lesson 4: Nonfiction readers ask themselves questions as they read, and they read on to find the answers.
Lesson 5: Nonfiction readers understand the whole book by asking, “What is the main thing this book is teaching me?”
Lesson 1
What Does Success Look Like?
Nonfiction readers always read the title and think about the title as they read. Success is when scholars read the title, consider what they might learn before reading, and think about the meaning of the title as they read.
Lesson 1
Engage — 1 minute
Titles are telling! We always look at a book’s title to get an idea of what we might learn from reading the book. Keep the title in mind as you read to help you identify the most important information and ideas in the text—the title is key to figuring out the big idea.
Direct Instruction (Model/Practice) — 5–7 minutes
- Model choosing a nonfiction book that interests you (one that you have NOT read aloud). Read the title and study the cover, thinking aloud about what you may learn from this book. Keep the title in mind as you read aloud a few pages, and talk about how what you’ve read connects to the title.
- Read a few more pages. Scholars keep the title in their minds as you read.
- Scholars turn and talk about how the title connects to what was read. Listen in to understand how well scholars are able to connect what was read to the title.
- Briefly share out two scholar responses.
- Set the expectation that scholars have two eyes reading, two hands on the book, and two feet on the floor during Independent Reading.
Independent Reading/Targeted Teaching Time — 25 minutes
- Scholars must sustain focused reading for a minimum of 25 minutes. Get them excited about getting lost in their books and the luxury of reading time!
- Whether you are flying solo or teaching as part of a duo, start by making sure all kids are focused and the room has a hushed tone. Play classical or instrumental jazz music, but the volume should be low.
- Narrate scholars who are following through on your expectations, such as staying focused on their books, or who are demonstrating strong reading habits, such as always making mind movies as they read.
- Spend 2–3 minutes working individually with 3–5 scholars. Ask each scholar to identify his reading level goal and what’s holding him back. Kids should know and articulate their goals!
- Listen to scholars read, assessing their struggles and level of understanding. Do they need to envision more? Do they need to stop after each paragraph and think about what the big idea is? Do they need to work on their fluency? Do they stop to figure out the meaning of unknown vocabulary words? Is their oral language development lagging?
- Model for scholars and give them strategies to tackle their goals.
- Listen to scholars as they read, and hold them accountable for applying the strategies.
Partner Share — 3–5 minutes
- When the timer is up, reset expectations for partner talk.
- Each scholar shares the title of the book he or she chose and how the title connected to what he or she read.
- Listen in to determine if scholars are mastering the lesson objective. Look for a scholar who can model his thinking during the Whole-Class Share.
Whole-Class Share — 5 minutes
- Bring scholars together at the rug and reinforce today’s objective.
- Choose a scholar to share the title of his book and how the title connects to what he read. Have scholars evaluate which great reading tactic the scholar used.
Lesson 2
What Does Success Look Like?
Nonfiction readers learn from the text and text features.
Success is when scholars glean information from both the text and text features on each page.
Lesson 2
Engage — 1 minute
Nonfiction books are exciting because they contain so much information, and they present it in fun, different ways! We have to be on the lookout for information not only in the text but also in the pictures, graphs, tables, glossary, and table of contents—the text features!
Direct Instruction (Model/Practice) — 5–7 minutes
- Choose a nonfiction book that contains text features; make sure it’s one that you have read aloud and with which your scholars are familiar. Model reading a page and then looking at the various text features to learn all the information you can from the text.
- Use a bubble map graphic organizer to take notes about the topic. Model flexible thinking. Include the idea in the center first and then add the details, OR write the details learned and then use the details to develop a big idea. Scholars will do the same as they read today.
- Note: Scholars will use the information in their notes to write nonfiction reports about their topics during their writing time.
- Read another page from the same text. Place the text under the ELMO and give scholars a few silent seconds to study the text and text features.
- Scholars turn and talk to share with their partners what they learned from the page using both the text and text features. Listen in to understand how well scholars are able to use all the information on the page to learn about a topic.
- Briefly share out two scholar responses. Add to the graphic organizer.
- Set the expectation that scholars have two eyes reading, two hands on the book, and two feet on the floor during Independent Reading.
Independent Reading/Targeted Teaching Time — 25 minutes
- Scholars must sustain focused reading for a minimum of 25 minutes. Get them excited about getting lost in their books and the luxury of reading time!
- When kids are focused and the room has a hushed tone, spend 2–3 minutes working individually with 3–5 scholars. Ask each scholar to identify her reading level goal and what’s holding her back.
- Listen to scholars read, and assess their struggles and level of understanding.
- Model and give scholars strategies to tackle their goals. Listen to scholars read, and hold them accountable for applying the strategies.
Partner Share — 3–5 minutes
- When the timer is up, reset expectations for partner talk.
- Scholars share what they learned from the text and text features.
- Listen in to determine if scholars are mastering the lesson objective. Look for a scholar who can model her thinking during the Whole-Class Share.
Whole-Class Share — 5 minutes
- Bring scholars together at the rug and reinforce today’s objective.
- Choose a scholar to share what she learned from the text and text features, and have scholars evaluate which great reading tactic she used.
Lesson 3
What Does Success Look Like?
Nonfiction readers stop at the end of each page and think about the most important thing they’ve learned from reading it.
Success is when scholars can retell the most important thing they’ve learned on each page.
Lesson 3
Engage — 1 minute
To make sure we’re retaining all the wonderful new information we’re learning about our topic, one of the most important things we must do is stop and think after each page.
Direct Instruction (Model/ Practice) — 5–7 minutes
- Using the same book you modeled with yesterday, read aloud a page (including the text features). After reading, pause and retell 1–2 sentences about the most important thing you’ve learned from that page.
- Use a bubble map graphic organizer to take notes about the topic. Scholars will do the same as they read today.
- Read another page from the same text. Give scholars a few silent seconds to study the text and text features and to think about the most important thing they’ve learned.
- Scholars turn and talk to share with their partners the most important thing they’ve learned from that page. Listen in to understand how well scholars are able to comprehend and consolidate the information on a page.
- Briefly share out two scholar responses. Add to the graphic organizer.
- Set the expectation that scholars have two eyes reading, two hands on the book, and two feet on the floor during Independent Reading.
Independent Reading/Targeted Teaching Time — 25 minutes
- Scholars must sustain focused reading for a minimum of 25 minutes. Get them excited about getting lost in their books and the luxury of reading time!
- When kids are focused and the room has a hushed tone, spend 2–3 minutes working individually with 3–5 scholars. Ask each scholar to identify his reading level goal and what’s holding him back.
- Listen to scholars read, and assess their struggles and level of understanding.
- Model and give scholars strategies to tackle their goals. Listen to scholars read, and hold them accountable for applying the strategies.
Partner Share — 3-5 minutes
- When the timer is up, reset expectations for partner talk.
- Scholars choose the most interesting page from their nonfiction texts and retell the most important thing they’ve learned from reading the page.
- Listen in to determine if scholars are mastering the lesson objective. Look for a scholar who can model his thinking during the Whole-Class Share.
Whole-Class Share — 5 minutes
- Bring scholars together at the rug and reinforce today’s objective.
- Choose a scholar to retell the most important thing he learned from a page of his nonfiction text, and have scholars evaluate which great reading tactic the scholar used.
Lesson 4
What Does Success Look Like?
Nonfiction readers ask themselves questions as they read, and read on to find the answers. Success is when scholars ask themselves questions about what they’re reading, then continue to read in order to answer those questions.
Lesson 4
Engage — 1 minute
When we read about topics we’re dying to know more about, we learn more and hunger for more— our curiosity grows!
Direct Instruction (Model/Practice) — 5–7 minutes
- Choose a nonfiction book that you have read aloud and with which scholars are familiar.
Read a few pages, then pause to model asking a question aloud. Think aloud about how
you’ll keep this in the back of your mind as you read on to find the answer. Briefly read on to see if you can figure out the answer. Mention that the answer may not be in this book, but it could be in another book about this topic.
- Use a bubble map graphic organizer to take notes about the topic. Scholars will do the same as they read today.
- Read a few more pages from your book, then have scholars turn and talk to pose a question they have about this topic. Briefly share out two scholars’ questions.
- Read a couple more pages. Scholars turn and talk to discuss whether their questions were answered. Remind scholars that sometimes questions are answered right away and sometimes they’re not. You may have to keep searching in other books on the topic! Add new information to the graphic organizer.
- Set the expectation that scholars have two eyes reading, two hands on the book, and two feet on the floor during Independent Reading.
Independent Reading/Targeted Teaching Time — 25 minutes
- Scholars must sustain focused reading for a minimum of 25 minutes. Get them excited about getting lost in their books and the luxury of reading time!
- When kids are focused and the room has a hushed tone, spend 2–3 minutes working individually with 3-5 scholars. Ask each scholar to identify her reading level goal and what’s holding her back.
- Listen to scholars read, and assess their struggles and level of understanding.
- Model and give scholars strategies to tackle their goals. Listen to scholars read, and hold them accountable for applying the strategies.
Partner Share — 3–5 minutes
- When the timer is up, reset expectations for partner talk.
- Scholars share a question they had as they read and discuss whether they later found the answer in the book or in a different book about the same topic.
- Listen in to determine if scholars are mastering the lesson objective. Look for scholars who can model their thinking during the Whole-Class Share.
Whole-Class Share — 5 minutes
- Bring scholars together at the rug and reinforce today’s objective.
- Choose scholars to share questions they had as they read and whether they later found the answer in the book or in a different book about the same topic.
- Scholars evaluate which great reading tactic the scholars used.
Lesson 5
What Does Success Look Like?
Nonfiction readers understand the whole book by asking, “What is the main thing this book is teaching me?”
Success is when scholars consider the main thing the author is teaching them to identify the book’s big idea.
Lesson 5
Engage — 1 minute
As first-graders, scholars will read so many books! After reading a book, we can’t just immediately close it and move on to the next one. Taking time to think about what we’ve read helps us understand so we don’t forget the new information we’ve learned!
Direct Instruction (Model/Practice) — 5–7 minutes
- Using a book you’ve previously modeled with, flip through the pages, thinking aloud about what you’ve learned and the main thing the book taught you. Review the notes collected in your graphic organizer. Model connecting the details and ideas in the graphic organizer to explain the main thing the author is teaching readers. Scholars will do the same as they read today.
- Put another book you’ve previously modeled with under the ELMO. Flip through the pages to remind scholars what the text is about. Then ask them to think about how they would answer the question, “What is the main thing this book is teaching me?”
- Scholars turn and talk to share with their partners 1-2 sentences on what the big idea of the book is. Listen in to understand how well scholars consolidate all the facts and details into a main idea.
- Briefly share out two scholar responses.
- Set the expectation that scholars have two eyes reading, two hands on the book, and two feet on the floor during Independent Reading.
Independent Reading/Targeted Teaching Time — 25 minutes
- Scholars must sustain focused reading for a minimum of 25 minutes. Get them excited about getting lost in their books and the luxury of reading time!
- When kids are focused and the room has a hushed tone, spend 2–3 minutes working individually with 3–5 scholars. Ask each scholar to identify his reading level goal and what’s holding him back.
- Listen to scholars read, and assess their struggles and level of understanding.
- Model and give scholars strategies to tackle their goals. Listen to scholars read, and hold them accountable for applying the strategies.
Partner Share — 3–5 minutes
- When the timer is up, reset expectations for partner talk.
- Scholars each share the book they read and state the main thing this book taught them.
- Listen in to determine if scholars are mastering the lesson objective. Look for a scholar who can model her thinking during the Whole-Class Share.
Whole-Class Share — 5 minutes
- Bring scholars together at the rug and reinforce today’s objective.
- Choose a scholar to share the book she read, stating the main thing this book taught her, and have scholars evaluate which great reading tactic she used.
