kansas curricular standard for -...

Kansas Curricular Standard for Reading Education

Approved July, 2003

www.ksde.org 120 SW 10th Avenue Topeka, Kansas 66612-1182 785-296-3201 785-296-7933 fax 785-296-6338 TTY

An Equal Employment/Educational Opportunity AgencyThe Kansas State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: KSDE General Counsel 120 SE 10th Ave. Topeka, KS 66612 785-296-3204.

Introduction

PurposeThis document is a revision of the reading and literature standards, benchmarks, and indicators for the Kansas Curricular Standards for Communication Arts (1999). This document will assist Kansas teachers in planning local curricula and assessment for reading, writing, and literature, and will serve as the basis for the development of state assessments in reading and writing. However, this document is not intended to be a state-mandated curriculum. Local curricula should further refine and shape the way that students demonstrate their development in the communication arts. This document was developed with an understanding that all students will be given an equal opportunity to become competent and strategic readers and writers.

A two-column format was adopted to provide teachers, parents, and community with a “user-friendly” document which includes grade-level indicators and one or more instructional examples for each indicator. The instructional examples are not to be used as the sole method for instruction and should not be used exclusively in student instruction. Student mastery of the indicators should not be achieved with a few isolated lessons, but with a variety of well-planned, well-developed, and research-based methods of instruction.

Kansas Reading AssessmentBeginning in the 2005/2006 school year, the Kansas State Reading Assessments will be given yearly, in the spring, at grades, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and at the “end of opportunity to learn”(OTL) in high school (grades 9-11; but no later than grade 11).

“End of opportunity to learn” was selected for the assessment model at grades 9-11 to allow teachers the opportunity to design interventions for those students not performing satisfactorily on the benchmarks and indicators. In addition, this model should provide flexibility for schools to ensure that students have the opportunity to learn before assessments are given.

Locally selected assessment tools will continue to be required. Districts may choose to test students at either kindergarten, first, or second grades. These tools are an designed to diagnose a child’s strengths and weaknesses in reading. The test will assist the teacher to develop appropriate interventions for students performing below established acceptable proficiency levels.

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DefinitionsThe following are used for the three levels of the document:

Standard: A curricular standard is a general statement of what a student should know and be able to do in academic subjects.

Benchmarks: A specific statement of what a student should know and be able to do at a specified time in his/her schooling.

Benchmarks are used to measure a student’s progress towards meeting the standard. Statements outlining the specifics of what a student should know and be able to do can be found directly following the benchmark. The benchmarks emphasize a focus on alphabetics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, literacy concepts, writing, and research.

For the purposes of this document, benchmarks are defined for grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and grades 9-12 (cluster), with the recommendation that the Kansas Reading Assessments be administered yearly at grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-11 (at end of opportunity to learn), Kansas Writing Assessments at grades 5, 8, and 11 and a local Individual Diagnostic Reading Assessment at grade 2.

Indicators: A statement of the knowledge or skills which a student demonstrates in order to meet the benchmark. Indicators are critical to understanding the standards and benchmarks and are intended to be met by all students. The indicators listed under each benchmark are not listed in priority order, nor should the list be considered as all-inclusive.

Teachers should pay special attention to the benchmarks preceding the designated grade level being taught when a student is not performing and should also pay special attention to the benchmarks following the designated grade level being taught when a student is performing above the grade-level requirements. Special attention has been given to ensure content is identified at least one year before it has been identified for assessment. In order to ensure that students are afforded the

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opportunity to learn for the assessment, the indicators should be taught at the designated grade levels.

The Kansas Assessments will be composed of items designed to measure the knowledge or skill listed in the indicator. The following coding system will be used to assist teachers with assessment priorities:

Marked Indicators: ▲ marked indicator: item selected for state assessment teacher will receive a student report from this indicator up to 4 -8 items will be written for this indicator there are no longer double deltas in the document

Small Deltas: ▲ appear within a list of items; distinguishes the items within the list to be tested

Kindergarten - First Grade Marked Indicators: these indicators will be used to build assessments for schools with various primary level

configurations that do not have a state reading assessment this new assessment will be the schools' way to meet the accountability requirements

for No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

Certain words are italicized throughout the document. Definitions for the italicized words are listed in the glossary.

Extended Standards:The extended standards, benchmarks, indicators, and clarifying examples are intended to be used in developing curricular materials for students with disabilities and/or who are eligible for the alternate assessment. These standards are designed for students who require substantial adjustments to the general curricular, yet allow that curricular to maintain a clear connection to the general education standards. The extended benchmarks, indicators, and examples have been developed to provide high expectations for these students.

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As these extended standards were being developed, the Kansas Curricular Standards for Language Arts were followed as closely as possible. The four basic standards appear here. After careful consideration, a fifth standard was added. That standard addresses communication for the purposes of social interaction.

One difference in the extended reading and writing standards, from the general education standards, is that grade levels have not been specified for the indicators under each benchmark. Rather, the benchmarks and the indicators have been organized in a hierarchical fashion (where possible), reflecting the wide variation in performance expectations for these students. To understand the reason for this change, it is helpful to compare this approach with the one used in the general education standards. The general education standards establish challenging performance expectations through the use of indicators that become increasingly more difficult for higher grade levels. The state assessments are based on these indicators, resulting in a report of the percentage of students who successfully meet or do not meet the levels established for each grade level.

Because of the extremely wide range of abilities of students who are eligible to take the alternate assessment, it is not possible to establish grade-specific expectations and still maintain high standards. Instead, a range of indicators has been developed, which describe possible performance expectations for all of these students across grade or age levels. The range of indicators includes some of the indicators established for the general education standards.

Modified Indicators:Information regarding modified indicators will be written at a later date.

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Please be aware that pages 1 – 19 of the Kansas Curricular Standards for Reading Education

document are part of the Kansas Extended Reading Standards which can be found in its revised form at

http://www.kansped.org/ksde/assmts/ksalt/ksalt.html

http://www.kansped.org/ksde/assmts/ksalt/ksalt.html

Standard 1: Reading KINDERGARTEN

Reading: The student reads and comprehends text across the curriculum.

Benchmark 1: The student uses skills in alphabetics to construct meaning from text.

Kindergarten Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲identifies sounds of both upper and lower case letters of the

alphabet (Letter-sound Relationships).

2. ▲identifies names of both upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.

3. distinguishes letters from words by recognizing that words are separated by spaces.

The teacher…1. (a) links the sounds of the letters to print symbols.

(This is a year long activity.)

(b) combines upper and lower case instruction. Classrooms could go on a letter scavenger hunt to look for the sounds of the letter(s) being studied.

(c) connects to classroom alphabet chart. Students make individual ABC Books which align with classroom alphabet.

(d) connects sounds and symbols to students’ names.

(e) uses phonemic awareness skills to manipulate the middle sounds, specifically short vowels. (This is a year long activity.)

(f) provides phonological awareness activities involving music, rhythm, and movement as quick brain breaks or energizers.

2. (a) uses a multi-sensory approach when helping students match letters to sound symbols.(This is a year long activity.)

(b) uses magnetic letters to develop and provide visual discrimination of letters.

(c) models and demonstrates one-to-one match.

3. (a) distinguishes letters from words by recognizing that words are separated by spaces. (This is a year long activity.)

Grade-by-Grade Approved by the KS State Board of Education: July 8, 2003

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4. ▲demonstrates phonemic awareness skills by hearing and orally manipulating sounds (e.g., ▲phoneme isolation, ▲identification, ▲categorization, blending, segmentation, deletion, addition, substitution).(Phonemic Awareness)

5. identifies and makes oral rhymes and begins to hear onsets and rimes (e.g., alliteration, intonation).(Phonological Awareness)

6. ▲demonstrates an understanding of graphemes and phonemes (i.e., sound-symbol relationships) in written and spoken language.(Phonics)

(b) uses pocket charts with sentences that show amount of space between each word.

4. (a) provides students with letter tiles, magnetic letters, or markers and white boards. The teacher begins with auditory practice in demonstrating which words begin with the same sound, saying the first or last sound in a word or combining separate sounds to say the word or breaking the word into its separate sounds. After the demonstration, the students use manipulatives to construct words.

(b) provides students with letter tiles or letter cards, then, demonstrates segmenting words into sounds (e.g., What

sounds do you hear in the word "dog") demonstrates sounds in short-term memory and combine

them to form a word (e.g., What word do we have when you put these sounds together: /m/, /a/, /t/?)

demonstrates detecting and manipulating sounds within words (e.g., Is there a /g/ in the word "bug"?)

demonstrates sequences of sounds in words (e.g., How many sounds do you hear in the word "fun"? - /f/, /u/, /n/)

demonstrates isolated beginning, medial, and ending sounds (e.g., "What are the first sound, middle, and ending sounds in "dog"?)

(c) supplies an appropriate rhyming word to complete a familiar nursery rhyme or predictable text with rhyming lines.

5. (a) reads nursery rhymes and riddles to the students to express phonological awareness.

(b) uses songs such as "Apples and Bananas" and "Down By the Bay" to encourage student learning.

(c) uses posters, big books, or overhead transparencies to present and practice and to locate rhymes.

6. (a) tosses an alphabet ball (a blown-up beach ball with alphabet letters on it). Whatever letter the teacher's thumb is on, the student identifies that letter and the letter's sound.


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(b) demonstrates that some words have more than one phoneme (e.g., The word "step" has four phonemes /s/, /t/, /e/. /p/) with Elkonin boxes.

(c) demonstrates that graphemes/chunks may include one or several letters (e.g., b, d. g, or ch, sh, th).(This is a year long activity.)

(d) has the students manipulate letter tiles to match spoken letter sounds. The teacher then shows the students the connections between the letter tiles or letter cards with written word on the board or overhead.

(e) helps students understand why they are learning the relationships between letters and sounds.(This is a year long activity.)

(The instructional examples provided in this document are only examples of teaching strategies and are not intended to endorse any one specific idea or concept. These examples should not be used exclusively for instruction.)

Teacher Notes:


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Benchmark 2: The student reads fluently.

Kindergarten Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. demonstrates an understanding of concepts of print (e.g., front-to-

back, top-to-bottom, left-to-right) and begins to track print.

2. locates periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

3. imitates the rhythm of speech in emergent oral reading.

The teacher…1. (a) provides multiple opportunities for book-handling and/or modeling

concepts of print, one-to-one match, and return sweep.

(b) demonstrates and explains the concepts of print to the students when reading aloud/shared reading/instructional groups.

(c) provides the opportunity for students to make their own books, for example, a short repetitive story with one word per page, eventually creating longer stories.

(d) works with sign language interpreter to demonstrate the inflectional patterns of sign language.

2. (a) models oral reading using voice inflection to accentuate the punctuation and asks the students which form of punctuation is being represented or expressed.

(b) works with sign language interpreter to demonstrate the rhythm of sign language.

3. (a) reads aloud and creates shared reading and cross-age reading opportunities.

(b) reads aloud a book that has been selected by a student.

(c) models echo reading. The teacher reads a picture book story to the students. The second time the teacher reads the story, the teacher reads a sentence and has the students echo the teachers’ modeling by reading the same sentence using the same intonation and phrasing as the teacher.

(d) uses Paired Reading to provide practice in oral reading. This can


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be a reading pair between a student with an adult or a student with another student. One person in the pair must be able to model good reading fluency.


Teacher Notes: Promote reading habits with students (especially those students with limited resources at home) by allowing them opportunities to check out personal-interest books from the school library.


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Benchmark 3: The student expands vocabulary.

Kindergarten Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. reads one-syllable and often-heard words by sight.

2. uses picture clues to identify unknown words and meanings.

The teacher…1. (a) asks students to locate sight words within the environment,

familiar text, and new text. The teacher writes these words on a clipboard or cards. After returning to the classroom, discuss the sight words with the students.

(b) models the word through a draw and label activity. The teacher shows the student a picture of the word to be learned, draws a picture representing the word, and labeling the word under the picture. Student activities on the following days will require the students to recall the word, match the picture with the word (cut and paste), and draw and label.

(c) gives the students a squirt of shaving cream and informs the students that they are to spread the cream into a specific area on their desks. The students spell the sight words in the shaving cream.

(d) writes several sight words onto brightly colored shapes, then, puts them near the door. Each time the students line up to leave the room, the teacher reviews the selected sight words with them. Once the words have been mastered, the teacher has the students orally use the word in a sentence.

2. (a) demonstrates how to check picture clues to confirm meaning.

(b) while reading a story, asks students inferential questions about the illustrations in the text.


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Teacher Notes:


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Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of text (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive).

Kindergarten Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…

1. participates in discussions about narrative and expository texts read to them.

2. identifies and discusses title, author, illustrator, and illustrations.

3. uses pictures, content, and prior knowledge to make predictions.

4. responds logically to literal, inferential, and critical thinking questions before, during, and after listening to the text.

The teacher…

1. (a) models how students can respond through talk, movement, music, art, and drama to a variety of stories and poems in ways that reflect understanding and interpretation.

(b) sends notes home in the parents' home language encouraging volunteers to read to the students in the classroom. Teacher needs to provide books in different languages available for volunteers to read.

2. (a) models the location of the title, illustrator, and author.

3. (a) has the students make text-to-self connections.

(b) asks students to look at picture and tell what they predict will happen next.

(c) provides a graphic organizer, for example, a KWL Chart.

4. (a) provides the opportunity and time for students to ask and answer questions about the text. Teacher models adequate questions relating to the text.

(b) provides opportunity and time for students to answer questions about the text.

(c) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.


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5. uses picture clues, text, and prior knowledge to make inferences and draw conclusions.

6. develops awareness of text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution).

7. sequences 2-3 events in order.

8. compares and contrasts information in illustrations, prior knowledge, and texts read aloud.

9. retells or role plays important events and information from the text.

5. (a) gives main idea (broad view) of story.

(c) gives the students pictures from magazines, old texts, etc. and asks students to make up a story about what is happening in the pictures.

(d) uses a picture walk to make inferences and draw conclusions.

6. (a) uses pictures or cards to allow the students to demonstrate their understanding of the sequence of events in a story.

(b) uses words, such as "before”, “after”, and “next" to sequence events.

7. (a) structures art activities to retell the sequence of events in a story.

8. (a) discusses with the students how the characters in a story are the same or different.

9. (a) uses puppets to retell story.

(b) models retelling with the students by drawing pictures of the organized ideas from a story, thus, to promote students to create an imaged gestalt (visualization).

(c) organizes small groups of students to create a play that retells the story.

(c) uses elements of story grammar as a structure for recalling and retelling the story.

(d) structures an art activity to illustrate characters, setting problems, and sequences of events in a story.

(e) organizes small groups of students to create a play and retells the story.

(f) allows students to use puppets, props, or other methods to retell a story.


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10. explains the topic of a selection that has been read aloud (e.g., What is the book about?). 10. (a) models to students how to determine the topic of a selection.


Teacher Notes:Promote reading habits with students (especially those students with limited resources at home) by allowing them opportunities to check out personal-interest books from the school library.


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Standard 2: Literature KINDERGARTEN

Literature: The student responds to a variety of text.

Benchmark 1: The student uses literary concepts to interpret and respond to text.

Kindergarten Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies and discusses character(s) in literature.

2. identifies and talks about events in the story and why they are important.

3. identifies and discusses problem and solution.

The teacher…1. (a) supports student understanding by facilitating student think-

aloud activities.

(b) uses a graphic organizer to compare and contrast characters.

2. (a) has students discuss then draw the setting.

(b) uses a graphic organizer to discuss the story setting.

3. (a) allows for class discussion regarding problem and solution.

(b) uses a graphic organizer to show the problems and possible solutions and discusses the pros and cons of the solution, when appropriate.

(c) provides experience with different genre with read alouds.

(d) conducts group discussions in literature circles explaining the conflicts in a story. The teacher has the student discuss the author’s ideas and how they relate to their own ideas.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature KINDERGARTEN


Benchmark 2: The student understands the significance of literature and its contributions to human understanding and culture.

Kindergarten Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. recognizes and discusses cultural elements in books read aloud.

The teacher…1. (a) enlists the assistance of the school librarian in locating "read-

aloud materials" from a variety of cultures.

(b) prepares pictures of celebrations or events from other cultures than that of the culture from the book being read.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading FIRST GRADE



First Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies sounds of both upper and lower case letters of the

alphabet.(Letter-sound Relationships)

2. ▲ identifies names of both upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.

3. identifies and distinguishes between letters, words, and sentences.

4. ▲ identifies and manipulates phonemes in spoken words (e.g., phoneme isolation, identification, categorization, ▲blending, ▲segmentation, ▲deletion, ▲addition, ▲substitution).(Phonemic Awareness)

The teacher…(a) links sound symbols to students’ names

ABC Charts Individual ABC Books

2. (a) provides students with letter tiles. The teacher begins with auditory practice in demonstrating which words begin with the same sound, saying the first or last sound in a word or combining separate sounds to say the word or breaking the word into its separate sounds. The teacher then shows the students the connections between the letter tiles or letter cards with written word on the board or overhead.

3. (a) uses a flip chart or big book with words, letters, and sentences and has students identify each.

(b) models one-to-one match.

(c) demonstrates a word sort activity. The teacher creates a sheet of pictures or words for the students to cut and sort. The teacher makes larger copies of the needed pictures or words to work with in front of the class of students. The teacher has the students match the beginning and ending sounds to the pictures or words he/she is revealing to letters from alphabet tiles.

4. (a) provides students with letter tiles. The teacher begins with auditory practice in determining which words begin with the same sound, saying the first or last sound in a word or combining separate sounds to say the word or breaking the word into its separate sounds. After the demonstration, the students manipulate their tiles to sound out and spell words.


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(b) provides students with letter tiles or letter cards, then… demonstrates segmenting words into sounds (e.g., What

letters/sounds do you hear in the word "pet") at the beginning and at the end?

demonstrates sounds in short-term memory and combine them to form a word (e.g., What word do we have when you put these sounds together: /p/, /a/, /t/?)

demonstrates detecting and manipulating sounds within words (e.g., Is there a /k/ in the word bike?)

demonstrates sequences of sounds in words (e.g., How many sounds do you hear in the word "fish?" - /f/, /i/, /sh/)

demonstrates isolated beginning, middle, and ending sounds (e.g., "What are the first sound, medial, and ending sounds in "dog"?)

demonstrates using known words to make analogy for new words

(These are on-going processes throughout the school year.)

(c) has students monitor their reading and self-correct when an incorrectly identified word does not fit with cues provided by either the letters in the word (visual) or the context surrounding the word (meaning and structure) by asking “Does it look right, sound right, and make sense?”.

(d) provides initial practice in controlled connected text in which students can apply their newly learned skills successfully.

(e) models an activity using sound boards for beginning/ending consonants and blends. The teacher makes a sheet of pictures for the students containing the studied sounds and the letter to either the initial sound, blends, or ending sound. As the teacher holds up a letter or blend card representing a particular sound, the students find their corresponding picture card with matches the sound. For example, the students’ picture card may be a clip art of a flag. The teacher holds up a blend card with the letters f-l. The students should hold up the card with the clip art of the ship. This is a non-threatening activity as students can self-check their responses.

(g) produces rhyming words and has students distinguish rhyming


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5. ▲ identifies onsets and rimes in spoken words (e.g., alliteration, intonation, rhyme). (Phonological Awareness).

words from non-rhyming words.

(h) prepares a sound box for students. Using a three-pocket folder, the teacher selects words which contain three letters (e.g., sun) and makes cards to fit into the pockets which contain the letters to the studied word (making sure the letters are shown when the card is inserted into the pocket). The teacher labels the first pocket with the word beginning, the second pocket with the word middle, and the third pocket with the word end. The teacher holds up the card with the letter “s” and randomly selects a student to put letter card in the correct pocket to indicate the letter is the sound of the beginning, middle, or end. The teacher may also put the letter cards into the pockets backwards (not showing the letter). The teacher stresses the sound of the word and the students take turns turning the card (beginning, middle, or end) which he/she thinks is the correct sounds.

(i) demonstrates phoneme manipulation, for example, students are shown a picture of a bee and are asked to take off the /b/ and add a /s/ to the word to create a new word using magnetic letters, letter tiles, or white boards with markers. (This is an year long activity.)

5. (a) reads nursery rhymes and riddles to students in order for them to hear the sounds.

(b) and students make class rhyming books and individual rhyming books for familiar reading.

(c) selects several grade-appropriate words which rhyme. The teacher has the students listen to a song which contains rhyming words. Using the teacher selected rhyming words, the teacher and students create their own rhyming word song.

(d) reads a picture book to students which contains several grade-appropriate rhyming words. Before reading the story, the teacher makes a word card using the rhyming words from the story and also some other words which do not rhyme. The students cut the cards then can either play memory or can play go fish with the cards.


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6. ▲ uses knowledge of letter-sound correspondences (e.g., ▲consonant-vowel patterns, blends, ▲digraphs, word families) when reading unknown words. (Phonics)

7. manipulates onsets and rimes in spoken words (e.g., alliteration, intonation, rhyme). (Phonological Awareness)

(e) provides practice for locating rhyming patterns with posters, Big Books, and transparencies.

6. (a) helps students understand why they are learning the relationships between letters and sounds.

(b) uses a wheel to reinforce the letter patterns. The teacher makes sure that have worked in whole and small groups to sort the words from the various word families.

(b) uses decodable text based on specific lessons in the early part of the first grade as an intervening step between explicit skill-acquisition and the student's ability to read quality trade books. Decodable steps should contain phonetic elements and sight words that students have been taught. However, the text should be unfamiliar to students so that they are required to apply word-analysis skills and not simply to reconstruct text they have mentioned.

(c) provides repeated opportunities to read words in contexts in which students can apply their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences.(This is a year long activity)

(d) begins instruction with word families and word patterns (e.g., reading orthographic units of text: at, sat, rat, and fat).(This is an on-going process throughout the school year.)

(e) provides learning activities in graphophonemic relationships, letter-sound associations, letter-sound correspondences, sound-symbol correspondences, and sound-spellings.

7. (a) will build a set of onset and rime cards and divide them through the middle like a small puzzle in order for students to put them back together.

(b) will write a phonogram or word family ending on the board. Students are given consonant, consonant cluster, or digraph cards and asked to raise their hands if they think they are holding a card with a letter or letters what will turn the rime into a real word. The


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teacher will put a new rime on the board, and repeat the activity.


Teacher Notes:


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First Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. applies concepts of print when reading (e.g., front-to-back, top-to-

bottom, left-to-right, capitalization).

2. uses punctuation at instructional or independent reading levels while reading.

3. reads expressively with appropriate pace, phrasing, intonation, and rhythm of speech with familiar text.

The teacher…1. (a) models fluent reading by reading aloud to demonstrate return

sweep and one-to-one match.

(b) provides experience with different genre through read-aloud books of different types that have been selected by a student in order to increase motivation of individual reading.

(c) includes sufficient independent practice time to read familiar texts to develop fluency.

(d) incorporates assisted reading with each reading passage.

(e) models repeated oral reading.

(f) works with sign language interpreter to demonstrate the inflectional patterns of sign language.

2. (a) has students read in pairs. They may highlight punctuation before they read orally.

(b) works with sign language interpreter to demonstrate the rhythm of sign language.

3. (a) provides books that makes use of a variety of text fonts.

(b) introduces passage reading soon after students can read previously taught and irregular words.

(c) introduces passages that contain commonly used high-frequency and low-frequency irregular words.


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4. uses knowledge of sentence structure to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels.

5. uses a variety of word-recognition strategies (e.g., practicing words in isolation) to read fluently.

(d) allows students ample time to listen to recorded books.

(e) models echo reading. The teacher reads a picture book story to the students. The second time the teacher reads the story, the teacher reads couple of sentences and has the students echo the teachers’ modeling by reading the same sentences using the same intonation and phrasing as the teacher.

(f) uses Paired Reading or cross-age reading opportunities to provide practice in oral reading. This can be a reading pair between a student with an adult or a student with another student. One person in the pair must be able to model good reading fluency.

(g) allows time for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR).

4. (a) provides opportunity for choral reading or Reader’s Theatre.

(b) introduces fluency practice after students read words in passages correctly.

(c) selects a story (at times several with the same theme and at different readability levels) for the students to read through guided reading. The teacher first selects unfamiliar words tailored to the needs of the students. Before reading of the text, the teacher initially introduces and often guides the students through the text. During and after reading the text, the teacher encourages discussion and questioning of the text. After discussions have taken place, the teacher may expand comprehension through a writing activity about the text.

(d) provides time for independent reading.

5. (a) uses choral reading. Copy a short story or poem onto a poster or large sheet of paper or project with the overhead. Have the students read the text repeatedly over several days. Once students can read with few errors, invite older students or adults to witness the success.

(b) models a think aloud on what strategy is chosen and explains why this strategy is being used.


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(c) uses analogy to get from known word to new word.

(d) uses meaning guided by syntax and visual information to read informational text.



**NOTE: Students should not be asked to participate in whole class or small group student-by-student, “round-robin” oral reading. This practice does not support fluency or comprehension, and is therefore not recommended.


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First Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. demonstrates automatic recognition of sight words.

2. determines the meaning of unknown words or phrases using picture clues and context clues from sentences.

The teacher…3. (a) a) asks students to locate sight words within the environment,

familiar text, and new text. The teacher writes these words on a clipboard or cards. After returning to the classroom, discuss the sight words with the students.

(b) offers a limited number of irregular words so that the students will not become overwhelmed and frustrated.

(c) strategically separates high-frequency words (e.g., was, saw, them, they, and there) that are often confused by students.

(d) models the word through a draw and label activity. The teacher shows the student a picture of the word to be learned, draws a picture representing the word, and labeling the word under the picture. Student activities on the following days will require the students to recall the word, match the picture with the word (cut and paste), and draw and label.

(e) writes several sight words onto brightly colored shapes, then, puts them near the door. Each time the students line up to leave the room, the teacher reviews the selected sight words with them. Once the words have been mastered, the teacher has the students orally use the word in a sentence.

(f) demonstrates automatic recognition of sight words.

2. (a) demonstrates checking picture clues with syntax and visual information to confirm meaning.

(b) models the concept of searching for context clues by writing sentences from the text which relate to the unfamiliar word onto flip


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3. identifies synonyms and antonyms to determine the meaning of words.

4. determines meaning of words through knowledge of word structure (e.g., compound nouns, contractions, inflectional endings).

chart paper, on the overhead, or on the board and highlights the words (context clues) during the modeling.

(e) uses leveled text with familiar content and high-utility vocabulary to establish meaning a clue source in reading.

3. (a) builds word walls containing synonyms and antonyms and discusses the meaning of the new words.

(b) assists students to construct (over a long period of time) an individual thesaurus.

(c) will give groups of students cards on which several synonyms are written. The teacher will ask the students to pair them together like the game Concentration. The same could be done with antonyms.

4. (a) will use the word wall to demonstrate which of these words are nouns or contractions and which words have inflectional endings.

(b) tells the students they are going to hear some words in a very strange way. The teacher starts by segmenting compound words, pausing for a second between syllables for a few seconds.

(c) tells students that they are going to hear some harder words now. The teacher uses words that are not compound words. The teacher tells students they have to be sound detectives and very good listeners to figure out these words. Students are then asked to pretend that their arms are popcorn and they will need to put one arm out to the side and say "pop". Leaving the first arm up, extend the other arm and say "corn". Students are directed to put both arms together and say the new word "popcorn".

(d) chooses an unfamiliar word of the week. While introducing the unfamiliar word, the teacher has the students pantomime, draw pictures or play word detective with the word. Motivate students to use the word regularly by using the unfamiliar word throughout the day in conversation or writings.

(e) asks students to look for a familiar apart of the word (familiar


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chunk, known word within a word) in order to get through text structure of an unfamiliar word.


Teacher Notes:


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Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of text (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive).

First Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. participates in discussions about narrative, expository, and

technical texts read to them or text read independently.

2. locates and discusses title, author, illustrator, and illustrations.


The teacher…1. (a) sends notes home in the parents' home language encouraging

volunteers to read to the students in the classroom. The teacher provides books in different languages available for volunteers to read to the student.

(b) selects a story (at times several with the same theme and at different readability levels) for the students to read through guided reading. The teacher first selects unfamiliar words tailored to the needs of the students. Before reading of the text, the teacher initially introduces and often guides the students through the text. During and after reading the text, the teacher encourages discussion and questioning of the text. After discussions have taken place, the teacher may expand comprehension through a writing activity about the text.

(c) models how students can respond through talk, movement, music, art, and drama to a variety of stories and poems in ways that reflect understanding and interpretation.

2. (a) models how to state the title, illustrator, and author when orally reading a book.

3. (a) asks the students to look at a picture or title and tell what they think will happen next.

(b) has the students make text-to-self connections.

(c) explains that any logical prediction is a good prediction.

(d) models predicting the outcome of an event or action and uses the text to confirm or contradict the prediction.


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4. responds logically to literal, inferential, and critical thinking questions before, during, and after listening to or reading the text.

5. uses picture clues, text, and prior knowledge to make inferences and draw conclusions.

6. develops awareness of text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution, comparison-contrast).

7. ▲ sequences events according to basic story structure of beginning, middle, and end.

4. (a) assigns student dyads, where students ask each other questions about the story.

(b) designs instruction to teach children to answer "who", "what", "when", "where", and "how" questions.


5. (a) show pictures before reading, ask students to share what is happening and why they believe that.

(b) has the student organize sentence strips, word, or pictures depicting the main events after listening to or reading narrative text.

(c) uses books that show strong emotions but do not state the emotion. Ask students what the characters are possibly feeling.

(d) asks students to make text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world connections.

6. (a) has students act out important events in stories.

(b) provides a graphic organizer (e.g., Venn Diagram).

(c) provides a literary element chart that includes at least setting and main character.

(d) models retelling, using the setting, characters, and important events as the recall anchors.

7. (a) models DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity).

(b) uses elements of story grammar as a structure for recalling and retelling the story in logical/sequential order.

(c) has students discuss the elements orally and make comparisons


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8. compares and contrasts information (e.g., topics, characters) between texts.

9. ▲ retells or role plays important events and main ideas from narrative and expository texts.

10. identifies the topic and main idea in appropriate-level texts.

with other stories.

(d) uses graphs, charts, or signs to organize information.

8. (a) assists the students in creating a timeline.

(b) introduces text in which the components of text are explicit (beginning, middle, and end being obvious).

(c) has the students discuss the elements orally and make comparisons with other stories.

9. (a) for narrative text, divide the class into small groups in order to create a play that retells the story, for expository text, act out the main idea.

(b) models retelling with the students by drawing pictures of the organized ideas from a story, thus, to promote students to create an imaged gestalt (visualization). Encourages students to visualize while reading.

(c) models the concept of retelling the story by using puppets to retell story.

10. (a) divides the class to identify the topic of a story read out loud and discuss main idea. This should happen on a regular basis.

(b) reads a story and prompts the students with the "wrong" information concerning the topic and main idea. Then the teacher asks the students to give the "correct" information.

(c) models how to identify topic/main idea.



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Standard 2: Literature FIRST GRADE



First Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies and discusses character(s) in literature.

2. identifies and describes setting.

3. follows events in a plot.

The teacher…1. (a) gains the assistance of the art and/or music teacher(s) to assist in

creating a puppet show emphasizing the characters and setting of a story.

(b) models story mapping.

2. (a) has students draw the setting. They should show the picture as they describe the setting to the class.


3. (a) teaches students to generate questions for a peer about a story that is read to them.

(b) allows for class discussion regarding problem and solution.

(c) reads aloud a variety of genres to the class.


(e) models story mapping.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature FIRST GRADE


Benchmark 2: The student understands the significance of literature and its contributions to various cultures.

First Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. listens to or reads text to connect personal experiences and ideas

with those of other cultures in literature.

The teacher…1. (a) reads poems and nursery rhymes to the students.

(b) enlists the assistance of the school librarian in locating read-aloud materials from a variety of cultures.

(c) models personal experiences with other cultures.

(d) models text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world connections.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading SECOND GRADE



Second Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. manipulates onsets and rimes in spoken syllables.

(Phonological Awareness)

2. ▲ uses knowledge of developmentally appropriate decoding skills (e.g., ▲consonant-vowel combinations, ▲blends, digraphs, ▲word families) when reading unknown words.(Phonics)

The teacher…1. (a) teaches advanced phonic-analysis skills explicitly, first in isolation

and then in words and connected text when students are becoming proficient in trade books.

(b) separates aurally and visually similar letter combinations in the instructional sequence (e.g., does not introduce both sounds for /oo/ simultaneously, separates /ar/, and /au/).(This is an on-going process throughout the school year.)

(c) sequences words and sentences strategically to incorporate known phonics units (e.g., letter combinations and inflection).

(d) ensures that students know the sounds of the individual letters prior to introducing larger orthographic units (e.g. /ill/, /ap/, /ing/).

(e) provides initial practice in controlled contexts in which students can apply newly learned skills successfully.

(f) offers repeated opportunities for students to read words in context where they can apply the advanced phonics skills with a high level of success.

2. (a) has the student build a word using letter manipulatives, replacing initial or ending letter(s) to make a new word (containing short or long vowel sounds), and saying the word.

(b) helps students to transfer automatically skills from one word type to another in order to read trade books. The teacher and students look for words with CVVC combinations and write the combinations and words on 3x5 cards. Once the students have learn the sound combinations and words, the teacher has the students make cards with the vowel combinations (e.g., for the long “e” sound make two


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3. categorizes onsets and rimes in spoken syllables.(Phonological Awareness)

different cards: 1 card with “ee” and 1 other card with “ea”). Students read the cards as the teacher model the sounds. The teacher must caution students that some vowel combinations may have multiple sounds (e.g., “ea” has the long and short “e” sound).

(c) introduces and teaches strategies for learning new letter combination, prefix, or word ending by modeling each of the fundamental stages of blending the word and then reading the whole word.

(d) uses examples when the roots are familiar words to students (e.g., remake, and prepay, as opposed to record and recode) and separates prefixes that appear in initial instruction sequences (e.g., re-and pre-).

(e) incorporates meaningful and content-focused spelling to reinforce word analysis. After students can read words, provides explicit instruction in spelling, showing students how to map the sounds of letters into print.

3. (a) creates a game by dividing the students into groups of four. Each group should have one person designated to be the "passer". Each group is given a consonant cluster and six word families. Students make as many words as they can until they hear the buzzer. If they think they have made a real word, they need to write the word down. The teacher gives the students 2 minutes per round. Each "passer" then passes his/her group's consonant cluster to the group sitting to his/her group's right. When each group has had every cluster, the words are read and can be challenged by other groups, but the dictionary settles any challenges.

(b) selects several grade-appropriate words which rhyme. The teacher has the students listen to a song which contains rhyming words. Using the teacher selected rhyming words, the teacher and students create their own rhyming word song.

(c) uses a wheel to reinforce the letter patterns. The teacher makes sure that have worked in whole and small groups to sort the words from the various word families.


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Teacher Notes:


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Second Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ uses knowledge of conventions (e.g., question marks,

exclamation points, commas, apostrophes) to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels.

2. reads expressively with appropriate pace, phrasing, intonation, and rhythm of speech.

The teacher…1. (a) has students make note cards with ending punctuation. The

teacher writes sentences on the board omitting the ending punctuation. The students must hold up the card with the correct punctuation as the teacher reads the sentence from the board.

(b) reads selected text using voice inflection for students to identify the correct punctuation represented by the inflection.

(c) models phrased and fluent reading.

(d) collaborates with another teacher from an upper grade to have the students from that grade partner and read to the younger students, thus, showing a demonstration of phrased and fluent reading.

(e) works with sign language interpreter to demonstrate the inflectional patterns of sign language.

(f) has the students participate in a paired reading experience. The listener evaluates the reader's use of inflection or pauses based on the punctuation marks used in the reading.

2. (a) has students practice reading aloud with expression by reading text to younger students.

(b) allows students ample time to listen to recorded books.

(c) models echo reading. The teacher reads a picture book story to the students. The second time the teacher reads the story, the teacher reads a page from the book and has the students echo the teachers’ modeling by reading the same page using the same intonation and phrasing as the teacher.


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4. uses a variety of word-recognition strategies (e.g., practicing words in isolation, practicing reading words in text) to read fluently.

5. begins to adjust reading rate to support comprehension when reading narrative and expository texts.

(d) uses Paired Reading or cross-age reading opportunities to provide practice in oral reading. This can be a reading pair between a student with an adult or a student with another student. One person in the pair must be able to model good reading fluency.

(e) uses the choral reading and Reader’s Theater for students to practice fluent reading.

3. (a) gives opportunity for partner reading or shared reading.

(b) allows time for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR).

4. (a) uses choral reading. Copy a short story or poem onto a poster or large sheet of paper or project with the overhead. Have the students read the text repeatedly over several days. Once students can read with few errors, invite older students or adults to witness the success.

(b) encourages the student to read into a tape recorder and to listen to himself/herself read orally using words comprised of phonemic elements and word types that have been previously introduced.

(c) provides assisted reading of high-frequency irregular words commonly used. Then, encourages independent reading.

(d) encourages repeated oral reading using irregular words that have been previously taught.

5. (a) has each student put his/her name, book, title, and four signature lines on a 4x6 note card. The students collect signatures for each time he/she reads the story to anyone who would listen.

(b) encourages students to monitor his/her own comprehension and to act purposefully when comprehension breaks down using strategies such as rereading, searching for clues, and asking for help.

(c) selects a story (at times several with the same theme and at different readability levels) for the students to read through guided reading. The teacher first selects unfamiliar words tailored to the


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needs of the students. Before reading of the text, the teacher initially introduces and often guides the students through the text. During and after reading the text, the teacher encourages discussion and questioning of the text. After discussions have taken place, the teacher may expand comprehension through a writing activity about the text.

(d) guides student's comprehension of text by asking questions before reading. In a guided reading session, directs fluent readers to read parts of the text silently.

(e) uses graphic organizers to express word structure, for example, an organizer that asks the students to identify the word in context, from a dictionary or from content text.

(f) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend a passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, teacher writes students’ predictions onto chart paper for discussion.





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Second Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. demonstrates automatic recognition of sight words.

2. ▲ determines the meaning of unknown words or phrases using picture clues and context clues from sentences and paragraphs.

The teacher…1. (a) introduces high-frequency word games and activities which could

include bingo, tic-tac-toe, go fish, and teacher-made board games.

(b) asks students to locate sight words within the environment, familiar text, and new text. The teacher has the students take turns writing these words on a clipboard or cards. After returning to the classroom, discuss the sight words with the students.

(c) pre-teaches high-frequency words included within the text prior to reading the selected text. Sequences high-frequency words to avoid potential confusion. Then, teacher reviews the sight words as part of the daily reading instruction.

(d) has the student engage in word wall activities and word sorts. Word walls should be added to continually and made a living part of the classroom.

(d) has the student use "rainbow writing" in which he/she traces over words using a variety of color markers or crayons.

(e) limits the number of sight words introduced at one time.

(f) writes several sight words onto brightly colored shapes, then, puts them near the door. Each time the students line up to leave the room, the teacher reviews the selected sight words with them. Once the words have been mastered, the teacher has the students orally use the word in a sentence.

2. (a) leads the class through the process of decoding unknown word(s) using context clues plus initial sound or familiar pattern with the context in a shared book. Then, continually reviews the words cumulatively.


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3. identifies and uses synonyms, antonyms, and homophones to determine the meaning of words.

4. uses a picture dictionary, dictionary, or glossary to understand word meaning.

(b) during social studies class, has the students use the picture or context clues in the text to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word (e.g., barter). The teacher discusses with the students whether or not there are services or goods they barter for at home. Then, teacher has students brainstorm a list of five goods they desire and describe ways of obtaining these goods and services without using money. Then, the teacher explains why using money makes it easier to get the same five items.

(c) covers one word in a sentence with colored tape. The student uses the rest of the sentence, picture, or paragraph to determine what the word could be and/or means. The teacher also asked the student to explain how he/she knew, what clues did the author give in the text, and what did students really know.

(d) selects a passage from a story and covers or deletes selected words utilizing the CLOZE method. Students provide the missing word.

(e) reads aloud and pauses periodically to allow students to predict the missing word.

(f) provides repeated and multiple exposures to critical vocabulary.

(g) models the concept of searching for context clues by writing sentences from the text which relate to the unfamiliar word onto flip chart paper, on the overhead, or on the board and highlights the words (context clues) during the modeling.

3. (a) conducts word search activities and word sorts. Word walls should be updated frequently and made a living part of the classroom.

(b) prepares a list of 52 pairs of homophones. Once the teacher has discussed the list with the students, the students write a homophone onto an index card or another type of prepared card. The students play Go Fish with the cards.

4. (a) has students use a dictionary to locate and substitute a synonym for underlined words in a sentence.


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5. ▲ determines meaning of words through knowledge of word structure (e.g., ▲base words, ▲compound nouns, ▲contractions, inflectional endings).

5. (a) uses word ladders to express word structure.

(b) has students review contractions. On index cards, clip art, or die cut figures, the students write the two words which form a particular contraction on a card and the contraction to the two words on another card. After the students have a collection of cards, they play race to see who can match the corrected words cards with the contraction or play memory with another classmate.

(c) chooses an unfamiliar word or words of the week. While introducing the unfamiliar word(s), the teacher has the students pantomime, draw pictures or play word detective with the word(s). Motivate students to use the word(s) regularly by using the unfamiliar word(s) throughout the day in conversation or writings.


Teacher Notes:


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Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive).

Second Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. recognizes the differences between narrative, expository, and

technical texts.

2. locates and discusses text features (e.g., title, graphs and charts, table of contents, boldface type, italics, glossary, index) to understand information.


The teacher…1. (a) cumulatively builds a repertoire of skills and strategies that are

introduced, applied, and integrated with appropriate texts and the authentic purposes over the course of the year.

(b) connects prior knowledge skills and strategies with new context and text.

(c) will ask the students to write fiction stories, write non-fiction stories, create recipes, explain timelines, or create how-to instructions. Once completed, these products are shared with the class. This could be a cross-curricular activity relating to science and social studies, or mathematics.

2. (a) uses a guided reading strategy to introduce parts of a book.

(b) teaches explicit strategies to interpret information from graphs, diagrams, and charts.

(c) uses science, mathematic, and social studies text to discuss the many charts and graphs. Students then create their own graph based on information relevant to them.

(d) encourages students to use science, mathematic, and social studies texts to identify the table of contents, boldface type, italics, glossary, and index.

(e) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as boldface type, pictures/illustrations, etc.

3. (a) has the student study the book's cover for clues about the story and encourages the student to use what he/she knows about the cover's subject to predict the story plot and what problems the


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4. generates and responds logically to literal, inferential, and critical thinking questions before, during, and after reading the text.

character(s) could have. During the silent reading, the student identifies the character's problem and predicts how the character will resolve it. The teacher records the student's predictions on chart paper, asking students to justify his/her predictions. The teacher continues reading, stopping periodically to check initial predictions and allows the student to change his/her prediction based on the new information. After reading, the student completes a story map identifying the problem, main events, and resolution.

(b) has the students make text-to-self connections.

(c) asks the students to identify the character's problem and predict how the character will solve the problem. The teacher records the student's predictions. The teacher continues reading, stopping periodically to check initial predictions and allows the students to change his/her prediction based on new information.

(d) models predicting the outcome of an event or action and asks the student to use the text to confirm or contradict the prediction.

(e) encourages collaborative reading with the students. The teacher randomly selects a student to pick out a story book. The teacher asks the students to predict what will happen in the story based on the title. The teacher reads the story using proper intonation and rate. After a few pages, the students are encouraged to read out loud and follow along with the story. As the story progresses, the teacher encourages prediction by asking the students, “What do you think will happen next?” “Do you agree with what the character did?” The students read the story several times with the teacher. Once the students are familiar and comfortable with the story, the students are encouraged to read the story alone. At this time, the teacher prompts the students, if help is necessary.

(f) leads the students in a discussion through a story about using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The teacher discusses with the students what they predict the author will have happening in the story. The teacher and students discus the responses.

4. (a) provides instruction before, during, and after reading comprehension strategies.


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5. ▲uses ▲illustrations, ▲text, and prior knowledge to make inferences and draw conclusions.

6. identifies text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution, comparison-contrast, description, cause-effect).

7. ▲ sequences events according to basic story structure of beginning, middle, and end.

(b) designs instruction to teach children to answer who, what, when, where, and how questions.

(c) gives the students before reading, during reading, and after reading questions in order to provide opportunities for the students to respond to the text.

(d) using informational text from science or social studies text, creates story mobiles using topic, main ideas, and supporting details from a book. The mobile begins at the top with the main idea, adds pieces to support the details of the story.

(e) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.

5. (a) uses literature circle to have the students tell the main idea of the story after an initial reading.

(b) guides the student in completing a fishbone graphic organizer depicting main idea and supporting details after reading a text.

(c) engages students in a DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity).

6. (a) creates a two-column note form or T-Chart with pictures from text on the left side and inference about the pictures on the right side as a model for students to use.

(b) in science, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

7. (a) has the student use a graphic organizer (story maps, flip boards, sequence chains, and/or causal chains) to retell the main events of a story in the correct order.


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8. compares and contrasts information (e.g., topics, characters) between texts and within a single text.

9. identifies cause-effect relationships in narrative and expository texts.

10. ▲ retells or determines important events and main ideas from narrative and expository texts.

(b) has the student organize sentence strips or pictures depicting main events in the correct order after listening to or reading narrative text.

8. (a) uses graphs, charts, signs or captions and other informational devices to assist in comprehension.

(b) during social studies class, has the students describe the physical and human characteristics of the local community (e.g., location, land, weather, seasons, people, jobs, houses, food, recreation, customs) compared to another in the text. (c) during social studies class, assists the students in creating a timeline utilizing information from reading text and other content area.

9. (a) has the student retell the basic message of the texts in their own reading.

(b) has the student organize sentences, words, or pictures depicting the main events after listening to or reading narrative text and expository text.

(c) asks the students to retell a familiar nursery rhyme, detailing the cause and effects of the main characters in the story. Students could also change the ending of the rhyme.

(d) uses graphic organizers such as a Web Chart to link causes and effects in text.

10. (a) provides a graphic organizer (e.g., Venn Diagram).

(b) models retelling with the students by drawing pictures of the organized ideas from a story, thus, to promote students to create an imaged gestalt (visualization). Encourages students to visualize while reading.

(c) uses text structure as a tool for promoting information to compare and contrast, organize information, and group related ideas to maintain a consistent focus.


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11. ▲identifies the topic, main idea, and supporting details in appropriate-level texts.

12. distinguishes between fact and opinion in various texts.

(d) reads aloud a familiar fable. Then asks the students to state one detail from the story. The suggestions are listed on chart paper. The teacher helps the students to determine the main idea of the story. The teacher writes the main idea with a different color of ink, under all of the details. Then, rereads the story and asks the students to listen carefully to determine if the main idea is stated in the story. The teacher directs the students to see that the details support the main idea.

(e) provides an assortment of magazines, newspapers, and etc. and has the students form small groups to read and discuss one article. The students are to list details and/or facts about their text and identify the main idea.

11. (a) has the students organize sentences, word, or pictures depicting the main events after listening to or reading narrative text and expository text.

12. (a) provides a graphic organizer to assist students in distinguishing facts and opinions.





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Standard 2: Literature SECOND GRADE

Literature: The student reads and responds to a variety of text.


Second Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲identifies and describes character(s) in literature.

The teacher…1. (a) has the student retell the basic message in his/her own words.

(b) will provide the students with heavy paper and instructs them to fold the paper in half, horizontally. Next, the students draw a picture of one or more characters from the book and the setting where the story took place.

(c) asks the students to answer the following questions concerning a character from the selected text:

1. What is the name of the character?2. Is the character a boy or a girl?3. How old is the character?4. What else do you know about the character?

Now, the teacher directs the students to pretend that the character has turned into the student's next-door neighbor. Again, the teacher directs the students to use their imagination to answer the following questions"

1. Where does the character live?2. Where does the character go to school?3. Is the character in your classroom?4. Who is the character's best friend?

Finally, the teacher reminds the students that the character has turned into a real person. Students are directed to think about what the character might do, and include the character's favorite things, such as a favorite book, animal, color, or game.

(d) gains the assistance of the art and/or music teacher(s) to assist the students in creating a play emphasizing the characters and setting of a story.



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2. ▲identifies and describes setting.

3. retells the plot of a story.

2. (a) has the student fold a piece of paper into four frames and use each frame to highlight a main event in a story. The student creates a detailed illustration and writes a sentence in each frame to complete a story board.

(b) creates learning dyads where students generate questions for a peer about a story.

(c) has the student illustrate a selected passage from a text to demonstrate his/her understanding of the main idea of the passage.

(d) creates learning dyads where students generate questions for a peer concerning the setting of the story.

(e) discusses with the students that most stories have more than one setting. The teacher asks the students to imagine they are going to create a play or movie about a story they have read. The teacher directs the students to think about four different settings from the book and asks them to draw each of them. The teacher explains to the students that they are not to draw the characters into their pictures.

(f) models story mapping.

3. (a) asks students to compare and contrast different versions of the same fairy tale, similar stories, and/or text covering the same topic.

(b) creates a large music note for each student. The teacher explains to the students to write the important events on each note as they happened in the story. The teacher can arrange the music notes on the bulletin board.

(c) conducts group discussions in literature circles explaining the conflicts in a story. The teacher has the student discuss the author’s ideas and how they relate to their own ideas.

(d) models story mapping.



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Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature SECOND GRADE



Second Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. reads to connect personal experiences and ideas with those of

other cultures in literature.

2. identifies various languages, traditions, and cultures found in literature.

3. makes connections between specific aspects of literature from a variety of cultures and personal experiences.

The teacher…1. (a) enlists the assistance of the school librarian in locating read-aloud

materials from a variety of cultures.

(b) during social studies, uses a story map to map out the story of a historically significant person's life.

2. (a) leads students to compare and contrast different versions of the same fairy tale, similar stories, and/or text covering the same topic.

3. (a) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading THIRD GRADE



Third Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses decoding skills that include knowledge of phonetics and

structural analysis when reading unknown words.

The teacher…1. (a) encourages students to utilize effective self-correction and self-

monitoring strategies by prompting students to use visual, semantic and synactic clues. The teacher prompts may include the following:

Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right? Look at the picture. How does the word start? Can you find a familiar pattern? Reread the sentence. Think about what would make sense and begin with those first

sounds.(This is an on-going process throughout the school year.)

(b) models the cognitive process of identifying meaningful chunks that lead the readers to the pronunciation of the word.

(c) directs students to locate, highlight, and/or record words with a given affix or root.

(d) emphasizes reading harder and longer multi-syllabic words.



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Teacher Notes:


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Third Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses knowledge of conventions (e.g., question marks, exclamation

points, commas, apostrophes, italics, graphics, hyphens) to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels.


The teacher…1. (a) provides an opportunity for the students to listen to recorded

books, then, has students practice reading the book with a partner.

(b) reads a text ignoring punctuation. The teacher solicits and records student responses to the reading on the board. After discussing these responses, the teacher rereads the book attending to the punctuation and sentence structure. Students then compare the two readings.

(c) has the students participate in a paired reading experience. The listener evaluates the reader's use of inflection or pauses based on the punctuation marks used in the reading.

2. (a) models fluent reading using picture books.

(b) uses the choral reading and Reader's Theater for students to practice fluent reading.

(c) provides opportunity for multiple readings of familiar text and listening to recorded books.

(d) provides reading selections at students' independent reading level for practice in reading expressively.

(e) selects a series of sentence from a passage which would take a couple of minutes to read and tapes the students reading the passage. The teacher and students read the sentences using adequate pace and intonation. Next, the teacher reads the sentences using appropriate chunking of thought units. If students do not understand the chunking process, the teacher models the strategy for the students.


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4. uses a variety of word-recognition strategies (e.g., practicing words in isolation, practicing reading words in text) to read fluently.

5. adjusts reading rate to support comprehension when reading narrative, expository, and technical texts.

(f) models echo reading. The teacher reads a passage to the students. The second time the teacher reads the passage, the teacher reads a paragraph and has the students echo the teachers’ modeling by reading the same paragraph using the same intonation and phrasing as the teacher.

(g) allows time for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR).

(h) uses Paired Reading to provide practice in oral reading. This can be a reading pair between a student with an adult or a student with another student. One person in the pair must be able to model good reading fluency.

3. (a) models and guides students to read orally emphasizing phrases and logical groups of words.

(b) encourages students to monitor his/her own comprehension and act purposefully when comprehension breaks down using strategies such as rereading, searching for clues, and asking for help.

4. (a) uses word wall games (e.g., Guess My Word?, Word Lotto).

(b) has students make a word chain (strips of words on construction paper which have been linked together in a chain) using words from a text or vocabulary from content area. The teacher rehearses the words on the chain with the students and encourages the students to practice the words independently or in pairs.

5. (a) has students read one paragraph from a science or social studies text and one paragraph from a narrative text and compare how they adjust their reading rate accordingly. Discuss why this adjustment was necessary. Do the same procedure with all text types.

(b) models for students how she/he will reread slower(faster) when necessary to obtain meaning.

(c) reads aloud a text to students, using a think-aloud strategy to explain how he/she adjusted reading rate to improve comprehension. Students then silently and independently read another passage, noting where in the text they had to adjust their own reading rate.


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Students then participate in a discussion with peers regarding whether or not adjusting reading rate improved their understanding of the text. Repeat the same strategy using different text types (narrative, expository, technical, persuasive). Have students create a chart describing how they adjusted their own reading rate for each type of text.

d) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend text. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their predictions into statements as they gather further information.





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Third Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. expands sight-word vocabulary.

2. ▲ determines the meaning of unknown words or phrases using context clues (e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions) from sentences or paragraphs.

The teacher…1. (a) uses word walls or word journals.

(b) asks students to locate sight words within the environment, familiar text, and new text. The teacher writes these words on a clipboard or cards. After returning to the classroom, discuss the sight words with the students.

(b) encourages students to expand word choice in writing.

(c) has students read along with recorded books.

(d) assists the students in writing a song using pre-selected sight words using a tune from familiar songs.

(e) writes several sight words onto brightly colored shapes, then, puts them near the door. Each time the students line up to leave the room, the teacher reviews the selected sight words with them. Once the words have been mastered, the teacher has the students orally use the word in a sentence.

(f) reviews pre-selected sight words which are listed around the school. Then the teacher has the students walk around the school with a pencil and notebook/paper recording the sight words that they find. Students compare their lists.

2. (a) has the students discuss how they used the surrounding context to discover the meaning of the unknown word.

(b) covers one word in a sentence with colored tape. Students use the rest of the sentence, picture, or paragraph to determine what the word could be and/or mean. The teacher asks students to explain how they knew, what clues the author gave in the text, and what the


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3. identifies and uses synonyms, antonyms, and homophones to determine the meaning of words.

4. uses a dictionary or a glossary to determine an appropriate definition of a word.

students already knew.

(c) selects a passage from a story and covers or deletes selected words utilizing the CLOZE method. Students provide the missing word.

(d) reads aloud and pauses periodically to allow students to predict the missing word.

3. (a) has the students complete a graphic organizer comparing synonyms, antonyms, or homophones.

(b) has students listen to a reading of a text. Then, the students replace previously selected words with antonyms and discuss how it changed the meaning of the text. Can also be done with homographs and homophones.

(c) writes on colored paper the word "Synonym" and on another page the word "Antonym" and writes a list of words on each paper. The teacher places these in the front of the room or on the students' desks. The teacher provides sticky notes to the students. The teacher asks the students to write a synonym for each word on a sticky note. They stick it next to the appropriate word. Repeat the procedure for the antonym list.

(d) conducts word search activities and word sorts. Word walls should be updated frequently and made a living part of the classroom.

4. (a) has students attempt to discover the meaning of an unknown word using context, then, locate the word in the dictionary and identify the appropriate definition.

(b) writes unfamiliar words from social studies onto the board. Using the overhead projector, the teacher uses a transparency of the glossary definitions to show the students how to use the glossary for word meaning. Once the definitions are determined, the teacher has the students create a picture collage for each word.

(c) distributes index cards to the students. The teacher pre-selects


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5. ▲ determines meaning of words through knowledge of word structure (e.g., compound nouns, contractions, ▲root words, ▲prefixes, ▲suffixes).

6. identifies the difference between literal and figurative language when reading similes, metaphors, and idioms.

vocabulary words from a text or from the science or social studies vocabulary list. The teacher instructs the students to write one vocabulary word on a card and the definition on another card (this procedure will be completed for each word and definition). The students use these cards for study guides and to play match up, or memory.

(d) guides the students to use a graphic organizer.

5. (a) models using strategies to decode multi-syllabic words using the structural features of such word parts as affixes (e.g., pre-, mis-, and -tion) to aid in word recognition.

(b) relies on examples more than abstract rules. The teacher begins with familiar words and uses these words as examples for more difficult words.

(c) lists similar words and asks students to identify what the words have in common.

(d) the teacher will write words with a root and an affix (e.g. teacher, kindness, friendly) onto a piece of colored paper. The teacher will divide the class into small cooperative groups. The teacher will ask the groups to identify either the root or the affix. After the group decides upon the answer, a student from the group will race to write the answer on the board. The student finished writing will receive a point for his/her team for finishing to write the correct answer first.

6. (a) has students draw pictures of the literal meaning of the idioms and the inferential meaning.

(b) reads books with figurative language and discusses the meaning of the figurative language and why the author chose to use it.

(c) teacher explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.



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Teacher Notes:


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Third Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. recognizes the differences between narrative, expository, technical,

and persuasive texts.

2. ▲ understands the purpose of text features (e.g., ▲title, ▲graphs and charts, ▲table of contents, ▲pictures/illustrations, boldface type, italics, glossary, index) and uses such features to locate information in and to gain meaning from appropriate-level texts.

3. uses prior knowledge and content to make, revise, and confirm predictions.

The teacher…1. (a) reads two sections to the class, one narrative and one expository

regarding a specific topic/concept. Students discuss the differences between the texts in cooperative group, then, share their ideas with the class.

(b) provides samples of different text types. Students analyze the author's purpose in writing the text.

2. (a) in science class, using the science text book, has students look through the science text book chapters, reading only the headings, the first and last sentences of paragraphs, and graphic captions. In small groups, students discuss what they think they will learn from reading the chapter. As a class, students discuss small group findings, compare results, and reinforce the importance of specific text organizers.

(b) and students look at the table of contents and discuss where in the book the student might find an answer to a question.

(c) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as boldface type, pictures/illustrations, etc.

3. (a) has the students identify the clues the author has given in the title, pictures, book summary, etc. to make predictions about the text.

(b) has the students make text-to-self and text-to-text connections.

(c) guides students during reading to use the text to identify key elements and how they can be used to make predictions.

(d) directs the students to evaluate their own predictions after reading the entire text.


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5. ▲ uses information from the text to make inferences and draw conclusions.

(e) directs students to explain the reasoning behind their predictions. A T-Chart could be used.

(f) uses graphic organizers such as KWL and prediction maps.

(g) encourages collaborative reading with the students. The teacher randomly selects a student to pick out a story book. The teacher asks the students to predict what will happen in the story based on the title. The teacher reads the story using proper intonation and rate. After a few pages, the students are encouraged to read out loud and follow along with the story. As the story progresses, the teacher encourages prediction by asking the students, “What do you think will happen next?” “Do you agree with what the character did?” The students read the story several times with the teacher. Once the students are familiar and comfortable with the story, the students are encouraged to read the story alone. At this time, the teacher prompts the students, if help is necessary.

(h) leads the students in a discussion through a story about using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The teacher discusses with the students what they predict the author will have happening in the story. The teacher and students discus the responses.

4. (a) models self-questioning while reading aloud to the students.

(b) has students read a short amount of text and create two questions that target higher level thinking about the text. Then, continue to read to look for clues and the answers to their questions.


5. (a) will model the use of a graphic organizer containing two large circles at the top of the page and a rectangle at the bottom (Labels in the circles are: In My Head, In The Text and in the rectangle, Conclusions.). The teacher prepares written checks for the students


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6. identifies text structure (e.g., ▲sequence, ▲problem-solution, comparison-contrast, description, cause-effect).

that are related to a story. The checks are written in sequential order for students to draw conclusions based on the clues they gather from the information on the checks. The teacher provides the students with copies of the checks as he/she reviews the checks on the overhead. The students will write what they predict is the conclusion in the Conclusion rectangle as they read the checks. The students must be allowed to change their answers as new checks and clues are introduced. The students write inferences drawn from the checks onto the circle labeled In My Head. Then the teacher reads the story to the students. The teacher will have the students complete the circle labeled In The Text using information directly stated in the text.

(b) draws a two-column note form headed "quote from text" and "inferences". Teacher records brief quotes from story and students discuss and record what inferences might come from each quote. A similar chart can be developed using pictures from the text and inferences from the pictures.

(c) models using two-column note form with expository text (e.g., science textbook) by labeling the first column "Facts-Something We Can Observe" and the second column "inferences-Interpretations". Students are encouraged to visualize information provided by the text and the base their interpretations and inferences on those visualizations.

6. (a) uses a Venn Diagram to show in graphic form how an author compares and contrasts information in the text.

(b) uses a story board graphic organizer to help students sequence story events in chronological order.

(c) has the class or cooperative groups discuss the similarities and differences in the text.

(d) models use of causal chains.

(e) models for students how to synthesize similar and contrasting information in the text to themselves, other texts, and world around them.


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7. sequences events and information in logical order.

(f) leads students to compare/contrast different versions of the same fairy tale, similar stories, and/or texts covering the same topic.

(g) models use of literary element maps.

(h) will have students model clear examples of each text structure.

(i) during social studies, uses the weather chart previously developed, to discuss how weather;/seasonal changes affect clothing, housing, and/or outdoor recreational choices. The teacher asks students to write a brief account of what choices they would personally make if and when they have to respond to these types of weather/seasonal changes.

(j) in science, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

7. (a) cuts apart paragraphs in a short section and has the students work in pairs or small groups to put them in a logical order.

(b) cuts apart sentences and has students work in pairs putting the sentences in logical sequence.

(c) models use of story maps with students.

(d) divides a story into sections (beginning, middle, end) and distributes the sections after dividing the class into three groups. The students from each group practices reading their section and illustrates their interpretation of the section of the story they have been given. Then the students from the first group reads the beginning part of the story and the other groups illustrate their interpretation as the section is being read. The students from the second group read the middle part of the story and the other groups illustrate their interpretation as the section is being read. The students from the third group read the ending of the story and the other groups illustrate their interpretation as the section is being read. Once this has been completed, the teacher displays the drawings around the classroom and reads the entire story to the students. The teacher


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8. ▲ compares and contrasts information (e.g., topics, characters) in a text.

9. ▲ links causes and effects in appropriate-level narrative and expository texts.

has the students discuss their pictures and how their illustrations match the story.

(e) during social studies class, has the students brainstorm to make a chart listing the essential elements of a human environment, with a similar chart of plants and another for animals. Compare the common elements. Students draw a successful habitat for humans, plants, and animals incorporating common elements.

8. (a) uses character webs with the students to describe characters' action, feelings, and physical characteristics. Students use the web to compare and contrast the characters and then write thoughts/opinions of the characters and connections to other characters/people that they know.

(b) draws a three-column note form and has students in science class brainstorm essential elements of the environment for humans, plants, and animals and record them in the appropriate column. Students then compare the common elements.

9. (a) emphasizes terminology such as "because…", "therefore…", "so…" in all content areas.

(b) uses the cause and effect tree graphic organizer to show that one cause can have more than one effect.

(c) models and then directs students to highlight the cause in one color and the effect in another color on a portion of copied text. (d) leads the students in completing a causal chain with cause/effect lines between attempts

(e) guides students to generate role-playing scenarios depicting the cause/effect relationships within the text.

(f) provides opportunities for students to explicitly use mental imagery to describe cause/effect relationship within the text.

(g) uses "Because -So" graphic organizers.


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10. ▲ retells main ideas or events as well as supporting details in narrative and expository texts.

11. ▲ identifies the topic, main idea(s), and supporting details in appropriate-level texts.

12. explains the author’s purpose (e.g., to persuade, to entertain, to inform).

13. establishes a purpose for reading or listening (e.g., to be informed,

10. (a) models how to determine the main idea by using text in which the main idea is clear and follows a logical order. Then, progresses to more complex text.

(b) encourages students to visualize the text while reading. This skills should be used throughout all content areas.

(b) uses graphic organizers that highlight significant details to determine main idea.

(c) has students complete a graphic organizer that identifies the main idea and supporting details, then has students retell the story using the graphic organizer.

(d) and students determines the main idea by using text in which the main idea is clear and follows a logical order and highlight significant details which support the main idea.

11. (a) gives students a main idea and have them generate details that support the main idea.

(b) organizes students in cooperative groups to complete a story map outlining the main idea of the story and providing supporting details. Students then explain why they chose that for main idea and the supporting details.

(c) provides students with the main idea of an expository text. Students read the text to find supporting details that go with the main idea. This task can also be reversed by giving students the details and instructing students to create the main idea statement.

(d) models use of a fishbone graphic organizer to record main idea and supporting details in expository text.

12. (a) models thinking about author's purpose in the following two ways: (1). Pre-reading: author's purpose (e.g., to persuade, to entertain, to inform) is related to the type; (2). Post-reading: author's purpose is related to the main ideas of the text.

13. (a) emphasizes "before" reading strategies throughout the day in all


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to follow directions, to be entertained).

14. distinguishes between fact and opinion in various texts.

content areas.

(b) connects prior knowledge skills and strategies with new context and text.

(c) instructs using the Directed Reading Activity (DRA). Discusses the subject with the students to gather prior knowledge, to introduce new vocabulary, and to discuss the purpose for reading.

14. (a) will divide the students into groups. Each group will be given two signs (fact, opinion). The teacher will read a statement. Each group will hold up either the fact or opinion card. This can also be applied to a story the students have read. Statements from the story will be read by the teacher and each group determines if it is a fact or opinion.

(b) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.



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Standard 2: Literature THIRD GRADE



Third Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ identifies and describes characters’ physical traits, basic

personality traits, and actions.

2. ▲ identifies and describes the setting (e.g., environment, time of day or year, historical period, situation, place) of the story or literary text.

The teacher…1. (a) models the use of a Character Map.

(b) models the use of a Character Map. The Character Map will be labeled with the character’s name in the middle and the other sections are labeled “What the Character Says and Does,” “What Others Think About the Character,” ”How the Character Looks and Feels,” and “How I Feel About the Character.” The teacher explains to the students that the Character Map will help them gather details about the character, how the character looks, thinks, feels, demonstrates what the character says, and what others think about the character. The teacher selects a story containing a very detailed character and actions for the character. After the teacher reads the story to the classroom and after discussion has taken place about the character, the teacher and students complete the Character Map. The students illustrate the character and displays the drawings.


(c) has the students draw and describe the character(s) from a text being studied.

2. (a) models literary element maps with the students.

(b) encourages student to locate words/phrases in the story that gives them clues to the setting/time period of the story and discuss why they have chosen those words

(c) divides the students into small groups and provides them with newspapers, magazines, etc. which contain illustrations or pictures representing the setting. The students use the pictures in a collage and explain their collage to the class or the students can illustrate their interpretation of the setting and share their drawing with the


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3. identifies plot sequence.

class.


3. (a) uses a "Rising Action" story map to visually show the progression of the plot.

(b) conducts group discussions in literature circles explaining the conflicts in a story. The teacher has the student discuss the author’s ideas and how they relate to their own ideas.

(c) provides opportunities for the students to role-play the conflicts or problems in a story.

(d) directs students to refer back to the text to confirm their responses to the conflicts or problems in a story.



Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature THIRD GRADE



Third Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. reads to connect personal experiences and ideas with those of

other cultures in literature.

2. compares and contrasts various languages, traditions, and cultures found in literature.


The teacher…1. (a) reads a multi-cultural story and has students identify traditional

customs from the culture. Students complete a Venn Diagram comparing the customs in the text with their own.

(b) during social studies, uses story mapping to map out the story of a historically significant person's life.

2. (a) provides a variety of text, multi-media and internet sources for students to use to identify customs from different cultures.

3. (a) engages the students in a discussion involving their personal experiences in relationship to the customs of the cultures in the social studies text. The students record their experiences in a double-entry journal.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading FOURTH GRADE



Fourth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses decoding skills that include knowledge of structural analysis

automatically when reading.

The teacher…1. (a) provides instruction in "chunking", including roots, affixes,

compounds, hyphenated forms, inflected and derived endings, contractions, and syllabication.

(b) provides instruction in how to use a graphic organizer, such as sunburst or spider, where the root word is placed in the center, and other words generated from that word are placed around the root word, and the connection of meanings is discussed.

(c) provides instruction through use of word walls.


Teacher Notes:


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Fourth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses knowledge of conventions (e.g., question marks, exclamation

points, commas, apostrophes, colons, semi-colons, dashes) to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels


The teacher…1. (a) links punctuation to body movements in order to illustrate the

impact of differing marks upon reading rate.

(b) guides students through daily oral language lessons.

(c) provides students with a short paragraph of narrative or expository text with all punctuation removed. Students read aloud the piece of text with a partner and add in the punctuation that would make the text read fluently. Pairs compare with other pair(s). Then, the teacher directs class discussion about the importance of punctuation and sentence structure in fluency.


2. (a) provides practice in expressive reading through pair-share reading, repeated oral reading, choral reading, tape-assisted reading, echo reading; uses NIM (neurological impress method) strategy.

(b) selects a series of sentence from a passage which would take a couple of minutes to read and tapes the students reading the passage. The teacher and students read the sentences using adequate pace and intonation. Next, the teacher reads the sentences using appropriate chunking of thought units. If students do not understand the chunking process, the teacher models the strategy for the students.

(c) models echo reading. The teacher reads a passage to the students. The second time the teacher reads the passage, the teacher reads a paragraph and has the students echo the teachers’ modeling by reading the same paragraph using the same intonation


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4. uses a variety of word-recognition strategies (e.g., practicing words in isolation, practicing reading words in text, orthographic patterns) to read fluently.

5. adjusts reading rate to support comprehension when reading narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.

and phrasing as the teacher.

(d) uses Paired Reading to provide practice in oral reading. This can be a reading pair between a student with an adult or a student with another student. One person in the pair must be able to model good reading fluency.

(e) uses the choral reading and Reader's Theater for students to practice fluent reading.

(f) allows time for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR).

3. (a) compares/contrasts sentences with a variety of different structures. The teacher leads a discussion of the meaning of each sentence.

4. (a) provides practice in: reading words in isolation using high- frequency words, reading words in text through reading at an independent level, and use of orthographic patterns through use of common word families.

5. (a) models changing reading rate depending on type of text and uses a think-aloud approach to explain changes in rate.

(b) provides opportunity to read various types of text at the student's independent reading level.

(c) reads aloud a text to students, using a think-aloud strategy to explain how he/she adjusted reading rate to improve comprehension. Students then silently and independently read another passage, noting where in the text they had to adjust their own reading rate. Students then participate in a discussion with peers regarding whether or not adjusting reading rate improved their understanding of the text. Repeat the same strategy using different text types (narrative, expository, technical, persuasive). Have students create a chart describing how they adjusted their own reading rate for each type of text.

(d) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to


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comprehend a longer passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their predictions into statements as they gather further information.





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Fourth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ determines the meaning of words or phrases by using context

clues (e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions) from sentences or paragraphs.

2. identifies and uses synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs to determine the meaning of words.

The teacher…(a) uses cloze reading strategies. The teacher selects a text of approximately 100 words. The teacher decides which words to be studied (e.g., adjectives). The teacher goes through the passage and deletes the adjective which students must determine after reading the passage. As a group, the teacher reads the passage with the blanks and asks the students to be thinking about which word would make sense in the sentences. The teacher has the students volunteer to fill in the blanks. Once all blanks have been completed, the teacher reads the passage using the selected fill in the blank words and the original passage. As a group, the teacher and students discuss the words chosen by the students and compares them to the words original words from the passage.

(b) uses a think-aloud instructional strategy

(c) models use of contextual processing.

(d) in social studies, assists the students in making word puzzles for unfamiliar vocabulary terms.

(e) conducts word search activities and word sorts. Word walls should be updated frequently and made a living part of the classroom.

(f) writes several sight words onto brightly colored shapes, then, puts them near the door. Each time the students line up to leave the room, the teacher reviews the selected sight words with them. Once the words have been mastered, the teacher has the students orally use the word in a sentence.

2. (a) provides opportunity to create personal word dictionaries, word walls, utilizes graphic organizers such as mind map, Venn Diagram, word storm, word sort, list/group/label.


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3. uses a dictionary or a glossary to determine an appropriate definition of a word or uses a thesaurus to expand vocabulary.

4. ▲ determines meaning of words through knowledge of word structure (e.g., compound nouns, contractions, ▲root words, ▲prefixes, ▲suffixes).

5. determines the meaning of figurative language by interpreting

(b) covers one word in a sentence with colored tape. Students use the rest of the sentence, picture, or paragraph to determine what the word could be and/or mean. The teacher asks students to explain how they knew, what clues the author gave in the text, and what the students already knew.

(c) selects a passage from a story and covers or deletes selected words utilizing the CLOZE method. Students provide the missing word.

(d) reads aloud and pauses periodically to allow students to predict the missing word.

(e) creates a cloze activity using sentence strips for pairs of homophones with a blank where the homophone should be. Students are given index cards with homophones on them. Sentence strips are displayed and students are then directed to use the index cards to place in the appropriate blank in a sentence strip. The teacher then leads a discussion about how students made decisions about which homophone was the correct one for each sentence strip. Next, students create their own set of cards with written homophones on them that can be kept in a discovery/learning center.

3. (a) models and explains the importance of reference materials

(b) provides opportunity for group processing (e.g., agree/disagree) that requires use of dictionary, glossary, and thesaurus.

(c) directs students to create a personal glossary of unknown content words and list from which reference the word/definition was found.

(d) provides a sample dictionary page and uses it to provide direct instruction on the various parts of the dictionary page

4. (a) creates paper train cars - engine, prefixes; the regular car, the root word; and the caboose is the suffix. Students manipulate the cars with various prefixes and suffixes, as well as roots.

5. (a) uses instructional strategy where teacher, then students, lists the


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similes, metaphors, and idioms.

6. identifies the connotation and denotation of new words.

object, what it's compared to, and how the object looks/feels/smells/tastes; uses hierarchical graphic

(b) has students illustrate the metaphor or idiom and then a peer guesses what the illustration represents.

(c) teacher explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.

6. (a) writes the following words on the board: freedom, justice, peace, eagle. Then the teacher asks the students how these words make them feel. The students are asked to look up and identify the definitions of these words (denotation meaning). Students will break into small groups and draw a picture of one of the words on the board (example: eagle), then, has students draw a picture of an eagle and discuss within their groups what the word means to them (connotation meaning).

(b) in social studies, explains how various symbols are used to depict America's shared values, principles, and beliefs. During social studies, the teacher will explain how words and symbols (e.g., eagle, flag, seals, pledge) bring about certain feelings of patriotism.



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Teacher Notes:


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Fourth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies characteristics of narrative, expository, technical, and

persuasive texts.

2. ▲understands the purpose of text features (e.g., title, ▲graphs/charts and maps, ▲table of contents, ▲pictures/illustrations, ▲boldface type, ▲italics, glossary, index, headings, subheadings, topic and summary sentences, captions) and uses such features to locate information in and to gain meaning from appropriate-level texts.

3. uses prior knowledge and content to make, revise, and confirm predictions.

The teacher…1. (a) provides brief descriptions of text characteristics using simple

words.

(b) teaches student signal words and text features to help identify text types (e.g., First, Next, In addition, Then,).

(c) teaches student to find signal words through skimming and scanning.

2. (a) utilizes scavenger hunt for finding text features.

(b) questions how text features impact meaning during a read-aloud.

(c) during social studies class, lists and describes the characteristics and purposes of maps (e.g., title, legend, compass rose).

(d) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as headings, subheadings, boldface type, pictures/illustrations, etc.

3. (a) uses DRTA (Directed Reading and Thinking Activity).


(c) uses KWL graphic organizer.

(d) uses a graphic organizer with two columns during read-aloud: what do you think will happen, what actually happened.

(e) uses anticipation guides.

(f) encourages collaborative reading with the students. The teacher


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selects a short passage or novel to read to the students. The teacher asks the students to predict what will happen in the story based on the title. The teacher reads the story using proper intonation and rate. After a few paragraphs or chapters, the students are encouraged to read out loud and follow along with the story. As the story progresses, the teacher encourages prediction by asking the students, “What do you think will happen next?” “Do you agree with what the character did?” If using a short passage, the students read the passage several times with the teacher. Once the students are familiar and comfortable with the text, the students are encouraged to read the passage alone. At this time, the teacher prompts the students, if help is necessary.

(g) leads the students in a discussion through a narrative or expository passage using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The teacher discusses with the students what they predict the author will say, reads to confirm and revise predictions and responses. The teacher and students discus the responses and strategies used to confirm predictions.

4. (a) uses reciprocal teaching such as by using KWL graphic organizer.

(b) uses directed reading activity; uses "Think Trix".


5. (a) uses the QAR Strategy Writer and Me; models self-questioning strategy where the student identifies clues/vocabulary words from text to establish context and describe the bigger picture; teaches "reading between the line" strategy from Six Trait Reading; models use of the GRIP (Generative-Reciprocal Inference Procedure) strategy.

(b) has the students use vocabulary/key words from text to make predictions and draw conclusions from the text. The teacher discusses these predictions with the students before, during, and after


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7. ▲ compares and contrasts information (e.g., topics, characters' traits, themes, problem-solution, cause-effect relationships) in one or more appropriate-level text(s) and identifies compare/contrast signal words.

8. ▲ links causes and effects in appropriate-level narrative and expository texts.

9. ▲ retells main ideas or events as well as supporting details in appropriate-level narrative, expository, and technical texts.

reading the text.

6. (a) models use of graphic organizers and text cues/signal words

(b) models use of sticky notes to mark problem-solution, cause-effect, etc.

7. (a) during social studies, has students compare and contrast the human characteristics, and physical processes and characteristics of two or more regions of the United States using compare and contrast charts, Venn Diagrams, or other graphic representations. Then discusses the characteristics.

(b) models use of comparison and contrast graphic organizers, such as Venn Diagram.

(c) and students read together from the text. As the students read, they put a sticky note with a frowning face when they identify a problem and a smiley face when they identify a solution. A sticky note with a baseball bat identifies a cause and one with a baseball identifies an effect.

(d) in science, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

(e) in biology, emphasizes that finding a cure for a disease is a problem-solution.

8. (a) models use of cause-effect graphic organizers (with familiar situations prior to use with text).

(b) models and then directs the students to highlight the cause in one color and the effect in another color on a portion of copied text.

9. (a) uses art activities to retell the main events in the story. The teacher models how to make a four-sided diorama. One each side of the diorama, the student will either draw pictures of or make 3-D diagrams of different elements of the story which portray the main idea and supporting details.


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10. ▲ identifies the topic, main idea(s), and supporting details in appropriate-level texts.

11. ▲ identifies the author’s purpose (e.g., to persuade, ▲to entertain, ▲to inform).

12. establishes a purpose for reading or listening (e.g., to be informed, to follow directions, to be entertained).

13. follows directions explained in technical text.

14. ▲ distinguishes between fact and opinion in various types of appropriate-level texts.


(c) during social studies, has the students retell by role play using bartering as Kansas Indian tribes would have.

(d) teacher and students determine the main idea by using text in which the main idea is clear and follows a logical order. Then, the students highlight significant details which support the main idea. This activity can be completed in a reverse fashion as well.

10. (a) encourages students to recall important information by taking notes or making marginal notations, outlining, highlighting, or underlining;

(b) models use of graphic organizers such as triangle, hamburger, plot chart, Herringbone.

11. (a) uses think-pair-share activity.

(b) uses questioning the author activity.

12. (a) models use of skim and scan.

(b) instructs using the Directed Reading Activity (DRA). Discusses the subject with the students to gather prior knowledge, to introduce new vocabulary, and to discuss the purpose for reading.

(c) uses DRTA (Directed Reading and Thinking Activity).

13. (a) models taking notes from the text, including marginal notation uses pause and reflect activity.

(b) does think-aloud activity modeling recall of directions.

14. (a) models use of sticky notes to mark pieces of evidence. To identify opinion, students locate cue words, such as evaluative words (e.g., I think, it appears that) and uses a sticky note to mark those pieces of opinion.


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(b) models use of predict and evaluate strategy.

(c) models use of graphic organizer for analyzing two different persuasive positions.

(d) uses discussion web; models use of evidence organizer.

(e) teaches student to locate cue words, such as evaluative words

(f) uses T-Chart to have students compare the facts versus the opinions within the text.

(g) during social studies class, will group the students into small groups and assist the students in dividing a poster board into two columns. On one side, students will write words with opinions regarding controversial historical issues. On the other side, the students will write words which represent historical facts. Once this process is completed, the students will share their work with other classmates and discuss the “fact vs. opinion” sides of the poster.

(h) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.

(The instructional examples provided in this document are only examples of teaching strategies and are not intended to endorse any one specific idea or concept. These


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examples should not be used exclusively for instruction.)Teacher Notes: Promote reading habits with students (especially those students with limited resources at home) by allowing them opportunities to check out personal-interest books from the school library.



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Standard 2: Literature FOURTH GRADE



Fourth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ identifies and describes characters’ physical traits, personality

traits, and feelings, and explains reasons for characters' actions and the consequences of those actions.

2. ▲ identifies and describes the setting (e.g., environment, time of day or year, historical period, situation, place) of the story or literary text.

The teacher…1. (a) models use of graphic organizer, such as Character Map

(b) models use of sticky notes to mark aspects of characterization in text.

(c) develops a two-column graphic organizer. The first column is labeled "Character Actions," and the second, "Consequences." Teacher facilitates a discussion about the various actions of the current literature selection's characters and the consequences. As the discussion ensues, the teacher completes the graphic organizer. Students, in pairs, then use the graphic organizer, find other actions by the characters and identify the consequences.

(f) models story mapping.

2. (a) models use of graphic organizer to organize the setting(s) within the text.

(b) models use of sticky notes to mark aspects of setting in text.

(c) emphasizes to the students must find clues about the setting, actually visualize the setting, and they need to read the setting to learn more about characters and the mood of the story.

(d) uses a familiar story known by the students. Then the teacher instructs the students to give the story a new setting (the beach, Alaska, etc.). In pairs, students brainstorm how the story would change due to the change in setting. Would the characters be found in that setting? Would the actions of the characters change?

(g) models story mapping.


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3. ▲ identifies or describes the major conflict in a story and how it is resolved.

3. (a) models use of problem-solution graphic organizers, such as story map.

(b) uses instructional activity where students mark problem with frowning face and solution with smiling face.

(c) explains that conflict in literature is the problem faced by, or the goal of the main character(s) of a story. Further, students must also know that to every conflict in literature there are attempts to solve the conflict as well as a resolution.




Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature FOURTH GRADE



Fourth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. describes aspects of history and culture found in works of literature.



The teacher…1. (a) using a timeline, has the students look at pictures of artifacts of a

specific time period, then assists students to develop an awareness of artifacts of the period being studied.

(b) in social studies, has students write a play based on a folk song or story that describes a part of Kansas history.

2. (a) models use of graphic organizers, such as a two or three-circle Venn Diagram to compare and contrasts languages, traditions, and cultures from among two or more cultures.

(b) shares literature that illustrates the various holidays in the United States and then compares them with other celebrations throughout the world. Whenever possible teachers should show visuals, such as pictures and videos of the various cultural celebrations prior to presenting the topic. In social studies, has students compare and contrast the purpose of the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails (e.g., commercial, immigration).

(c) in social studies, has the students compare and contrast ways people communicate with each other at this time and long ago.

3. (a) models use of graphic organizers, such as a Venn Diagram or comparison chart.

(b) in social studies, has the students describe the hardships that travelers encountered on the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails (e.g., lack of water, mountains and rivers to cross, weather, need for medical care, size of wagon). The teacher has students identify any hardships they too may have had to overcome.


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Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading FIFTH GRADE



Fifth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student… The teacher…


Teacher Notes:


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Fifth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses knowledge of conventions (e.g., question marks, exclamation

points, commas, apostrophes, asterisks, ampersands) and text features to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels.


The teacher…1. (a) uses Punctuation Carousel for students who struggle with

conventions or for review. Students create actions for each of the punctuation marks being studied. The students walk in a circle while the teacher reads a sentence. As each punctuation occurs in a sentence, the student performs the appropriate action.

(b) has the students create a visual image that expresses the function of a given punctuation mark.


(d) gives the students a printed copy of a short poem. Students highlight all punctuation and then practice reading aloud using correct punctuation. Then have one student or teacher read aloud without using the correct punctuation. Other students comment or discuss how the punctuation changes the meaning.

2. (a) uses the choral reading and Reader's Theater for students to practice fluent reading.

(b) uses Paired Reading to provide practice in oral reading. This can be a reading pair between a student with an adult or a student with another student. One person in the pair must be able to model good reading fluency.

(c) models for students while reading aloud by using a Think Aloud strategy.

(d) uses Repeated Reading as a strategy to focus attention on pace, phrasing, intonation and rhythm. Students read and reread a text to


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4. uses a variety of word-recognition strategies (e.g., practicing words in isolation, practicing reading words in text, orthographic patterns) to read fluently.


increase fluency.

(e) works with the music teacher to find a variety of musical selections to use as examples of pace, phrasing and rhythm.

(f) uses choral reading of poetry. Stanzas or lines can be assigned to various groups of students. Narrative poems may be divided into parts based on the character who is speaking. Several books of poetry are written specifically in multiple voices for choral reading.

(g) selects a series of sentence from a passage which would take a couple of minutes to read and tapes the students reading the passage. The teacher and students read the sentences using adequate pace and intonation. Next, the teacher reads the sentences using appropriate chunking of thought units. If students do not understand the chunking process, the teacher models the strategy for the students.

(h) allows time for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR).

3. (a) creates sentences that are not fluent. Students read these sentences aloud and discuss the fluency. Students rewrite sentences to be more fluent and then read aloud again.

4. (a) uses Word Sorts. Students are given a variety of words and they sort them according to affixes, compounds, root words, etc. in order to focus on the patterns.

(b) uses Paired Reading or Repeated Reading as a way to practice words in text.

5. (a) has students read two pieces of text on the same theme but each in a different text type. After reading, students compare/contrast “how” they adjusted the rate for each and “why”. This process is repeated at various times throughout the year with contrasting text types.

(b) selects a short passage of text in any of the four text types. Students are given a one minute time limit to read it. After reading, discuss how well they comprehended. Would their comprehension


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have increased with more time? Would it have increased if the text type were different (narrative vs. one of the other types)?

(c) models for students while reading aloud. The teacher slows down and rereads if necessary for comprehension.

(d) reads aloud a text to students, using a think-aloud strategy to explain how he/she adjusted reading rate to improve comprehension. Students then silently and independently read another passage, noting where in the text they had to adjust their own reading rate. Students then participate in a discussion with peers regarding whether or not adjusting reading rate improved their understanding of the text. Repeat the same strategy using different text types (narrative, expository, technical, persuasive). Have students create a chart describing how they adjusted their own reading rate for each type of text.

(e) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend a longer passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their predictions into statements as they gather further information.



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Fifth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ determines the meaning of words or phrases by using context

clues (e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions) from sentences or paragraphs.

2. uses synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs to determine the meaning of words.

The teacher…1. (a) facilitates students in the creation of posters that have each of the

types of context clues defined with examples given. Students and teacher refer to this poster throughout the year.

(b) uses cloze reading strategies. The teacher selects a text of approximately 200 words. The teacher decides which words to be studied (e.g., adjectives). The teacher goes through the passage and deletes the adjective which students must determine after reading the passage. As a group, the teacher reads the passage with the blanks and asks the students to be thinking about which word would make sense in the sentences. The teacher has the students volunteer to fill in the blanks. Once all blanks have been completed, the teacher reads the passage using the selected fill in the blank words and the original passage. As a group, the teacher and students discuss the words chosen by the students and compares them to the words original words from the passage.

(c) creates Bellwork or Sponge Activities around context clues. For example, students are directed to find an example of the context clue, definition, in some text in the room or in their independent reading.

2. (a) has students play Password as a way to focus on synonyms or antonyms. Students are paired and two pairs are selected to begin. One person in each pair is given a word and must "convey" the meaning of the word to his/her partner using synonyms or antonyms. Each pair takes turns giving clues. Audience members write down the words they would use to convey the hidden word to the partner. Students share their words after the word has been discovered. Pairs are rotated in after each round.

(b) uses a drama strategy. Teacher assigns cooperative groups of three or four students a set of words. Each group member is given a


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3. chooses reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, glossaries, thesauri, on-line reference materials) appropriate to the task.

4. ▲determines meaning of words through knowledge of word structure (e.g., contractions, ▲root words, ▲prefixes, ▲suffixes).

5. determines the meaning of figurative language by interpreting similes, metaphors, idioms, analogies, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, and personification.

role: Actor, Director, or Coach. The actor acts the word out. The Director distributes the words and directs the presentation. The Coach keeps the group on task and encourages. Roles change with each new word and groups present to their words to the class.

(c) gives students an open-ended sentence such as "__________ character is precocious." Students then come up with synonyms or antonyms that are also associated with the character. Any character can be used from literature being used in the classroom.

(d) creates a word wall to support students’ use of synonyms.

(e) in social studies, assists the students in making word puzzles for unfamiliar vocabulary terms.

3. (a) asks students a question regarding in which resource the information would be found; the student indicates the resource in which to find the information.

(b) chooses information to be researched at the interest level of the students, and creates a Scavenger Hunt which requires them to identify the appropriate reference material associated with a given question, NOT the actual research information.

4. (a) uses Word Sorts to focus students' attention on various contractions, root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

(b) uses direct instruction in meanings of prefixes and suffixes.

(c) sorts words by prefix and suffix and shows the students how the root word meanings are changed by changing the prefix or suffix.

5. (a) uses direct instruction in similes and metaphors using graphic organizers. For example, the organizers for metaphors has four boxes; two at the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom.

(b) has students create a visual example or drawing of the literal version of an idiom and then below the picture write the figurative meaning, or the figurative meaning is inferred by students in a Museum Walk.


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6. recognizes the differences between the meanings of connotation and denotation.

(c) uses art work to help students visualize and create similes. Provide a picture and a three-column graphic organizer labeled Object, What it Makes You Think Of, and How it looks, sounds or moves. Model for students by saying something like, "The tree in this painting reminds me of flame." Complete the graphic organizer with students. "The object is the tree. It makes me think of a flame. A flame dances and flickers." After students have generated several examples for the organizer, they create a three-line poem that begins, "Welcome to the World where…" Students complete the poem by selecting similes from the graphic organizer or creating new ones of their own. (Welcome to the world where a tree dances and flickers like a flame….) This creates a good variety of work around a central theme and is wonderful to post around the room.

(d) uses a variety of graphic organizers to help illustrate the various forms of figurative language.

(e) uses examples from literature and creates a class book of figurative language.

(f) explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.

(g) explains to students to look for the signal words “is to” and “as” when finding analogies.

6. (a) takes examples from literature that shows positive and negative connotations about the same word (e.g., a specific author was a prolific author, or she was long-winded.)

(b) can use a Semantic Feature Analysis with two of the categories being positive connotation or negative connotation.

(c) has students write synonyms of a word, such as "thrifty," on sticky notes. Students then place the synonyms they generated in one of two categories labeled Positive Connotation and Negative Connotation. Class discusses what makes each positive or negative.


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Teacher Notes:


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Fifth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies characteristics of narrative, expository, technical, and

persuasive texts.

2. ▲ understands the purpose of text features (e.g., title, ▲graphs/charts and maps, ▲table of contents, ▲pictures/illustrations, ▲boldface type, ▲italics, ▲glossary, ▲index, ▲headings, ▲subheadings, topic and summary sentences, ▲captions) and uses such features to locate information in and to gain meaning from appropriate-level texts.

3. uses prior knowledge, content, and text features to make, revise, and confirm predictions.

The teacher…1. (a) labels four chart papers with each of the four text types. Teacher

and students add characteristics as they are determined through class discussion and instruction.

2. (a) creates a text Scavenger Hunt focusing on text features and their function within the text.

(b) points out specific text features in a Shared Reading with students and initiates a discussion as to their purposes - especially for boldface type and italics.

(c) during social studies, group the students into groups of 3-4. The teacher gives each group a Kansas road map and instructs the students in the groups to write questions that can be answered using the map, legend, scale, and grid system. They must also make an answer key to accompany their questions. The teacher compiles the questions and distributes them to the other groups to answer.

(d) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as headings, subheadings, boldface type, pictures/illustrations, etc.

3. (a) uses a KWL graphic organizer to focus on prediction use.


(c) creates and models an Anticipation Guide to access prior knowledge and make predictions. Students record their thoughts and opinions, then read to check the accuracy of their prior knowledge.

(d) models and uses a vocabulary strategy to help students activate prior knowledge. For narrative, students are given a list of words or


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phrases from the text. They must categorize the words according to story elements (setting, characters, events/actions, problem/goal, resolution, and theme). Once completed, they compose a written prediction about the text they will read. For expository text, students are given a list of words or phrases from the text they will read. They must then categorize the words according to Problem/Solution, Cause/Effect, main idea and details, description, sequence, or compare/contrast (are the words part of the problem, or part of the solution?). They then write a written prediction about the piece they will be reading. Finally, regardless of text type, the students revise or confirm their predictions.

(e) models use of SQ3R to aid students comprehension of text.

(f) encourages collaborative reading with the students. The teacher selects a short passage or novel to read to the students. The teacher asks the students to predict what will happen in the story based on the title. The teacher reads the story using proper intonation and rate. After a few paragraphs or chapters, the students are encouraged to read out loud and follow along with the story. As the story progresses, the teacher encourages prediction by asking the students, “What do you think will happen next?” “Do you agree with what the character did?” If using a short passage, the students read the passage several times with the teacher. Once the students are familiar and comfortable with the text, the students are encouraged to read the passage alone. At this time, the teacher prompts the students, if help is necessary.

(g) leads the students in a discussion through a narrative or expository passage using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The teacher discusses with the students what they predict the author will say, reads to confirm and revise predictions and responses. The teacher and students discus the responses and strategies used to confirm predictions.

4. (a) uses higher order questions stems to assist students in question generation.

(b) creates a set of six cards with each card representing one level of Bloom's Taxonomy. The teacher models by asking a question


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7. ▲ compares and contrasts varying aspects (e.g., topics, characters' traits, themes, problem-solution, cause-effect relationships) in one or more appropriate-level texts.

about the current text being read based on each of the respective cards. After practice, students could write their own questions using similar cards.


(d) models questioning through read alouds to class.

5. (a) models making inferences and drawing conclusions by using a think aloud.

(b) models making inferences and drawing conclusions by using optical illusions such as the "Old Lady/Young Lady.

(c) uses vocabulary/key words to have students make predictions and draw conclusions from the text.

6. (a) finds short examples of each type of text structure (often easily located in a social studies or science textbook). Teacher and students analyze the text to determine the elements of each structure and why the author selected that particular type for that specific information.

(b) creates examples when the text structure isn't effective for the author's purpose.

(c) uses a variety of picture books to demonstrate each type of text structure.

7. (a) uses various compare/contrast graphic organizers, such as a Venn Diagram, cause-effect, or problem-solution graphic organizers.

(b) during social studies, has students compare and contrast the human characteristics, and physical processes and characteristics of two or more regions of the United States using compare and contrast charts, Venn Diagrams, or other graphic representations.


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8. ▲ links causes and effects in appropriate-level narrative, expository, and technical texts, and identifies signal words related to cause-effect relationships.

9. ▲ retells main ideas or events as well as supporting details in appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.

(c) provides students with sticky notes and as students read they put a sticky note with a frowning face when they identify a problem and a smiley face when they identify a solution. A sticky note with a baseball bat identifies a cause and one with a hit ball identifies an effect.

(d) in science, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

(e) in biology, emphasizes that finding a cure for a disease is a problem-solution.

8. (a) uses the ball and bat described in the previous instructional example to create posters for signal words.

(b) has students work in pairs to determine cause-effect relationships in which students create the cause for a given effect or vice versa (e.g., _____________ because the sidewalk was wet. The ten-year-old shouted at his mother so,_________.) Students can create their own relationship puzzles for one another.

(c) models and then directs the students to highlight the cause in one color and the effect in another color on a portion of copied text.

9. (a) models and uses graphic organizers such as Story Frames (for narrative text) or an outline to retell text.


(c) models and uses SWBS or Somebody/Something Wanted But So. “Somebody” is the character or subject, “wanted” is the goal, “but” is the problem and “so” is the solution. Example: Goldilocks (Somebody) wanted some food (Wanted) but the porridge was too hot (But) so she tried the other bowl.

(d) uses oral retellings using a variety of texts. Students can share in pairs or small groups rather than whole class.


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10. ▲ identifies the topic, main idea(s), supporting details, and theme(s) in appropriate-level texts.

(e) models and uses an outline to retell a paragraph or section of a story or article, The students, show understanding by outlining to retell a different paragraph or section of the same story or article.

10. (a) models and uses graphic organizers to help students visualize the relationship among topic, main idea and supporting details

(b) facilitates students in an activity looking at the impact of supporting details on the main idea and topic. The teacher makes a large triangle out of yarn divided into three horizontal sections. Students are given cards with a detail on each one. For example, each student has a card with a different form of transportation. They place their card in the bottom of the triangle. The teacher asks students what major category the cards represent. Then the teacher asks what the cards are mainly about. The teacher asks certain students to take their cards away and again asks what the cards are mainly about. This shows the relationship of the details to the main idea.

(c) teaches the idea of theme by having students generate a list of movies all students have seen until they reach of list of 5. Then, students are divided into groups and asked to complete the statement, _________(movie title), a story about _______. Students may need to work from a list of typical story themes from a wall chart: courage, equality, revenge, desire, dreams, imagination, suffering, family, loneliness, fears, prejudice, growing up, love, etc. (the author's ideas about the subject).

(d) in social studies, uses the text or other secondary sources to construct a table that summarizes geographic, political, economic, and religious reasons that brought settlers to Kansas. Label the sections of the table “Topic”, “Main Idea”, and “Supporting Details”.

(e) models the Herringbone Technique answer the questions “Who?’, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?”, “How?”, and “Why?” questions on an organizer shaped like a fish. The students read to find the main idea and to find answers to the questions. The students write the main idea of the story across the backbone of the fish and on lines stemming out from the fish, they write answers to the


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11. ▲ identifies the author’s purpose (e.g., to persuade, to entertain, to inform).

12. establishes a purpose for reading (e.g., to be informed, to follow directions, to be entertained, to solve problems).


questions “Who is the author talking about?”, “What did they do?”, “When did they do it?”, “Where did they do it?”, “How did they do it?”, and “Why did they do it?”

11. (a) creates 3 wall charts, a separate one for persuade, entertain and inform. Each chart has two columns with one column labeled "If the Author Uses…" and the other column labeled "The Author's Purpose Might Be…" The chart is filled in as different texts are read. For example, the "persuade" chart might record, "If the author uses strong language and an arguing tone, the purpose might be to persuade." Additional characteristics are added as other texts are read and discussed by the class.

12. (a) creates situations which require students to analyze a variety of texts and discuss their purposes. The teacher chooses a text to model with the students. Students read the piece of text and together the class completes an organizer entitled "If I Were the Author." This organizer poses four reflections which include: Things about this book/story that I would be proud of; Things about this book/story that I would change; The purpose I wrote this text for is…; and the words and phrases I used to give the reader signals about the purpose are… Following this, students are given another short selection of text to work through the same activity in pairs or small groups. This is an activity which can be repeated several times during the year.

(b) instructs using the Directed Reading Activity (DRA). Discusses the subject with the students to gather prior knowledge, to introduce new vocabulary, and to discuss the purpose for reading. The teacher helps the students develop logical questions to aid in comprehension of the text.

13. (a) provides a variety of opportunities for students to read technical text and follow the directions. For example, students read directions on how to program a DVD player. Discuss with students the strategies they used in reading the text to successfully complete the task. (Other examples: follow a recipe, set up a science experiment, follow written directions that includes a map, etc.)

(b) provides experiences for students to write directions. Teacher


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14. identifies evidence that supports conclusions in persuasive text.

15. ▲ distinguishes between fact and opinion and recognizes propaganda (e.g., advertising, media) in various types of appropriate-level texts.

models effective technical writing by writing a set of directions for some type of activity. Students analyze teacher directions and give suggestions for improvement. After, students create a list of criteria for writing effective directions. This list is then used to guide students in writing their own set of directions for an activity of their choosing. Once completed, students trade examples and attempt to follow the directions written by their peers. A debriefing discussion should follow about why the directions were or were not effective and how they might be changed.

(c) asks students to write directions for putting on a jacket. Then the students take turns reading their directions aloud. The teacher follows the directions but does not do anything that is not listed. For example, if the directions say, “Pick up the jacket”. The teacher may pick up the jacket with his/her elbows. Discuss how technical reading/writing requires background knowledge.

14. (a) uses graphic organizers to help students visualize evidence and support. The teacher chooses a piece of persuasive text, and models for the class the process of looking for the support for the author’s viewpoint or for a conclusion drawn from the author's text. A two-column graphic organizer can be used to help students see the connection between evidence and conclusions. One column is labeled viewpoint or conclusion and the second is labeled support. The teacher moves through the text thinking aloud as he/she draws conclusions about the author's viewpoint and then points out the support found in the text. After modeling, students work in groups working through the same activity.

15. (a) uses media (videotape commercials, magazine and newspaper ads, etc.) to help illustrate for students the differences among a variety of propaganda techniques such as bandwagon, either/or, oversimplification, circular thinking, loaded words, etc.. Definitions can be created or given for each of the techniques being studied. Students then view a commercial, look at a newspaper ad, or a billboard and analyze it looking for the techniques being used. The teacher should preview the material used and evaluate the use of propaganda ahead of time. A class discussion can follow. This activity can be used several times with various techniques.


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(b) provides students with a short piece of nonfiction text and four note cards. Students read the text and identify three facts they find within it, as well as one opinion. Students pair up and compare the facts and opinions they found.

(c) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.





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Standard 2: Literature FIFTH GRADE



Fifth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ identifies and describes characters' physical traits, personality

traits, and feelings, and explains reasons for characters' actions and the consequences of those actions.

2. ▲ identifies and describes the setting (e.g., environment, time of day or year, historical period, situation, place) and explains the importance of the setting to the story or literary text.

The teacher…1. (a) organizes a game called Hot Seat. In this activity, students are

divided into cooperative groups and each group is assigned a character from the selection of literature being read. Each group is charged with the mission of becoming an "expert" on the character they are assigned. They should identify and describe their character's physical traits, personality traits, feelings about self and other characters or events, and the reasons for their actions during the story. A graphic organizer can be helpful for this stage of the activity. A second mission of the group is to come up with a variety of questions they would ask about the other characters. Question stems are important to have for this portion of the activity. After groups have had time to develop their expertise, one group is asked to come to the front of the room to be put on the "Hot Seat." The selected group sits in a semi-circle facing the class while the audience poses questions. As each question is asked, the group puts their heads together to come up with a team answer and select one member to share it. This activity generally takes more than one day to complete. It is worthwhile because it provides security in participation due to the "group answer" and focuses on a wide range of questioning from simple recall to in-depth analysis.


(c) has the students role play a character from a story. The roll playing should reveal the character's physical traits, personality traits, feelings about self and express the reasons for those actions during the story.

2. (a) models how vocabulary implies the setting of a story or literary text. Teacher chooses an excerpt of text and photocopies it onto an overhead, as well as having a hard copy for students. The teacher thinks aloud while moving through the text and highlighting or


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3. ▲ identifies and describes the major conflict in a story and major events related to the conflict (e.g., problem or conflict, climax, resolution).

4. understands that theme refers to the main idea (implied or stated), meaning of a selection, and includes the author’s ideas about the subject.

underlining the vocabulary that implies the environment, time of day/year, historical period, culture, situation, or place. After, the students are provided with another selection and asked to work with a partner to repeat the process with the new text.

(b) reads a variety of picture books that take place in a wide range of settings or reads two books that tell the same story but have different settings. Many folktales or fairytales can be found in multiple cultures which reflect a variety of settings.

(c) allows students to create illustrations of the setting of the text using a variety of art mediums. Then have students reread the text to compare their illustrations to the actual text.

(c) models story mapping.

3. (a) models the use of a story map graphic organizer that focuses on those elements related to plot including the events that led up to the conflict, the conflict, turning moments, the climax and the resolution.

(b) models the use of sticky notes as a strategy to help students label turning moments in a text. The teacher selects a story and models for the student how to move through the text identifying and marking with a sticky note the problem or conflict, the climax or the resolution in the text.


(d) models story mapping.

4. (a) facilitates students in an activity looking at the impact of vocabulary words and phrases on the theme of a selection. The teacher makes a large triangle out of yarn divided into two horizontal sections. Students are given cards with a word or phrases from a story on each one. All students place their card in the bottom of the triangle. The teacher asks students what major category the cards represent (e.g., friendship, loyalty, prejudice). The teacher asks certain students to take their card away and again asks what the


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cards are mainly about. This shows the relationship of the details to the theme.



Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature FIFTH GRADE



Fifth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. understands the effects history and cultures may have on works of

literature.



The teacher…1. (a) uses author studies as a way to look at how the culture effects

literature.

(b) uses books from specific eras in history to determine the impact on literature. Teacher and students look at the themes and topics of the books and discuss what was going on in history during that time.

2. (a) has the students write evaluations on which book (listed below under notes) most affected them. Students give specific reasons why they chose the selection. References to the text, including quotations, are made.

(b) models use of graphic organizers, such as a two or three-circle Venn Diagram to show the similarities and differences between traditions within a single text and between different texts.

(c) in social studies, shares literature that illustrates the various holidays in the United States and then compares them with other celebrations throughout the world. Whenever possible teachers should show visuals, such as pictures and videos of the various cultural celebrations prior to presenting the topic. In social studies, has students compare and contrast the purpose of the Santa Fe and Oregon-California Trails (e.g., commercial, immigration).

(d) in social studies, has the students compare and contrast ways people communicate with each other at this time and long ago.

3. (a) reads a book with characteristics of a distinct geographic area and discusses the special characteristics of the area. Students then research a part of the US or another country and create their own poem based on the format of the book.


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(b) finds a story or uses picture books that show homes from other areas or countries. Then have students draw a picture of their own homes and compare to the homes they have read about.

(c) draw a picture of their home from the US and compare it with homes from other cultures or areas of the US.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading SIXTH GRADE



Sixth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student… The teacher…


Teacher Notes:


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Sixth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses knowledge of conventions and text features to read fluently at

instructional or independent reading levels.


3. uses knowledge of complex sentence structure to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels.

The teacher…1. (a) prepares two different paragraphs for each the different text

types, copies them onto large pieces of butcher paper, and posts them onto the walls around the room. Then the teacher has students prepare four note cards placing one of the four text types onto each note card. The teacher reads the paragraph and the students identify, using the note cards, which text type has been read. Then the students read the paragraphs and discuss how they had to adapt their reading rate for each text type.

(b) provides students with a model text that uses a variety of conventions and text features. The teacher guides students to identify significant conventions and text features and discuss how these conventions might interrupt a fluent oral reading of the text. Then, class participates in a choral reading of the text. Next, the teacher presents students with a similar text to interpret and read aloud (independently or in pairs) fluently.

2. (a) arranges to have the students read to younger students. The students practice their reading selection before reading aloud fluently to the younger students.

(b) uses Reader's Theatre selections to have students practice reading expressively. The students then present this to another group of students.

3. (a) models for the students how to read phrases within complex sentences fluently.

(b) provides students with a sample passages that differ with regard to complexity of sentence structure to compare. Class participates in choral reading of the texts in order to illustrate the relationship between sentence structure and fluency. Students, then,


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4. uses a variety of word-recognition strategies (e.g., orthographic patterns, reading and writing text) to read fluently.


independently select a text and prepare an oral recitation.

4. (a) guides the students in various forms of word study (e.g., prefixes, root words, suffixes, word families, word walls).

(b) finds a content in which unfamiliar vocabulary words are introduced.

(c) allows students the opportunity to practice decoding strategies, then, students discuss how they decoded the word and arrived at an acceptable meaning.

(d) makes a conscious effort over time to model the correct use and pronunciation of vocabulary so that students have the opportunity to hear the word used correctly. The teacher provides students opportunities to practice using vocabulary words orally in on-going classroom activities.

5. (a) asks the students to read a comic strip that is presented on an overhead. Then students read a paragraph from a science or social studies text (also on transparency). The students discuss how they adjusted their reading rate. Note: Be sure to enlarge the copy so all students can read the transparency.

(b) reads aloud a text to students, using a think-aloud strategy to explain how he/she adjusted reading rate to improve comprehension. Students then silently and independently read another passage, noting where in the text they had to adjust their own reading rate. Students then participate in a discussion with peers regarding whether or not adjusting reading rate improved their understanding of the text. Repeat the same strategy using different text types (narrative, expository, technical, persuasive). Have students create a chart describing how they adjusted their own reading rate for each type of text.

(e) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend a longer passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their


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predictions into statements as they gather further information.



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Sixth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ determines the meaning of words or phrases using context clues

(e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, clue words) from sentences or paragraphs.

2. uses synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and homographs to determine the meaning of words.

The teacher…1. (a) chooses a text or an article that contains unfamiliar text that can

be supported through the contextual information. The students read the article in cooperative groups and highlight and list unfamiliar text onto a sheet of paper. After the activity, the teacher asks students to write the unfamiliar text onto an index card for the word wall. Then, the teacher reads the text to the student and brainstorms with students which context helped them understand the unfamiliar text. The students are asked to underline the text used for understanding the unfamiliar word.

(b) in social studies, assists the students in making word/definition puzzles for new vocabulary terms.

(c) uses cloze reading strategies. The teacher selects a text of approximately 300 words. The teacher decides which words to be studied (e.g., adjectives, adverbs, nouns). The teacher goes through the passage and deletes the words which students must determine after reading the passage. The teacher reads the passage with the blanks and asks the students to be thinking about which word would make sense in the sentences. The teacher has the students work in pairs to fill in the blanks. Once all blanks have been completed, the teacher has the pairs of students read their choices to the other students. As a group, the teacher and students discuss the words chosen by the students and compares them to the words original words from the passage.

2. (a) writes a list of words on the board and randomly asks the students to approach the board, choose a word, and write its antonym. Next, the teacher divides the students into groups of three and instructs them to brainstorm a list of six words and their antonyms. Then, the teacher might have the students compose an appropriate song using the antonyms which they have chosen or


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3. understands and uses the references available in the classroom, school, and public libraries (e.g., dictionaries, thesauri, atlases, encyclopedias, internet) that are appropriate to the task.

4. ▲ determines meaning of words through knowledge of word structure (e.g., ▲root words, ▲prefixes, ▲suffixes).

5. ▲ identifies and determines the meaning of figurative language including ▲similes, ▲metaphors, ▲analogies, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, personification, and idioms.

compose a story.

3. (a) assigns students a topic or research that requires them to locate and use reference materials in the classroom, school, and/or public library (when school transportation can be provided).

4. (a) models the vocabulary self-correction strategy (VSS) after reading a paragraph with unfamiliar text. Using this technique, the teacher divides students into small groups and provides students with a story containing unfamiliar text. The students are instructed to list unfamiliar text that they would like to study and must explain with their small group what they think the words mean Then the entire class finds the definitions for the unfamiliar words and determines which of these words they would like to study further.

(b) models the creation of semantic webs that illustrate how Greek and Latin roots form the basis of English words. Students create their own semantic webs using additional Greek and Latin roots.

(c) sorts words by prefix and suffix and shows the students how the root word meanings are changed by changing the prefix or suffix.

5. (a) copies a list of six idioms onto a transparency It's raining cats and dogs.Pass the buck.Teach an old dog new tricks.Drove me up the wall.Break a leg.You said that tongue in cheek.

using the overhead, the teacher shows the transparency and asks the students to volunteer to define the words. Then the teacher has the students work in pairs to dramatize using each of the six idioms.

(b) provides text with examples of figurative language. In small groups, students identify and discuss the possible meaning of the figurative language. The students then meet back together in a large group to discuss and/or demonstrate their understanding of the figurative language.


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6. identifies word connotations and word denotations.

(c) explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.

(d) explains to students to look for the signal words “is to” and “as” when finding analogies.

6. (a) discusses with the student the differences between connotations and denotations. The students then identify each within a text. Students discuss how connotations can influence persuasive writing.


Teacher Notes:


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Sixth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies characteristics of narrative, expository, technical, and

persuasive texts.

2. ▲ understands the purpose of text features (e.g., title, graphs/charts and maps, table of contents, pictures/illustrations, boldface type, italics, glossary, index, headings, subheadings, topic and summary sentences, captions, sidebars, underlining, numbered or bulleted lists) and uses such features to locate information in and to gain meaning from appropriate-level texts.

The teacher…1. (a) guides students through the creation of semantic web listing

students' prior knowledge of characteristics of technical text (e.g., concise text, steps to follow, directions, procedures, illustrations, diagrams, etc.). Next, the teacher provides students with a variety of specific examples of technical texts (e.g., assembly manual, recipe, memo, e-mail, instructions, web pages, brochures, newsletters, fliers, etc.) for students to analyze. Students use the sample texts to more fully develop a semantic web with their own understanding of characteristics of technical text. This activity could be repeated for narrative, expository, and persuasive texts.

2. (a) asks students to look through a science text chapter, reading only the headings, the first and last sentences of paragraphs, and graphic captions. In small groups students list and discuss what they think they will learn from reading the chapter. As a class, students discuss small group findings, compare results, and reinforce the importance of specific text organizers.

(b) in social studies, has the students use data and a variety of symbols and colors to create thematic maps and graphs of various aspects of the student's local community, state, country, and the world. The teacher then has the students practice learning locations related to their area of study through games such as "baseball" or a "Location Bee" using a map with numbers in place of names for the assigned locations. The incentive of competition could be added by keeping track of team scores the last day of each week, reshuffling teams after several weeks and tracking scores again.

(c) models skimming and scanning of a text that contains a variety of text features and discusses their purposes. Students then skim and scan a different text containing similar text features and explain how each feature contributed to their understanding of the text.


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3. uses prior knowledge, content, and text type features to make, revise, and confirm predictions.



(d) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as headings, subheadings, boldface type, pictures/illustrations, bulleted lists, sidebars, etc.

3. (a) demonstrates the strategy of pause and reflect through daily read alouds and expects students to use the strategy in their own reading.

(b) has the students make text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world connections.

(c) uses Think Alouds during oral reading.

(d) in social studies, has the students apply prior knowledge of the role of government in the economy in responding to the following question: Your community needs a new fire station. Who will pay for this building and how will they get the money?

(e) leads the students in a discussion through a narrative or expository passage using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The teacher discusses with the students what they predict the author will say, reads to confirm and revise predictions and responses. The teacher and students discus the responses and strategies used to confirm predictions.

(f) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.

4. (a) uses the strategy of QAR or other questioning strategy to guide in their understanding of the text. The teacher also encourages students to generate their own critical thinking questions.

5. (a) provides students with a two-column T-Chart categorized with the words Questions (on the left side) and Inferences on the right side. Students use their prior knowledge to generate questions for the left-side column and write what they think the author meant on the right-side column to answer their questions.


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6. ▲ analyzes how text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution, comparison-contrast, description, cause-effect) helps support comprehension of text.

7. ▲ compares and contrasts varying aspects (e.g., characters' traits and motives, themes, problem-solution, cause-effect relationships, ideas and concepts, procedures, viewpoints) in one or more appropriate-level texts.

(b) uses word equations to model drawing conclusions and making inferences (Example: information from text + prior knowledge = conclusion).

(c) reads poem riddles and has students complete an idea web showing the answer to the poem in the center and the hints provided in the poem on each branch of the web.

6. (a) demonstrates the use of note taking skills and guides the students to highlight portions of the text that support various text structure.

(b) provides text with description and has students highlight terms relating to the 5 senses.

(c) provides a text using comparison-contrast text structure. After reading, students complete a graphic organizer identifying the similarities and differences.

(d) in social studies, has the students make a graphic organizer that shows the steps observed in obtaining citizenship to express cause-effect.

(c) in social studies, has the students create a class timeline that identifies the significant events that lead to the American Revolution.

(d) in social studies, has the students make a list of colonial grievances and British policies during this period. The teacher has the students create a timeline showing key events in the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonies. Students are then expected to identify as many cause and effect relationships possible.

7. (a) uses graphic organizers in all subject areas to compare and contrast information.

(b) helps the students to identify characters and describe those characters’ actions, feelings, and physical characteristics. The students then compare and contrast the characters’ actions, feelings, and physical characteristics to those of people whom they actually know.


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8. ▲ explains cause-effect relationships in appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.

9. ▲ uses paraphrasing and organizational skills to summarize information (e.g., stated and implied main ideas, main events, important details) from appropriate-level narrative, expository, persuasive, and technical texts in logical order.

(c) in social studies, assists the students to make a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast democracy and republic.

(d) in social studies, has the students compare and contrast features of life in the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies (e.g., economic, social, political, geographic).

(e) in social studies, has the students compare and contrast the impact of European settlement from an American Indian and European point of view.

(f) in science or biology, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

(g) in biology, emphasizes that finding a cure for a disease is a problem-solution.

8. (a) guides the students to create a graphic organizer to identify cause-effect.

(b) models and then directs the students to highlight the cause in one color and the effect in another color on a portion of copied text.

9. (a) guide students to create a graphic organizer map that identifies key concepts that aides the student to give an oral summary of the text.


(c) in social studies, posts copies of foundational documents in the classroom so students learn to identify the documents by sight. The teacher has the students summarize the purpose of each document. Using charades, the students act out some of the freedoms secured by the Bill of Rights. The teacher has the students discuss the Preamble and use the list of goals to describe the Constitution. The teacher uses a video to familiarize the students with the Preamble.


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10. ▲ identifies the topic, main idea(s), supporting details, and theme(s) in text across the content areas and from a variety of sources in appropriate-level texts.

11. ▲ identifies and describes the author's purpose and basic techniques the author uses to achieve that purpose.

12. establishes a purpose for reading (e.g., to be informed, to follow directions, to be entertained, to solve problems).


(d) in social studies, has the students retell the stories of the explorers (e.g., Leif Erikson, Columbus, Ponce de Leon, Cortes, DeSoto, Hudson, Balboa, LaSalle, and Pizzaro).

10. (a) provides the students with a magazine article. Using a main idea organizer, the students, working in small groups, discuss and identify the main idea and supporting details.

(b) models the Herringbone Technique answer the questions “Who?’, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?”, “How?”, and “Why?” questions on an organizer shaped like a fish. The students read to find the main idea and to find answers to the questions. The students write the main idea of the story across the backbone of the fish and on lines stemming out from the fish, they write answers to the questions “Who is the author talking about?”, “What did they do?”, “When did they do it?”, “Where did they do it?”, “How did they do it?”, and “Why did they do it?”

11. (a) discusses with students possible answers to "What do you think is the author's purpose for this text?; and Why?".

12. (a) uses the Think-Pair-Share strategy. The teacher guides students to compare their purpose for reading with the author's purpose.

(b) provides note cards where students write "entertain”, “persuade”, “explain”, and etc. on the cards. The teacher reads a short text and the student holds up the card identifying the author's purpose.

(c) instructs using the Directed Reading Activity (DRA). Discusses the subject with the students to gather prior knowledge, to introduce new vocabulary, and to discuss the purpose for reading. The teacher helps the students develop logical questions to aid in comprehension of the text. The students and teacher then discuss the skills and developments of the story.

13. (a) divides the class into groups of four. Teacher provides students with one recipe, such as puffed rice cereal treats, puppy chow, or popcorn balls. Students work in small groups, follow the directions, and evaluate the results. (Can be integrated with science and mathematics instruction).


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14. ▲ identifies or describes evidence that supports conclusions in persuasive text.

15. ▲ distinguishes between fact and opinion, and recognizes propaganda (e.g., advertising, media), bias, and stereotypes in various types of appropriate-level texts.

14. (a) provides students with a persuasive text and asks students to discuss evidence from text that supports different points of view.

15. (a) has students work in pairs with a comparison chart to identify the facts vs. opinions within different pieces of advertisement.

(b) provides students with various newspaper clippings and asks them to distinguish between the factual stories and the editorial opinions. Ask them to highlight any opinions that may be included in the factual stories.

(c) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.





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Standard 2: Literature SIXTH GRADE



Sixth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ describes different aspects of major and minor characters (e.g.,

their physical traits, personality traits, feelings, actions, motives) and explains how those aspects influence characters' interactions with other characters and elements of the plot, including resolution of the major conflict.

2. ▲ identifies and describes the setting (e.g., environment, time of day or year, historical period, situation, place) and explains the importance of the setting to the story or literary text.

3. ▲ identifies major and minor events related to the conflict in a story (e.g., problem or conflict, climax, resolution) and explains how one event gives rise to another.

The teacher…1. (a) models how to complete a graphic organizer focusing on

character(s). The teacher then allows students to practice using the organizer in cooperative groups before individual work is done by the students.


(c) has the students select a favorite character from a book or a movie and discuss how that character’s traits, feelings, actions, and motives impact other characters in the story.

2. (a) provides students with a Venn Diagram comparing setting in the story to another setting either from life or another text.


(c) shows travel brochures to students. Students create a travel brochure for the text read.

(d) has the students invent an alternative setting for the story and describe how that might impact the outcome of the story.

3. (a) provides students with a plot chart.



(d) has the students draw the major events related to the conflict in a


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4. identifies aspects of theme (e.g., moral, lesson, meaning, message, author's ideas about the subject) and supports with implied and/or explicit information from the text.

5. identifies the use of literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashback).

story and discuss how one event leads to another.

4. (a) provides students with a theme diagram or Thinking Tree.

(b) has students write important quotes from the text and then state what they think about the quote. From the statements, form a sentence that states a theme.

5. (a) uses excerpts from appropriate children's movies containing literary devices. Using a graphic organizer, students will identify the literary devices present within the movie. Teachers should discuss why the author chose to use those specific devices in the movie.

(b) provides a text with flashback. After reading, students make a timeline and discuss why the author used this device.



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Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature SIXTH GRADE


Benchmark 2: The student understands the significance of literature and its contributions various cultures.

Sixth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. understands the effects history and cultures may have on works of

literature.



The teacher…1. (a) reads historical fiction to the students. After reading the story, the

teacher has the students brainstorm their feelings about the story. Then the teacher models the completion of a cause and effect tree, showing how cultures affect individuals.

(b) in social studies, has the students create a greeting card that reflects the beliefs and traditions of another culture's faith (e.g., Islamic), as it was taught in another country. Students may choose to create a birthday card or another greeting card for one of the cultures.

2. (a) provides fairy tales written from a variety of cultural views. The teacher has the students discuss the fairy tales as a whole group. In cooperative groups, the teacher has the students complete a comparison/contrast organizer.

(b) in social studies, has the students compare and contrast types of regions and explains how they are historically, economically, and culturally connected. This information is presented in the form of a "family tree" , web, chart, or other graphic representation (hard copy or computer generated).

(c) in social studies, will prepare a five column matrix with four categories. Using the four characteristics of a civilization, students will compare Egypt, Sumeria, Babylonia, and Hebrew culture to determine how all four meet the criteria of civilization.

3. (a) reads aloud stories from two different cultures. After reading the two stories, the students complete a Venn Diagram showing the similarities and differences between their preparation and celebration of Christmas from two cultural and historical perspectives.


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(b) provides students with a KWL Chart during social studies class before beginning a lesson on World War II Before beginning to read the text, students complete what they know about World War II onto poster paper, butcher paper, or flip note. Then they complete the W-want to know column on different pieces of paper and post their results in the classroom. Teacher then has the students review each others' responses and allows time for classroom discussion. As they read the text, students take notes on information from the reading and modify concepts they thought they knew but were clarified through the text.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading SEVENTH GRADE



Seventh Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student… The teacher…


Teacher Notes:


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Seventh Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses knowledge of conventions and text features to read fluently at





The teacher…1. (a) selects examples of various conventions from literature (e.g. the

teacher selects a poem with a semicolon). After the students read the poem, the teacher asks students to identify the reason the author chose to use the semicolon and what purpose the semicolon plays within the poem. This same approach can be used with other conventions within literature.

2. (a) may use approaches such as, choral reading, Reader’s Theatre, taped reading, or teacher modeled fluency in a read aloud.

(b) in drama class or art class, selects a play for the students to perform in the classroom. The teacher allows students several class periods to read the play in small groups. Then, the teacher has the groups decide which character or role each member of the group will portray. The students use class time to practice their part in the play and make costumes using butcher paper. Then, the students present their play to the classroom or younger students at a different school.

3. provides students with two articles of the same topic but of different text types. The students determine the rate in which they need to read each article for comprehension. Then, the students discuss the changes in their reading rate to comprehend the different text types. Then as a whole group, the teacher discusses how different text types when reading for instruction or pleasure, require the student to exhibit a different rate for reading.

4. (a) models a think-aloud strategy. The teacher demonstrates his/her thinking process, such as "I don't know what this word is"; "first I am going to try to decode with"; "I could look at the root word to check for the meaning because I know that the root word means…"; "I could look at the prefix or suffix"; “I could replace this word with another word that makes sense".


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5. (a) provides passages with the same topic but within the four different text types. Students work in groups and read the text aloud. The students take notes at their rate of reading the different text types with comprehension. The teacher leads the discussion why different types of text are read at different rates. Then the teacher asks why narrative text can be read with more comprehension and why a good reader will adjust his/her reading rate depending on the text type.

(b) reads aloud a text to students, using a think-aloud strategy to explain how he/she adjusted reading rate to improve comprehension. Students then silently and independently read another passage, noting where in the text they had to adjust their own reading rate. Students then participate in a discussion with peers regarding whether or not adjusting reading rate improved their understanding of the text. Repeat the same strategy using different text types (narrative, expository, technical, persuasive). Have students create a chart describing how they adjusted their own reading rate for each type of text.

(c) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend a longer passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their predictions into statements as they gather further information.



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Seventh Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ determines meaning of words or phrases using context clues

(e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, clue words) from sentences or paragraphs.

2. locates and uses reference materials available in the classroom, school, and public libraries (e.g., dictionaries, thesauri, atlases, encyclopedias, internet) that are appropriate to the task.

3. ▲ determines meaning of words through structural analysis, using knowledge of ▲Greek, ▲Latin, and Anglo-Saxon ▲roots, ▲prefixes, and ▲suffixes to understand complex words, including words in science, mathematics, and social studies.

The teacher…1. (a) provides sample sentences that contain context clues using

definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, and clue words from the text or from sentences in stories. The students circle the clue word that helps them know what the word or phrase means.

(b) uses cloze reading strategies. The teacher selects a text of approximately 400 words. The teacher decides which words to be studied (e.g., adjectives, adverbs, nouns). The teacher goes through the passage and deletes the words which students must determine after reading the passage. The teacher reads the passage with the blanks and asks the students to be thinking about which word would make sense in the sentences. The teacher has the students work in pairs to fill in the blanks. Once all blanks have been completed, the teacher has the pairs of students read their choices to the other students. As a group, the teacher and students discuss the words chosen by the students and compares them to the words original words from the passage.

2. (a) provides a list of questions or statements, such as "I am the tallest mountain in the United States"; "I am a major interstate leading to Mount Rushmore"; "I am the number 1 tennis player in the world"; "I am a word which means the same as the word talk". The students are asked to record their findings and note the source. Then students write a small description answering the question or defining the statement.

3. (a) uses a graphic organizer to determine the meaning of new words using Greek and/or Latin roots. The teacher provides students with a list of prefixes and suffixes. In the center circle of the graphic organizer, the teacher writes a Greek or Latin root. Then the teacher asks students to write a prefix and or a suffix in each box. Once the


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4. ▲ identifies and determines the meaning of figurative language, ▲similes, ▲metaphors, ▲analogies, ▲hyperbole, ▲onomatopoeia, ▲personification, and idioms.

5. identifies word connotations and word denotations.

students have written the prefix or suffix the students write the word on the line next to the box and look up the word in a dictionary to determine if their word is a "real" word.

4. (a) provides a list of words which some words are onomatopoeia and some are not (e.g., some onomatopoeia words may be squish, bang, smack, rattle, clank, plop). Students are instructed to pick out the onomatopoeia words from the list. As a whole group, the teacher and the students write a sample poem using onomatopoeia words. Once the poem is written, the teacher goes over the onomatopoeia words once again with the students. Students, then, independently write a small poem using the onomatopoeia words or other onomatopoeia words.

(b) provides the students with passages or familiar text being studied which contains personification. The teacher points out the way in which the author gives an animal or idea human qualities, such as the ability to feel, talk, hear, and make decisions. Then the teacher asks the students to write a description of weather that includes personification (e.g., the rain cried tears, the thunder shouted).

(c) explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.

(d) explains to students to look for the signal words “is to” and “as” when finding analogies.

5. (a) wears a tie which is decorative and perhaps "showy". The teacher asks for opinions about the tie. Then, the teacher asks students to use one word adjectives describing the tie and writes those words on the board. The teacher asks students to put their heads down on their desks and shut their eyes while he/she reads the words from the board. The students then think about the tie and what each word makes them feel about the tie as the teacher reads each word. The teacher explains the positive and negative connotation of the words described. Then, the students select words which he/she would use if he/she was a salesperson trying to sell the tie to a customer; or if he/she was trying to convince a friend not to wear the tie on a date with a famous movie star or actor.


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Teacher Notes:


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Seventh Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies characteristics of narrative, expository, technical, and

persuasive texts.


3. uses prior knowledge, content, and text type features to make, to revise, and to confirm predictions.

The teacher…1. (a) prepares 3" x 5" cards which contain characteristics of the

different text types. In teams, the students sort the cards by characteristics into the four text type categories. The teacher partners two of the groups together and they take turns telling where they placed the cards and why they placed them with that specific text type. Then students record the group's differences. Once the differences are determined, the teacher leads a whole group discussion about the characteristics of the different text types.

(b) has the students use a news magazine to locate as many text features as possible. The students and teacher discuss why the text feature was selected for that information.

2. (a) groups the students into pairs. The teacher assigns one of the text features to each pair of students. The students are to introduce themselves to their partner as the text features assigned. The students brainstorm how to make their presentation entertaining and informational. Once the students have had time to practice the introduction of the text feature, the students will introduce themselves as that text feature to the rest of the classroom. Then, the students are given tasks where they have to use different text features to find information (e.g., in the science classroom).

(b) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as headings, subheadings, boldface type, pictures/illustrations, bulleted lists, sidebars, etc.

3. (a) asks students to write a lengthy and descriptive story about an embarrassing moment containing a strong beginning, middle, and end. Once the students finish their story, the teacher randomly distributes the stories to the other students. The teacher instructs the students to read a few sentences of the story and write down a few


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4. generates and responds logically to literal, inferential, evaluative, synthesizing, and critical thinking questions before, during, and after reading the text.


6. ▲ analyzes how text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution, comparison-contrast, description, cause-effect) helps support

statements or phrases about what he/she predicts might happen next. Once the students finish with the story, the teacher asks the students to go back and read their own written predictions and compare the predictions to the actual story.


(c) leads the students in a discussion through a narrative or expository passage using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The teacher discusses with the students what they predict the author will say, reads to confirm and revise predictions and responses. The teacher and students discus the responses and strategies used to confirm predictions.

(d) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.

4. (a) provides higher order thinking question stems on the overhead for students to use a cues to help them write evaluative, analysis, and synthesis questions about text. The teacher has the students write the questions in pairs or teams. The teacher gives the students feedback about the effectiveness of the produced questions by asking questions such as, "What would make this question clearer"?; "What is the purpose of this question (e.g., to evaluate, to synthesize)"?. The teacher, then gives the teams time to evaluate and/or change their questions. Then students exchange questions and answer the questions from a different group.

5. (a) provides sentences with statements that require inferences from the students, such as "When the light went out, the room was completely dark.". After reading the sentence, the teacher asks the students, "Where are you"?. The students support their guesses with evidence from the sentence read by the teacher.

6. (a) composes and reads a text titled, "Eating Spaghetti Versus Eating Pizza", using a compare-contrast text structure rather than a


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comprehension of text.

7. ▲ compares and contrasts varying aspects (e.g., characters' traits and motives, themes, problem-solution, cause-effect relationships, ideas and concepts, procedures, viewpoints, authors' purposes) in one or more appropriate-level texts.


9. ▲ uses paraphrasing and organizational skills to summarize information (e.g., stated and implied main ideas, main events,

sequence text structure. The teacher asks the students to rewrite the text to fit the title "How to Make Spaghetti". On the overhead, the teacher explains how the different text structures help to support comprehension. Use a Venn Diagram to compare the text structures for things such as transition works.

(b) encourages the students to use key words to identify the kind of text structure used for the text and why the author selected that particular type for the specific information.

(c) in biology, emphasizes that finding a cure for a disease is a problem-solution.

7. (a) asks students to practice the use of a T-Chart with two different familiar topics, such as the crusts from two different pizza parlors, or two different types of sodas. The teacher then encourages students to use a T-Chart to compare the traits or motives of two characters within a single text or across multiple texts. Students may also compare the themes between two texts or movies or may compare the author's purpose between two texts.

(b) in science or biology, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

(c) in science, has the students compare and contrast the science context from within a science fiction novel to actual science.

8. (a) uses prewritten examples of cause-effect relationships from each of the different text types on the overhead. The students will identify and discuss the cause-effect relationships of the different text types. Then the students discuss cause-effect relationships in each of the text types.

(b) uses both fiction and nonfiction texts. The students highlight the causes in one color and the effects in another color and explain the relationship between the two.

9. (a) provides the students with a poem. The teacher reads and discusses the poem with the students. Then the students pair and


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important details) from appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts in logical order.


11. ▲ explains the relationship between elements of an author’s style

share the poem with a partner Once students have read the poem to a partner, the students recite the poem in their own words to a partner and to the rest of the class.


(c) in art class, students draw a picture or create an art activity to represent the poem read in class.

(d) has the students highlight key concepts that aides in giving an oral summary of the text.

10. (a) provides a piece of expository text (magazine article) for the students. Students use "questioning the author" technique to determine the author's viewpoint and determine how it is supported throughout the text through the main idea and supporting details. Before having the students read the article, students are asked the following questions

What are the author's feelings about his/her article? How does the author develop the main idea? Which sentences support the main idea?

Using a main idea organizer, the students work in groups to organize the main idea and supporting details. Once the organizer is completed, the teacher instructs the students to use the information obtained on the graphic organizer to write a response to the article containing the subject, main idea, supporting details, and a conclusion.


11. (a) makes a text-to-text connection by comparing two pieces of text


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in a text (e.g., word choice, sentence structure) and his or her purpose for writing the text.

12. establishes purposes for both assigned and self-selected reading (e.g., to be informed, to follow directions, to be entertained, to solve problems).


14. ▲ identifies the author's position in a persuasive text and describes techniques the author uses to support that position (e.g., bandwagon approach, glittering generalities, testimonials, citing statistics, other techniques that appeal to reason or emotion).

15. ▲ distinguishes between fact and opinion, and recognizes propaganda (e.g., advertising, media, politics, warfare), bias, and stereotypes in various types of appropriate-level texts.

by the same author. Students compare both pieces to determine the author’s style. This can be done using a graphic organizer. A discussion then follows as to how the author’s style supports their purpose for writing.

12. (a) discusses the reasons individuals select a text. After taking the students to the library, the teacher asks the students to share their choice of reading material and identify the purpose for selecting the text (to be informed, to follow directions, to be entertained, to solve problems).

(b) instructs using the Directed Reading Activity (DRA). Discusses the subject with the students to gather prior knowledge, to introduce new vocabulary, and to discuss the purpose for reading. The teacher helps the students develop logical questions to aid in comprehension of the text. The students and teacher then discuss the skills and developments of the story.

13. (a) in Family and Consumer Science Class(FACS), reads directions for a project or recipe. The class is divided into small groups and read the directions or recipe. A finished product is required once the students have materials needed and understand the directions.

14. (a) provides students with a copy of a speech. The teacher informs the students that a conclusion about the speech should not be decided until an understanding of the argument is determined. The teacher uses the bandwagon approach and has a classroom discussion to determine if everyone is in agreement with the author. After discussion regarding the bandwagon approach, the teacher has students reread to speech to determine if the speech is effective. Students discuss how the speech made them feel and how the speech appeals to emotion.

15. (a) discusses the differences between fact and opinion with the students. The teacher provides students with sentences containing factual statements and opinion statements. Using the sentences provided, the students determine if the sentence is a fact or an opinion. Then, the teacher has students read a piece of nonfiction writing and identify sentences within the text which can be categorized as being a fact or opinion. Later, the teacher leads the


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classroom in a discussion to determine which of the selected sentences are truly fact and which are opinion and students support their decisions.

(b) provides the students with various newspaper clippings and asks them to distinguish between the factual stories and the editorial opinions. The students highlight any opinions that may be included in the factual stories.

(d) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.





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Standard 2: Literature SEVENTH GRADE



Seventh Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ describes different aspects of major and minor characters (e.g.,

their physical traits, personality traits, feelings, actions, motives) and explains how those aspects influence characters' interactions with other characters and elements of the plot, including resolution of the major conflict.

2. ▲ identifies and describes the setting (e.g., environment, time of day or year, historical period, situation, place) and analyzes connections between the setting and other story elements (e.g., character, plot).

The teacher…1. (a) develops a Character Map with students


(c) after reading a novel in class, has the students go through the chapters looking for character traits. The teacher has the students select two (or more) important characters from the story. In a three-column chart (e.g., left column is titled “Character’s Name”; middle column is titled “Physical Traits”; right column is titled “Personality Traits”), the teacher and students scan the chapters looking for evidence to support the development of characters’ physical and personality traits. The students list this evidence into the columns. Once evidence of traits has been identified, the teacher leads a discussion to determine if the character evidence influenced the characters interactions with other characters, effected elements of the plot, or played a role in the resolution of the major conflict.

(d) has the students select a favorite character from a book or a movie and discuss how the character’s traits, feelings, actions, and motives impact other characters and the story.

2. (a) provides the students with a text containing a changing plot. During the oral reading, the teacher has the students raise their hands when descriptive words describing the setting are read. At this time, students are given an opportunity to draw the setting onto a paper. The teacher then discusses that often a change in setting represents a change in the plot and discusses what key words represent the change. Students repeat the process of drawing the changing plot and characters. Students will compare and discuss the different pictures they have drawn regarding the settings in the text.



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3. ▲ identifies major and minor elements of the plot (e.g., problem or conflict, climax, resolution, rising action, falling action, subplots, parallel episodes) and explains how these elements relate to one another.

4. recognizes aspects of theme (e.g., moral, lesson, meaning, message, author's ideas about the subject) and recurring themes across works (e.g., bravery, loneliness, loyalty, friendship).

5. identifies literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashback, figurative language, irony, metaphor, tone/mood, symbolism).

(c) has the students invent an alternative setting for a story and describe how that might impact the outcome of the story.

3. (a) creates a plot map with students.



(d) has the students draw the major events related to the conflict in a story and explain how one event leads to another.

4. (a) discusses how a change in the way a character addresses an idea or subject/thought or an actual change in the character himself/herself can lead to the story's theme. Students identify the words in the text which relate to the theme.

5. (a) provides students with a text selection using one or more of the literary devise. Students then locate in the text the literary device, define and discuss why the author used it.

(b) discusses the various literary devices with students and then encourages students to locate them in text. Then students can act out each device.


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Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature SEVENTH GRADE



Seventh Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies common structures and stylistic elements in literature,

folklore, and myths from a variety of cultures.

2. compares and contrasts customs and ideas within literature representing a variety of cultures.

3. recognizes connections between cultures and experiences through a variety of texts.

The teacher…1. (a) presents pictures books from a variety of cultures. The class

identifies the use of stylistic elements, such as word choice, sentence structure and length; literary devices including figurative language, symbols, dialogue, and imagery used by various cultures. As a class, students determine common structures and styles among the texts. Students then analyze grade-level text to locate those previously identified stylistic elements.

2. (a) uses a comparison chart, with students to compare and contrast customs and ideas from various cultures (using narrative and/or expository texts).

3. (a) uses a Venn Diagram with students to compare two text selections describing two different cultures. Using the information from the Venn Diagram, the students will write an expository paragraph explaining the connections between the cultures.


Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading EIGHTH GRADE



Eighth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional Examples1. The student… The teacher…


Teacher Notes:


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Eighth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. uses knowledge of conventions and text features to read fluently at





The teacher…4. (a) provides students with a model text that uses a variety of

conventions and text features. Teacher guides students to identify significant conventions and text features and discuss how they might interpret a fluent oral reading of the text. Then, the class participates in a choral reading of the text. Next, the teacher presents students (working independently or in pairs) a similar text to interpret and read aloud fluently.

5. (a) allows students to work with a partner. With a partner, students read a poem aloud. Students use expression to convey the melodic flow of the poem.

(b) gives the student samples of nonsense sentences to read aloud with punctuation to show pauses and end marks. Because they do not understand the meaning of the sentences organized in this manner, their rates slow and emphasis is placed on punctuation. Next, students are given samples of meaningful text with punctuation placed haphazardly. Again, to get the meaning, students must slow their rates and really read the content of each sentence. Finally, poems are used to help students pay attention to the "road signs" of punctuation in order to read expressively so listeners get meaning too.

6. (a) asks students to compare sample passages that differ with regard to complexity of sentence structure. Class participates in a choral reading of the texts in order to illustrate the relationship between sentence structure and fluency. Students then independently select a text and prepare an oral recitation.

7. (a) reviews strategies such as chunking and word families, and then uses stock phrases (for example: What does it look like?") to cue students when they do not recognize a word.


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5. adjusts reading rate to support comprehension when reading narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts. 8. (a) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student

breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend a longer passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their predictions into statements as they gather further information.

(b) has students practice summarizing different text types. Teacher asks students to measure reading rate as they are reading text prior to providing a summary and then chart rates across types.




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Eighth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ determines meaning of words or phrases using context clues

(e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, clue words, cause-effect) from sentences or paragraphs.

The teacher…1. (a) provides students with a paragraph containing a nonsense word.

Students state what they think the nonsense word means and what context clues they used to figure out the meaning.

(b) reads or has students read a short story and provides the students with a self-inventory selection sheet with vocabulary words from the text. The student uses symbols to mark words as: I know this word; I am vaguely familiar with the word; and I don’t have a clue. These words are then emphasized within the reading and the student uses context clues, examples, or the dictionary to record definitions on a sheet. The inventory sheet is used to develop questions for vocabulary tests.

(c) finds a text in which unfamiliar vocabulary words are involved. Teacher says each word correctly aloud and students repeat the word. Teacher makes a conscious effort over time to model the correct use and pronunciation of vocabulary so that students have the opportunity to hear the word used correctly. Teacher also provides students opportunities to practice using vocabulary words orally during on-going activities.

(d) uses cloze reading strategies. The teacher selects a text of approximately 400 words. The teacher decides which words to be studied (e.g., adjectives, adverbs, nouns). The teacher goes through the passage and deletes the words which students must determine after reading the passage. The teacher reads the passage with the blanks and asks the students to be thinking about which word would make sense in the sentences. The teacher has the students work in pairs to fill in the blanks. Once all blanks have been completed, the teacher has the pairs of students read their choices to the other students. As a group, the teacher and students discuss the words chosen by the students and compares them to the words original


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2. locates and uses reference materials available in the classroom, school, and public libraries (e.g., dictionaries, thesauri, atlases, encyclopedias, internet) that are appropriate to the task.


4. ▲ identifies and determines the meaning of figurative language including ▲similes, ▲metaphors, ▲analogies, ▲hyperbole, ▲onomatopoeia, ▲personification, ▲idioms, ▲imagery, and symbolism.

5. distinguishes between connotative and denotative meanings.

words from the passage.

2. (a) assigns students a task that requires them to locate and use reference materials in the classroom, school, and/or public library (for example: crossword puzzle or scavenger hunt).

3. (a) asks students to investigate word origins as an aid to understanding meanings, derivations, and spellings, as well as influences on the English language.

(b) puts students in work groups. Students use a list of root words and various prefixes and suffixes with their meanings. Students form words and then use the dictionary to determine the correctness of their words.

(c) models creation of an example for graphic organizers that illustrate how Greek and Latin roots form the basis of English words. Students create their own semantic webs using Greek and Latin roots.

(d) places students with partners to trace the etymology of everyday words in order to complete a crossword developed from their meaning.

4. (a) selects examples of American authored poems for students to examine figurative language such as analogies, similes, and metaphors. Students then create their own examples of figurative language modeled after the poets.

(b) explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.

(c) explains to students to look for the signal words “is to” and “as” when finding analogies.

5. (a) provides students with a weekly log, in which students list three words which are new to them each week. They record the page, the sentence or context in which the word was used, and identify whether the connotative or denotative meaning of the word is used, the title of


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the text, and the date found. Next, the reader records a definition in his/her own words and a sentence using the correct meaning of the new word, thus creating his/her individual vocabulary list.

(b) uses vocabulary self-correction strategy, where class selects words they would like to study from a selected text. Students discuss and record both denotative and connotative meanings of selected words in relation to the text.


Teacher Notes:


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Benchmark 4: The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive)

Eighth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies characteristics of narrative, expository, technical, and

persuasive texts.


The teacher…1. (a) guides students through the creation of a semantic web listing

students' prior knowledge of characteristics of technical text (e.g., concise text, steps to follow, directions, procedures, illustrations, diagrams, etc.). Next, the teacher provides students with a variety of specific examples of technical texts (e.g., assembly manual, recipe, memo, e-mail, instructions, web pages, brochures, newsletters, fliers) for students to analyze. Students use the sample texts to fully develop the semantic web and their understanding of characteristics of technical text. This activity could be repeated for narrative, expository, and persuasive texts.

(b) provides a compare/contrast chart after students have read two different text types and guides students to complete the charts.

2. (a) provides students with packets containing directions for various household appliances, pamphlets from local extension offices on how to do various activities (e.g., cooking, pruning fruit trees, flower gardening), and directions from several video games. After choosing a pamphlet, the student uses text, heading, and graphics from the pamphlet to summarize and rewrite it in a user friendly format.

(b) provides the students with magazines to locate as many text features as possible. The students and teacher discuss why that text feature was selected for that information.

(c) models skimming and scanning of a text that contains a variety of text features and discusses their purposes. Students then skim and scan a different text containing similar text features and explain how each feature contributed to their understanding of the text.

(d) in social studies, assigns students to locate graphs, tables, and charts which illustrates the national budget. Students identify various


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5. ▲uses information from the text to make inferences and draw conclusions.

6. ▲ analyzes how text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution,

text features, such as title, headings, etc. Students use this information to write a summary sentence about the graph.

(e) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as headings, subheadings, boldface type, pictures/illustrations, bulleted lists, sidebars, etc.

3. (a) discusses prior knowledge using example for graphic organizer (concept map).



4. (a) models self-directed questioning/discusses question types, then asks each small group to generate a different type of question based on the text just read.

(b) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.

5. (a) encourages students to make inferences or predictions about what could happen in the text after reading a chapter from a novel.

(b) asks students to use a preview/anticipatory guide to predict what will happen next in a reading section. Students then read the story and draw conclusions.

(c) models use of discussion web or examples for graphic organizers.


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comparison-contrast, description, cause-effect) helps support comprehension of text.

7. ▲ compares and contrasts varying aspects (e.g., characters' traits and motives, themes, problem-solution, cause-effect relationships, ideas and concepts, procedures, viewpoints, authors' purposes, persuasive techniques) in one or more appropriate-level texts.

6. (a) models to the students that summarizing is restating or translating information into your own words. Then, after reading a "how to" article, the students summarize and list the steps in proper sequence.

(b) provides students with a story organizer. As the students read a story, novel, play, or folktale, the students take notes on the graphic organizer containing beginning, middle, and ending information.

(c) in social studies, assigns students to work together to create a timeline that describes national events surrounding Kansas' becoming a state.

(d) provides students with a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast characters in a text. Students discuss how this structure helps them to understand the story.

7. (a) reads folklores aloud to students. The teacher has students compare and contrast two stories. This activity can be used with any novel or short story.

(b) and students read two stories. They compare and contrast the two stories looking for similarities and differences. This activity can be used with any novel or short story to compare and contrast characters’ traits and motives.

(c) in social studies, shows students an example of a civil law suit such as a product safety issue, public health issue, or a local issue and discusses with them the point of view of both sides.

(d) uses say anything strategy to compare and contrast characters’ traits and motives.

(e) uses informational text outline to compare and contrast ideas and concepts.

(f) provides students with sticky notes or flags to mark places in the text related to characters' traits and motives. Students then develop a T-Chart comparing the characters using the marked information.

(g) provides the student with a technical piece about assembling a


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9. ▲ uses paraphrasing and organizational skills to summarize information (e.g., stated and implied main ideas, main events, important details) from appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts in logical order.

skateboard, bicycle or airplane. The student creates a concept map to identify the concept of physics presented in the technical text.

(h) in science or biology, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.

(i) in biology, emphasizes that finding a cure for a disease is a problem-solution.

(j) in science, has the students compare and contrast the science context from within a science fiction novel to actual science.

8. (a) models the use of cause-effect organizers. Students complete the organizer based on passages from multiple text types.

(b) directs students to use a yellow highlighter to mark the cause and a green highlighter to mark the effects on a copy of a passage. Students discuss how one cause can have multiple effects.

9. (a) guides students to complete a example for graphic organizer after reading a nonfiction essay or newspaper article. The students will place the topic and main idea in the center circle and will place details that tell more about the main idea on spokes going out from the center.


(b) provides students with text and students state the main idea of a paragraph and give three supporting details.

(c) models how to use and gives the students a example of graphic organizer on which to record main idea and supporting details after reading a short story in class.

(d) provides an article (e.g., gravity on the moon) for students to read with a partner. (While reading the article, one student summarizes the first two paragraphs and the other restates what the first student summarized. Students, then, reverse roles after reading the next two


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11. ▲ explains the relationship between an author’s use of literary devices in a text (e.g., ▲foreshadowing, ▲flashback, ▲irony, symbolism, tone, mood) and his or her purpose for writing the text.

paragraphs.

(e) in social studies, provides primary and secondary information to students to learn about New Deal programs in Kansas. The teacher groups students into small groups. Students share their findings with the class. As a whole group discussion, the students summarize benefits or disadvantages to these initiatives.

(f) helps the students to understand that summarizing is restating or translating information into your own words. Then, after reading a "how to" article, the students summarize and list the steps in proper sequence.

10. (a) models the use of a QAR Organizer.

(b) provides students with a narrative and expository text. Students identify which events in the story could have actually happened based upon the main ideas and details learned from the expository text.

(c) directs students to read information about a particular project (e.g., Kansas History, sea slugs, hermit crabs, fads, or other topics). The student shares an oral presentation with the class.

(d) models the Herringbone Technique answer the questions “Who?’, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?”, “How?”, and “Why?” questions on an organizer shaped like a fish. The students read to find the main idea and to find answers to the questions. The students write the main idea of the story across the backbone of the fish and on lines stemming out from the fish, they write answers to the questions “Who is the author talking about?”, “What did they do?”, “When did they do it?”, “Where did they do it?”, “How did they do it?”, and “Why did they do it?”

11. (a) assigns students to keep a daily reading log in the reading workshop with a special section set aside for recording examples of literary devices located in the text read for that week. One literary device is introduced each week through mini-lessons and students look for examples in what they read inside and outside of class. At the end of the nine weeks, each student selects the best examples of the devices in the log. These are placed on poster board for the other


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14. ▲ identifies the author's position in a persuasive text and describes techniques the author uses to support that position (e.g., bandwagon approach, glittering generalities, testimonials, citing statistics, other techniques that appeal to reason or emotion).

classes to read. This generates interest in books and a little friendly competition among classes.

(b) selects a text that has been adapted to a movie. Excerpts from the movie are used to illustrate literary devices in the text (for example, mood or use of a flashback). Students discuss how the use of the device helps to develop the story.

(c) has the students make a text-to-text connection by comparing two pieces of text by the same author. The students compare both pieces to determine the author’s style. A discussion then follows as to how the author’s style supports their purpose for writing.

12. (a) encourages the students to write directions for a "how to" paper (e.g., tie your shoes, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, blow up a balloon, etc.). Students trade papers and follow only the directions written to determine the paper's accuracy.

(b) gives students titles to books, essays or pamphlets. Students predict and indicate the purpose for reading the text.


13. (a) directs students to read a technical text (making ice cream in a baggie, making paper airplanes, etc.) and follow the directions to complete the task.

(b) provides students with a variety of specific examples of technical texts (e.g., assembly manual, recipe, memo, e-mail, instructions, web pages, brochures, newsletters, fliers) for students to analyze. Students use the sample texts to fully develop the semantic web and their understanding of characteristics of technical text.

14. (a) directs students to read editorials written by other students regarding school uniforms to determine which point of view each


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editorial supports.

(b) assigns the students to make a list of the persuasive reasons to support their stance on an issue after reading an editorial about school uniforms.

(c) encourages students to view commercials and advertisements in magazines. The students identify the techniques used to persuade.

15. (a) introduces a mini-lesson modeling samples of statements from a series of advertisements demonstrating fact and opinion. Working in groups, students review enlarged copies of advertisements to determine which statements are facts and which are opinions. Then students develop their own ads for their favorite brand of tennisshoes utilizing both facts and opinions about the shoes. These are enlarged on poster board for the whole class to analyze and to determine the effectiveness of the use of fact and opinion.

(b) provides expository or persuasive texts. Students complete a fact and opinion chart after reading.

(c) provides the students with advertisements to review and to determine which statements about a product are facts and which are opinions. Then students develop their own ad for the product utilizing both facts and opinions.

(d) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.




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Standard 2: Literature EIGHTH GRADE



Eighth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ describes different aspects of characters (e.g., their physical

traits, personality traits, feelings, actions, motives) and analyzes how major characters are developed (e.g., through their thoughts, words, speech patterns, actions) and how they change over time.

2. ▲ identifies and describes the setting (e.g., environment, time of day or year, historical period, situation, place) and analyzes connections between the setting and other story elements (e.g., character, plot).

3. ▲ identifies major and minor elements of the plot (e.g., problem or conflict, climax, resolution, rising action, falling action, subplots,

The teacher…1. (a) models graphic organizer examples and provides maps to help

students prepare a characterization of a main character.

(b) models visualization of character development.


(b) after reading a novel in class, has the students go through the chapters looking for character traits. The teacher has the students select two (or more) important characters from the story. In a three-column chart (e.g., left column is titled “Character’s Name”; middle column is titled “Physical Traits”; right column is titled “Personality Traits”), the teacher and students scan the chapters looking for evidence to support the development of characters’ physical and personality traits. The students list this evidence into the columns. Once evidence of traits has been identified, the teacher leads a discussion to determine how the characters were developed and how they changed over time.

2. (a) models the use of a graphic organizer example and provides a chart to help students prepare a time setting for a selected novel.

(b) shows travel brochures to students. The students create a travel brochure for the setting of a selected text.


(d) has the students invent an alternative setting for a story and describe how that might impact the outcome of the story.

3. (a) models the use of a plot map and provides a map to assist students in preparing a book report.


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parallel episodes) and explains how these elements relate to one another.

4. recognizes aspects of theme (e.g., moral, lesson, meaning, message, author's ideas about the subject) and recurring themes across works (e.g., bravery, loneliness, loyalty, friendship).

5. identifies the use of literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashback, figurative language, imagery, symbolism) in a text and explains how the author uses such devices to help establish tone and mood.



(d) has the students draw the major events related to the conflict in a story and explain how one event leads to another.

4. (a) assigns the students to read a novel. They discuss in cooperative groups the theme of the story and share their perceptions with the entire class.

(b) uses say anything strategy to have students share their perception of the story's theme with a partner.

(c) models the use of a story map and has students complete a story map.

(d) models the use of sticky notes to make notes and mark passages related to the theme.

5. (a) assigns students to keep a Double-Entry Reading Log while the teacher reads a novel aloud. Students divide their pages into two parts by drawing a line down the center of the page. On the left-side, students record quotes and/or stage directions that they find especially memorable or signify one of the literary devices. On the right-side, students list the devices such as flashback or figurative language and their responses.

(b) uses a timeline graphic organizer, encourages a classroom discussion on how the story might have been different if the author wouldn't have interrupted the plot and gone backward or forward in time during the story.


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Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature EIGHTH GRADE



Eighth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies common structures and stylistic elements in literature,

folklore, and myths from a variety of cultures.

2. compares and contrasts customs and ideas within literature representing a variety of cultures.

3. analyzes distinctive and shared characteristics of cultures through a variety of texts.

The teacher…1. (a) places students in small groups and assigns each group a folktale

from a different culture. In a jigsaw activity (one student from each group joins in a new group where each folktale is represented) students identify common structures and elements of the texts.

(b) has students make text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world connections with the text.

2. (a) in social studies, uses maps graphs, and databases to help answer questions concerning migration and diffusion during a particular time period. The students decide which types of maps, graphs, and databases would be most helpful in answering the question and present findings.

3. (a) uses a Venn-Diagram to compare and contrast characteristics of cultures after reading stories from different cultures.

(b) draws connections to classroom cultural diversity.

(c) models ways to recognize strategies used by media to inform, to entertain, and to transmit culture such as advertising, perpetuation of stereotypes, use of visual representations, special effects, and language



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Teacher Notes:


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Standard 1: Reading NINTH - TWELFTH GRADES



Ninth trough Twelfth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student… The teacher…


Teacher Notes:


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Ninth through Twelfth Grades Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. adjusts reading rate to support comprehension when reading

narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.

The teacher…1. (a) models to the students the significance to read or retell a piece

from their portfolios concentrating on natural speech rhythm.

(b) discusses with the students the need to adjust reading rate in order to think critically and evaluate various types of texts. Students discuss which type of text would need to be read slowest and why.


(d) reads aloud and or plays audios of both good and poor oral readings. After listening to examples, the teacher leads class through the development of a Venn Diagram comparing reading rate of good and poor oral reading. Teacher should ensure that adjusting reading rate to support the comprehension of the listeners is one of the qualities of good oral reading that is discussed. Next, leads the students through the creation of a classroom practice, and presents an oral reading of their choice to the class. During oral readings, directs student listeners to use the rubric to evaluate the oral reading of their peers. After returning completed rubric to students, the teacher directs students to use the peer evaluations to independently reflect in writing on their own performance.


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(e) uses Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA) with student breaking a passage into smaller parts to slow reading rate in order to comprehend a longer passage. The teacher records what the students know, what they think they know, and what they think they'll learn. Finally, students write what they've learned, refining their predictions into statements as they gather further information.



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Ninth through Twelfth Grades Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ determines meaning of words or phrases using context clues

(e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, clue words, cause-effect) from sentences or paragraphs.

2. locates and uses reference materials available in the classroom, school, and public libraries (e.g., dictionaries, thesauri, atlases,

The teacher…1. (a) gives students a list of words to look for as they read (or has

students generate their own lists by searching for words which they are unfamiliar). Students record the predicted meaning. As a class, students discuss and compare the possible interpretations based on the clues. Discussion should lead students toward determining the real meaning and determining which context clue method is utilized.

(b) identifies a word or phrase from a classroom text which uses a context clue(s). Teacher presents the word or phrase to the class out of context and asks students to predict possible meaning(s). Teacher directs students to read the word or phrase in the text. As a class, determine the actual meaning of the word or phrase as it is used in context. Next, identifies and discusses the type of context clue(s) used by the author to lead the reader to the appropriate meaning. Repeat the same process using different words or phrases throughout the year.

(c) uses cloze reading strategies. The teacher selects a text of approximately 400 words. The teacher decides which words to be studied (e.g., adjectives, adverbs, nouns). The teacher goes through the passage and deletes the words which students must determine after reading the passage. The teacher reads the passage with the blanks and asks the students to be thinking about which word would make sense in the sentences. The teacher has the students work in pairs to fill in the blanks. Once all blanks have been completed, the teacher has the pairs of students read their choices to the other students. As a group, the teacher and students discuss the words chosen by the students and compares them to the words original words from the passage.

2. (a) reviews reference materials with students.


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encyclopedias, internet) that are appropriate to the task.


4. ▲ identifies, interprets, and analyzes the use of figurative language, including similes, metaphors, analogies, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, personification, idioms, imagery, and symbolism.

(b) encourages the use of a thesaurus when writing.

3. (a) provides students opportunities to investigate word origins as an aid to understanding meanings, derivations, and spellings, as well as influences on the English language.

(b) gives students a list of unfamiliar words which contain a root word, prefix(es), and suffix(es). Direct students to highlight the prefix(es) with one colored highlighter and the suffix(es) with a different colored highlighter. Next, asks students to list the prefix(es) and its definition, the suffix(es) and its definitions, and the root word and its definition on a piece of paper. Finally, directs students to write a definition of the word based on the clues provided by the prefix(es), suffix(es), and root word.

(c) provides students with a list of common Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Teachers across all content areas, science, mathematics, and social studies should model using the list and require students to use the list to help determine meaning of appropriate content area vocabulary.

4. (a) directs students to illustrate posters to represent the most common types of relationships expressed in analogies, similes, and metaphors. These posters could include student-generated examples and artwork/illustrations and can be displayed in the classroom as instructional tools.

(b) models how to analyze metaphors. For example, one might use the metaphor, “Love is a rose.” First, the teacher identifies the literal pattern or characteristics of the first element in the metaphor. Next, the teacher identifies the literal pattern or characteristics of the second element. For example, rose if beautiful, sweet, brings happiness, but can have thorns. Finally, the teacher identifies the abstract relationship between the two elements: something that can bring happiness can also cause pain. Following the modeling, the teacher provides guided practice in analyzing metaphors using a variety of sample metaphors. Teacher should continue to scaffold instruction, guided practice, and independent practice including identifying, interpreting, and analyzing metaphors used within classroom texts.


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5. discriminates between connotative and denotative meanings and interprets the connotative power of words.

(c) in World History, has the students write analogies to describe the Byzantine Empire, for example" "If the Byzantine Empire was an animal, it would be a(n)…" or an analogy such as, “If the Byzantine Empire was an animal, it would be a(n) …..? Then, direct students to interpret how the analogy represents hat time and place.

(d) invites students to read a variety of comic books which contain onomatopoeia. Then, asks students to identify specific examples of onomatopoeia and analyze its use within the text.

(e) provides students with poetry written by several poets. Asks students to identify and analyze the use of personification in the poems. Then, directs students to write their own poems using personification appropriately to support comprehension and understanding of their own poem.

(f) explains to students that metaphors are often identified by the words “like a” and explains that metaphors are compared to information that is already know about a topic and new information.

(g) explains to students to look for the signal words “is to” and “as” when finding analogies.

5. (a) after reviewing denotations and connotations reads political/historical persuasive speeches or documents. Students select words that need a clear definition to understand the full meaning of the selection. Then students discover and record the denotation of the word, and generate and record possible connotations for those words that could be emotionally charged. The students compare and discuss each word.

(b) in social studies, has the students compile a list of places, building, songs, poetry, prose, etc. that serve as symbols which identify, unify, or divide a group of people. Students make a T-Chart with the emotions encountered when dealing with the different symbols. Students explain their choices and discuss the T-Chart with the class.


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Teacher Notes:


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Ninth through Twelfth Grades Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. identifies characteristics of narrative, expository, technical, and

persuasive texts.

2. ▲ understands the purpose of text features (e.g., title, graphs/charts and maps, table of contents, pictures/illustrations, boldface type, italics, glossary, index, headings, subheadings, topic and summary sentences, captions, sidebars, underlining, numbered or bulleted lists, footnotes, annotations) and uses such features to locate information in and to gain meaning from appropriate-level texts.

The teacher…1. (a) encourages students to respond to informational reading through

varied and appropriate modes such as writings, performances, projects, graphic displays, and available technology.

(b) provides students with an example of a Venn Diagram. The students work in pairs to complete the Venn Diagram by showing the similarities and differences of characteristics between the two text types. Students can use a semantic web to identify the characteristics of technical and persuasive texts.

2. (a) writes the different text features onto paper or cardboard disks and puts them into a container. After reading a section from a literature textbook, the teacher divides the students to work with a partner. The teacher instructs the students to randomly select a paper or disk with the written text features. The students look in the literature read from the textbook for an example of the text feature which was drawn from the container. The students make a poster explaining the text feature and presents it to the class.

(b) in history or geography class, has the students develop a series of maps and/or charts to explain the occurrences and distribution of one distinctive part of a major physical component of Earth's environment (e.g., climate, landforms, erosion, or natural disasters).

(c) explains that mathematics textbooks are generally organized by chapter and subheadings consisting of graphs and charts, boldface words, etc. Quite often, introductory explanations about the topic are listed (as a summary sentence) at the beginning of the chapter followed by problem examples.

(d) explains to students that chapters in science class contain many text features, such as headings, subheadings, boldface words,


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pictures/illustrations, bulleted lists, sidebars, etc.

3. (a) uses the topic of the text to have students discuss the studied topics and encourages the students to ask themselves questions about the text they read. The teacher provides the students with sticky notes to write questions about the text as the text is being read. Once the text has been read, the students write their questions from the sticky notes onto a sheet of paper, then, write their prediction to what will happen next with the text. As the text is being read, students are encouraged to change their predictions. When the text has been read to its entirety, the students will confirm their predictions.



4. (a) before reading the text, has the students use the SQ3R process using the headings and subheadings to ask about the text before reading.

(b) during reading of the text, has the students write questions they encounter onto sticky notes. Then, after reading the students read the questions on their sticky notes to determine if they still need an answer to the question or if another question has arose stemming from the initial question.

(b) has the student use the QAR Framework and poses questions to assist students in their understanding of the text. This process can be used to activate prior knowledge, to make predictions based on illustrations, and to recall important events and details presented in the text.

5. (a) has the students read a narrative text. As the students are


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6. ▲ analyzes and evaluates how authors use text structure (e.g., sequence, problem-solution, comparison-contrast, description, cause-effect) to help achieve their purposes.

reading about a character, the teacher has the students make inferences about the character using the descriptive words which are describing the character. The students arrive at their inferences using a word equation (see-example-below)

Character-Description + Prior-Knowledge = Inference(What-are-the-details)----------------(What-the-details-mean-to-you)

(b) encourages the students to draw conclusions using information from the text. The teacher has the students chart pieces of information from the text onto a two-column graphic organizer (see below) and draw conclusions using the information from the text.

Information From The Text ConclusionFriends are buying dresses Going somewhere specialStudents decorating the gym A possible partyMaking reservations for dinner A special occasion

(c) in World History, has the students develop a five-column matrix with the four characteristics of a civilization and add religion. Then down the side, give a row in the matrix to each Middle Eastern ancient civilization: Sumerians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, Assyrians, and Hebrews. The students complete the matrix as a chart of information to show how each group fulfilled the requirements of being deemed a civilization. Students should then draw conclusions about each civilization and the Middle Eastern civilization as a region.

(d) encourages the students to make inferences or predictions about what could happen in the text after reading a chapter from a novel. As the students are reading about a character, the teacher has the students make inferences about the character using the descriptive words which are describing the character.

6. (a) the teacher provides students with models or students create their own graphic organizers to identify and analyze the structures of the texts comparison/contrast - Venn Diagram sequence/narration, story map – causal chain cause effect – Fishbone Graphic Organizer


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7. ▲ compares and contrasts varying aspects (e.g., characters' traits and motives, themes, problem-solution, cause-effect relationships, ideas and concepts, procedures, viewpoints, authors' purposes, persuasive techniques, use of literary devices, thoroughness of supporting evidence) in one or more appropriate-level texts.

(b) in United States History, has the students construct a timeline showing treaties, mutual defense pacts, and other events that led to a rapid escalation of the conflicts that resulted in World War I.

(c) in government, has students research a current law to establish its purpose and effect or create a law that will solve a problem.

7. (a) prepares a Venn Diagram. After reading a text, the teacher has the students work in pairs to compare one character to another. Once the Venn Diagram has been completed, the teacher has the students change partners and discuss how the characters' traits made them feel about each character.

(b) in World History, has the students read excerpts from Plato's Republic, and compare Plato's ideas to those practiced in the workings of the federal government. Students will complete a 10-minute writing about Plato's contributions to the United States ideal of the democratic republic.

(c) in World History, has the students create a jigsaw structure in the classroom to study the world religions of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism. Taoism, or Legalism. First, the teacher will assign students to same-subject groups that reaches the religion they choose. The students complete a saturation study of that religion and present the information to the class as a group. Then the students will jigsaw the groups by moving group members to include all 6 religions. The new groups then decides how to present a comparison and contrast of the religions to the class.

(d) and students read two stories. They compare and contrast the two stories looking for similarities and differences. This activity can be used with any novel or short story to compare and contrast characters’ traits and motives or to compare two problems and how they were solved.

(e) in science or biology, explains that there are many cause-effect relationships. For example, experiments are often performed to test the effects as a result of changing a single variable.


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8. ▲ explains and analyzes cause-effect relationships in appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.

9. ▲ uses paraphrasing and organizational skills to summarize information (stated and implied main ideas, main events, important details, underlying meaning) from appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts in logical or sequential order, clearly preserving the author's intent.

(f) in biology, emphasizes that finding a cure for a disease is a problem-solution.

(g) in science, has the students compare and contrast the science context from within a science fiction novel to actual science.

8. (a) provides students with a cause-effect graphic organizer. The teacher encourages the students to determine what the major event/cause of the text is as the text is being read. Once the cause is determined, the teacher encourages the students to reread the text to look for the events/effects that result from the cause.

(b) in government, has the students create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the rights of a citizen vs. a non-citizen. Students will list and explain the ways people have United States citizenship.

(c) prior to having the students read texts related to similar topics, has the students focus on a few issues that could be compared and contrasted between the two texts. As a text is read, the students keep response logs of their reactions to the supporting evidence. After completing the activity, the teacher and students discuss the key issues that were compared.

9. (a) the teacher divides the class into two groups and has each group read a different story or novel. Prior to reading, students focus on a few issues that could be compared and contrasted between the two novels or stories. As they read, students keep response logs of their reactions and supporting evidence. After both groups finish, the teacher leads and structures a discussion of the key issues.


(c) helps the students to understand that summarizing is restating or translating information into your own words. While reading the text, the teacher and students highlight the stated and implied main ideas or events and important details. Then after reading a "how to" article,


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11. ▲ analyzes and evaluates how an author’s style (e.g., word choice, sentence structure) and use of literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashback, irony, symbolism, tone, mood, satire, imagery, point of view, allusion, overstatement, paradox) work together to achieve his or her purpose for writing text.

the students summarize and list the steps in proper sequence.

(d) in World History, has students create a "World at War Scrapbook" which asks students to select 15 events from World War I and World War II for a total of 30 events. A timeline for each World War must be included. For each event selected, students must write a brief paragraph summary of the event. In the first paragraph, the information should include who, what, when, there, why, and how. The second paragraph should include the historical significance of the event and why the student chose that particular event.

10. (a) encourages students to take summary notes using words which are repeated throughout the text and to list ways the characters (both major and minor) responds to these words in order to assist in determining the theme.

(b) in World History, has the students write one sentence summaries for each main idea from the Magna Carta and place them in the left-hand column of a two-column chart. In the right-hand column, students write the related idea from the United States Constitution or the United States Bill of Rights. Students use this information to analyze the Magna Carta as a foundational document of the Constitutional Monarchy in England and to analyze how this changed the course of the history of England.


11. (a) plays a variety of appropriate music for the students to listen (e.g., classical, contemporary instrumental, rock, and etc.). After listening to each set of music, the teacher has the students answer questions (e.g., Did the music have a lot of rests?, What kinds of words did the writer use? How did the music make you feel? Did the


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13. follows directions presented in technical text.

music contain repeated words or phrases?) Once the students have completed the task, the teacher reads a passage to the students. Before reading, the teacher encourages the students to make note of any repeated words or phrases, and to keep track of the length and complexity of the words and sentences. After reading the entire passage, the teacher asks the students to indicate how the passage made them feel. Then the teacher explains to the students that the author's purpose for writing is revealed through various modes (e.g., through his/her choice or words, through his/her choice of simple or complex words and-sentence length, and through how the passage made the listener feel while hearing or reading the text).

(b) and student select a text that has been adapted to a movie. Excerpts from the movie are used to illustrate literary devices in the text (for example, mood or use of a flashback). Students discuss how the use of the device helps to develop the story.

12. (a) encourages students to evaluate his/her own responses to reading for evidence of growth in insight, clarity, and support.

(b) provides students with various excerpts or examples of different text type samples. On wall chart paper, the teacher writes 4 categories which author's write using the phrases: To be informed; To follow directions, To be entertained, To solve problems. Each student reads his/her except or describes the sample and the rest of the classmates decide in which category the text belongs. The teacher then explains to the students that authors write for a specific purpose.


13. (a) has the students collect blank job applications from different establishments. At random, the teacher distributes the job applications to the students and explains the importance of following directions while completing the application. Once the applications have been reviewed, the students complete the applications with their


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14. ▲ identifies the author's position in a persuasive text, describes techniques the author uses to support that position (e.g., bandwagon approach, glittering generalities, testimonials, citing authority, statistics, other techniques that appeal to reason or emotion), and evaluates the effectiveness of these techniques and the credibility of the information provided.


own personal information.

(b) divides the students into small groups. Each group is given an item or article (teacher approved) to hide somewhere on the school grounds. Each group is responsible for writing a detailed map or description on how to get to this hidden item. Once each group has had an opportunity to complete this task, the group gives the directions to another group in the class to use and find the hidden item. The group that has to locate the item grades the other group on their ability to be descriptive and on their technical writing technique.

14. (a) provides students with several pieces on the same issue but written from a different point of view. Students discuss the effectiveness of each author.

(b) encourages the students to work in pairs and write a persuasive paper based on a given topic (vending machines in schools, internet high school classes, mandatory year-round school attendance) using various persuasive techniques (e.g., bandwagon approach, glittering generalities, testimonials, citing authority, statistics, other techniques that appeal to reason or emotion). After completion of the task, the teacher leads the classroom in discussion to determine the effectiveness of the techniques used in each writing.

(c) groups the students in pairs to look through a magazine and discuss the different positions the authors use to persuade. This can be accomplished by discussion of text passages or advertisement. Then the students can identify which technique (e.g., bandwagon approach, glittering generalities, testimonials, citing authority, statistics, other techniques that appeal to reason or emotion), the author used to persuade the reader.

15. (a) directs students to use a T-Chart to list facts and opinions from a newspaper article.

(b) has the students negotiate, clarify, and defend opinions in large and small discussion groups.

(c) ) after identifying facts and opinions in a persuasive piece,


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students infer, explain, and record the author’s bias and provide evidence of this bias.

(d) has the students work in pairs to review several articles or pieces of advertisements on the same issue (written from different points of view) to determine which statements about each issue are facts and which are opinions. Then the students arrange the fact and opinions from the article or advertisement on a chart. Once the chart is completed, the students develop their own advertisement to persuade an audience from their own point of view and opinions.

(e) in science, explains that facts and opinions are represented. Facts are what is observed and opinion is a personal view about your interpretation regarding what is being observed.





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Standard 2: Literature NINTH - TWELFTH GRADES

Literature: The student responds to a variety of texts.


Ninth through Twelfth Grades Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student…1. ▲ identifies and describes different types of characters (e.g.,

protagonist, antagonist, round, flat, static, dynamic) and analyzes the development of characters.

The teacher…1. (a) creates and adds to a list of characteristics for each of the different

genres. This information is placed in graphic organizer form by students to use as a ready reference.

(b) prior to reading a novel, provides students with a format for a critical review that will be completed at the end of the unit. While reading the novel, the class discusses the major components of the review as they appear: plot-synopsis in present tense focusing on the main events and

identifying the climatic scene characterization-protagonist/antagonist

static vs. dynamic characterflat vs. round characterreasons for classificationshow characters are revealed

setting-description and analysis of how it adds to the meaning structure-identify and explain the narrative pattern(s) and

conflict(s) literary considerations-identification and explanation with

examples of symbolism, foreshadowing, etc. as they apply to the novel

theme-primary and secondary, explicit and implicit, and evaluation-reactions and opinions concerning the novel with

justifications/explanations

students also complete journal entries and other activities relating to the components. After completing the novel, students conduct research concerning the critical review and write the response in the sections according to each of the major components listed and described above.


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2. ▲ analyzes the historical, social, and cultural contextual aspects of the setting and their influence on characters and events in the story or literary text.

3. ▲ analyzes and evaluates how the author uses various plot elements (e.g., problem or conflict, climax, resolution, rising action, falling action, subplots, parallel episodes) to advance the plot and make connections between events.

4. analyzes themes, tone, and the author’s point-of-view across a variety of literary works and genres using textual evidence and considering audience and purpose.

5. identifies, analyzes, and evaluates the use of literary devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashback, irony, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, satire, allusion, paradox, dialogue, point of view, overstatement) in a text.

2. (a) uses a matrix to show the elements of style, theme, plot, setting, and characters. Then students discuss inferences and draw conclusions about the story.

(b) has the students read a novel. After reading the novel, the students are to rewrite the novel using different historical, social, and cultural contextual aspects. While making the changes, the students are to show how the changes influenced the characters and other events of the story. Allow adequate time for completion, as this project may require the students to research other cultures and their beliefs and customs.

3. (a) directs the students to use the QAR Process.


(c) assigns the students to bring a collection of pictures of family or other related pictures of experiences over several years and discuss how the setting may have changed over time.

4. (a) directs students to use a graphic organizer to compare texts.

5. (a) discusses the complex literary devices and creates a classroom definition for each. Students choose a piece of literature to use as an example for each literary device to then analyze and study in-depth.

(b) during a peer editing activity, students identify, discuss and explain each other’s points of view and biases in their writing.

(c) has the students read a novel and explain the problem, rising and falling action, and resolution through a short essay. Then the students write a comparison-contract essay explaining author’s ideas and how those ideas compare to their own ideas.

(The instructional examples provided in this document are only examples of teaching strategies and are not intended to endorse any one specific idea or concept. These


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examples should not be used exclusively for instruction.)Teacher Notes:


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Standard 2: Literature NINTH - TWELFTH GRADES



Ninth through Twelfth Grade Knowledge Base Indicators Instructional ExamplesThe student… 1. recognizes ways that literature from different cultures presents

similar themes differently across genres.

2. compares and contrasts works of literature that deal with similar topics and problems.

3. evaluates distinctive and shared characteristics of cultures through a variety of texts.

The teacher…1. (a) uses a text -to-text connection across countries and develops a

Venn Diagram to identify similarities and differences between the two cultures.

2. (a) in social studies, has students compare and contrast ways in which Europeans and American Indians developed economic interdependence. Students will research each groups economic interdependence development.

(b) in United States History, has the students analyze the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and show how the application of concepts from these documents have changed over the last 200 years.

(c) encourages students to compare and contrast media using art forms.

3. (a) in World History, has students work in cooperative structures to develop the game, “Who Am I?" by researching and writing descriptions (focusing on contributions) on 3" x 5" index cards for each of the great philosophers, and other important individuals from Greek civilizations. Each group will have 10 people to describe. Then groups will exchange decks of cards and play the game. One point is awarded for each correct response to the writing on the card. Once all the groups have practiced with all the conducted cards, conduct a whole class discussion of what information was chosen for the cards and the significance of the individual's contributions.


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Teacher Notes:


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Glossary

A.P.A. - American Psychological Association

addition (phoneme) – adding initial, medial, or final phonemes (smallest unit of sound) of a word.

affix - n. a bound (nonword) morpheme that changes the meaning or function of a root of stem to which it is attached, as a prefix ad- and the suffix -ing and adjoining. √

alliteration - n. the repetition of the initial sounds in neighboring words or stressed syllables, as "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew / The furrow followed free" (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"). v. alliterate. adj. alliterative. √

allusion - an indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place, or artistic work, the nature and relevance of which is not explained by the writer but relies on the reader's familiarity with what is thus mentioned. (Baldick, 1996, p.6) √

analogy - n. 1. a partial similarity, as the computer is like the brain. 2. a general comparability or likeness, as Your analogy of verbs as operators is useful. √

anticipation guides – pre-reading strategy used to identify prior knowledge about a topic.

antonym - a word opposite in meaning to another word. √

antagonist – a catalyst character that causes the initial conflict. This catalyst is not necessarily human.

assisted reading – instructor or tape assisted reading.

audience - n. the respondents to such media events as drama, television, visual arts, or written text.

author's purpose - the motive or reason for which an author writes, as to entertain, inform, or persuade. Also: author's intent. √

Glossary - Page 206April 28, 2004

author's style - the characteristics of a work that reflect its author's distinctive way of writing. √

bellwork activity - posting of an activity for student to begin immediately upon the start of class (when the bell rings). Not teacher guided activities.

bibliography – list of references in alphabetical order, representing the sources used in the written document.

biography – a story about a person’s life written by someone other than the subject.

blending (phoneme) - v. to combine the sounds represented by letters to pronounce a word; sound out. n. the joining of the sounds represented by two or more letters with minimal change in those sounds, as /gr/ in grow, /spl/ in splash: consonant cluster. √

categorization (phoneme) – sorting phonemes (smallest unit of sound) by attributes (e.g., recognizing in a sequence of sounds the word with the odd sound).

Causal Chain - see graphic organizers

cause-effect - a text structure with a stated or implied association between an outcome and the conditions which brought it about, often an organizing principle in narrative and expository text, as TV violence causes crime. √ (What happens is the effect and why it happens is the cause.)

Cause and Effect Tree - see graphic organizers

character – a person, animal, or imaginary creature that plays a role in the story.protagonist - n. the central figure in a drama or narrative: hero(ine). √antagonist - n. a catalyst character that causes the initial conflict The catalyist is not necessarily human.round – character with more complete description or detail than a flat character.flat – character with less importance in the story. Not as clearly characterized or descriptive.static – stay the same throughout the story, hardly ever change. Events happen to this character.dynamic – change from the start of the story to the end of the story. They often learn as a result of an event in the

story.

Character Map - see graphic organizers


character's goal - characters reactions to the initiating events which begins the chain of events or actions by the character. The character's reaction then is stated in a goal which may or may not be stated in the text. The goal may be inferred from the text.

choral reading – group reading aloud. Note: Choral reading may be used with a group to develop oral fluency or to make a presentation to an audience. It may also be used by two people, one of whom usually is a better reader and serves as a model during the reading. √

circular thinking – begin and end with the same idea. Beginning with the very point you are trying to prove (propaganda technique).

CLOZE method – an instructional technique that improves comprehension by deleting key words from a text.

cloze reading – the student employs the cuing system (syntactical and semantic clues) to determine the meaning in a cloze text.

compare-contrast - a text structure analyzing similarities and differences between or among characters, situations, concepts, or ideas.

Comparison Chart - see graphic organizers

compound noun - a group of two of more nouns treated as a meaning unit, as student teacher, tree farm. √

comprehension - the reconstruction of the intended meaning of a communication; accurately understanding what is written or said. √

Concept Map - see graphic organizers

concepts of print – book handling skills which include directionality, one-to-one match, hierarchical concepts and conventions of print.

conflict – the clash between opposing forces (e.g., character against character, character against self, character against society, character against nature).


connotation - the emotional association(s) suggested by the primary meaning of a lexical unit, which affects its interpretations; affective meaning; emotive meaning. Also connotative meaning. √

consonant cluster – in a syllable, a sequence or two or more distinguishable consonant sounds before or after a vowel sound, as /skr/ and /mz/ in screams. Also consonant blend. Note: The term refers only to sounds, not to letter representing sounds. √

context clue - information from the immediate textual setting that helps identify a word or word group, as by words, phrases, sentences, illustrations, syntax, typography, etc. √

critical thinking - 1. the logical thought processes characteristic of the scientific method. 2. the thought processes characteristic of creativity and criticism in literature and other arts; divergent thinking. Note: Heath (1991) observed, "Educators do not, in general, equate either inventive thinking or literary and other artistic criticisms with logical, reflective, critical thinking. Instead they tend to link critical thinking with problem-solving heuristics that characterize science."

definition – a context clue where the author gives a short sentence or phrase explanation immediately following an unfamiliar word (the unfamiliar word is often bolded).

deletion (phoneme) – removing phonemes (smallest unit of sound) and determining what sounds remain.

denotation - the relationship between a linguistic event and its referent, a book denotes the object "book"; referential meaning; denotative meaning; cognitive meaning. √

description – a context clue where the author gives a comprehensible written or picture/graph detail of an unfamiliar word (the unfamiliar word is often bolded).

dialogue - a literary work written as conversation, as Plato's Dialogues. √

diaroma – a 3-dimensional representation of a setting, scene, or event.


digraph - n. 1. two letters that represent one speech sound, as ch for /ch/ in chin or ea for /e/ in bread. Cp. blend (def. 2). 2. a grapheme resulting form the fusion of two letters into one, as œ, Æ; ligature. Cp. Tiragraph (def. 1). Adj. digraphic.

Directed Reading Activity (DRA) – a pre-reading and post-reading instruction format in which the teacher guides students to make connections through personal experiences, other texts, and the text they are reading to construct meaning.

Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) – a pre-reading, during-reading activity in which the teacher guides reading and stimulates thinking through questions, which prompt interpretation, clarification, and application to foster critical awareness.

double-entry journal – students reflect from a prompt (select words, short quotes, or passages) in a two-column format.

drama - a play; a story in dramatic form, typically emphasizing conflict in key characters and written to be performed by actors. √

dyads – pairs; two people working together.

echo reading – oral reading where the student imitates the reading of the teacher or partner.

emergent reading - the course of a child's early interaction with books and other print, as from pretend reading to genuine efforts to understand the nature and meaning of print. √

epic - a long narrative poem, usually about the great deed of a folk hero, state in lofty, elevated language, as Homer's Iliad. √

essay - a relatively brief literary composition, usually in prose, giving the author's views on a particular topic. √

Evidence Organizer - see graphic organizers


examples – a context clue where the author demonstrates word definition through the use of a concrete example that illustrates a concept, sometimes using signal words, (e.g., for instance, such as, including, for example, to illustrate) to let the reader know that information will be given to clarify a concept. fable - a short tale in prose or verse that teaches a moral, usually with animals and inanimate objects as characters. √

fact and opinion - (facts) statements of information that can be verified as true as opposed to (opinions), statements of belief, judgments, or points of view that are based on personal preferences or biases.

fairytale - a folk story about real-life problems, usually with imaginary characters and magical events. √

fiction - imaginative narrative in any form of presentation that is designed to entertain, as distinguished from that which is designed primarily to explain, argue, or merely describe; specifically a type of literature, especially prose, as novels and short stories, but also including plays and narrative poetry. √

figurative language - language enriched by word images and figures of speech. √

Fishbone Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers

flashback - a technique of disrupting the chronology of a narrative by shifting to an earlier time in order to introduce information. √

fluency - freedom from word-identification problems that might hinder comprehension in silent reading of the expression of ideas in oral reading; automaticity. √

folktale - a narrative form, as an epic, legend, myth, fable, etc., that is or had been retold within a culture for generations and is well known through repeated storytelling, as an Anansi tale. Also folk tale, folk story. √

foreshadowing - the technique of giving clues to coming events in narrative. √

Generative-Reciprocal Inference Procedure (GRIP) – an instructional technique showing students how to make inferences, the teacher models the process while students, in pairs, write and exchange paragraphs which require an inference.


genre - n. 1. a category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique, or content. Note: Classic literary genres are tragedy, comedy, epic, lyric, and pastoral. "Today, the novel, essay, short story, television play, and motion picture scenario are also considered genres" (Holman and Harmon, 1992). √

goals - see character's goal grapheme - n. a written or printed representation of a phoneme, as b for /b/ and oy for /oi/ in boy. Note: In English, a grapheme may be a single letter or a group of letters. It includes all the ways in which the phoneme may be written or printed. √

graphic organizer(s) – a visual representation that organizes the important ideas and illustrates relationships to help learners comprehend and retain information in a variety of texts (N-Narrative Text, E-Expository Text, T-Technical Text, P-Persuasive Text).

Causal Chain – (N, E) used to show how one event leads to another event in a sequential order.

Cause and Effect Tree – (N, E, T, P) used to show multiple cause/effect relationships. (What happens is the effect and why it happens is the cause.)

Character Map – (N) used to illustrate the connection between the character’s actions, description, speech, thoughts or feelings, and other characters’ thoughts or feelings about that character.

Comparison Chart – (N, E, T, P) classification chart that organizes information with concepts and characteristics to determine similarities and differences.

Concept Map – (N, E, T, P) an organizer (web or map) that shows the relationship of a word or concept to other words or concepts. Helps to keep track of what a reader knows about an idea.

Evidence Organizer - (P) states support for a viewpoint in persuasive writing. Helps to analyze if the supporting details are convincing.

Fishbone Graphic Organizer - (N, E, T, P) a representation, typically in the form of a fish skeleton, of the main idea and supporting details or cause/effect relationships.


Inquiry Chart (I-Chart) - (N, E, T, P) uses clues from the text to determine the writer’s purpose.

KWL Chart - (N, E, T, P) technique used to direct student learning of content area text by linking prior knowledge, questions, and what they have learned.

KWRL (Know, Want to know, Research, Learned) - (N, E, T, P) technique used to direct student learning of content area text by linking prior knowledge, questions, how they will answer questions, and what they have learned.

Main Idea Organizer – (N, E, T, P) helps differentiate between the main idea(s) and details.

Matrix – (N, E, T, P) classification chart that organizes information with concepts along the top and characteristics on the left to determine similarities and differences.

Mind Map - (N, E, T) form of a web that uses pictures instead of words to illustrate ideas and concepts.

Plot Chart – (N) helps to illustrate how fiction is organized and to analyze the parts of a plot.

Question-Answer Relationship QAR Organizer - (N, E, T, P) a technique used to identify the relationship between a question and the answer to the question (e.g., literal or inferred).

Rising Action Story Map – (N) showing the events leading to the climax of the story.

Semantic Web - (N, E, T, P) web that illustrates the meaning of a word or idea.

Spider Graphic Organizer – see Web Graphic Organizer

Story Frames (graphic organizer) - (N, E) used to help students identify how the author used text structures to organize the text.

Story Map – (N, E) a representation of the logical sequence of events in narrative text, including setting, problem, goal, events, and resolution. In expository text, a logical organization of main points and supporting details.

Story Organizer – see story map


Sunburst Graphic Organizer – see Web Graphic Organizer

T-Chart - (N, E, T, P) a two-column chart that compares two aspects related to the text.

Theme Diagram – (N) an alternate form of a web graphic organizer that connects the theme to details from the text.

Thinking Tree – (N, E) an alternate form of a web graphic organizer in the shape of a tree that connects a main idea to the details.

Timeline Graphic Organizer – (N, E, T) puts events in chronological order.

Two-Column Graphic Organizer – see T-Chart

Venn Diagram/ Three-Circle Venn Diagram - (N, E, T, P) two intersecting circles to show similarities and differences. A three or more circle Venn Diagram shows the relationship of three or more things, ideas, or concepts.

Web Graphic Organizer - (N, E, T, P) a visual map to organize or brainstorm ideas about a character, event, word, or idea by placing the target idea in the center of the web and related details around it.

guided reading – reading instruction in which the teacher provides the structure and purpose for reading and for responding to the material read. Note: Most basal reading programs have guided reading lessons. √

historical fiction - a long narrative of past events and characters, partly historical but largely imaginative , as The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (pére). √

homograph - n. a word with the same spelling as another word, whether or not pronounced alike, as pen (a writing instrument) vs. pen (an enclosure), or bow (and arrow) vs. bow (of a ship). √

homonym - a word with the same pronunciation and spelling as another word but with different meaning, as bay (a body of water, vs. bay (part of a window). √


homophone - a word with different origin and meaning but the same pronunciation as another word, whether or not spelled alike, as hare and hair, or scale (of a fish) and scale (a ladder). √

hyperbole - an intentionally exaggerated figure of speech, as I have told you a million times. √

hypothesis – an informed guess based on prior knowledge.

identification (phoneme) – recognition of the common sound associated with a letter or letter combinations.

idiom - an expression that does not mean what it literally says, as to have the upper hand has nothing to do with hands. Note: Idioms are peculiar to a given language and usually cannot be translated literally. For this reason, languages especially rich in idioms, as English, French, German, and Russian are difficult to translate. √

imagery - n. 1. the process or result of forming mental images while reading or listening to a story, perceiving, etc. 2. the use of language to create sensory impressions as the imagery of the phrase such sweet sorrow. 3. collectively, the figurative language in a work. 4. the study of image patterns in literature for clues to the author's deeper meaning.

independent reading level - the readability or grade level of material that is easy for a student to read with few word-identification problems and high comprehension. Note: Although suggested criteria vary, better than 99 percent word-identification accuracy and better than 90 percent comprehension are often used as standards in judging if a reader is reading at this level. Also: individual reading level √

Inquiry Chart (I-Chart) - see graphic organizers

instructional reading level - the reading ability or grade level of material that is challenging, but not frustrating for the student to read successfully with normal classroom instruction and support. Note: Although suggested criteria vary, better than 95 percent word-identification accuracy and better than 75 percent comprehension are often used as standards a this level. √

inferences – a statement created from using information from the text and a reader’s prior knowledge.

inferential - an item, the answer, to which is implied or suggested rather than directly stated in the text.


intonation - the distinctive patterns of pitch that contribute to the meanings of spoken phrases and sentences, as between commands and questions such as "Go now!" and "Go now?": intonation pattern. √

irony - a figure of speech in which the literal meaning of the words is the opposite of their intended meaning, as in I could care less. See also satire. √

KWL Chart - see graphic organizers

KWL Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers

KWRL (Know, Want to know, Research, Learned) - see graphic organizers

legend - a traditional, historical tale of a people, handed down first in oral and later in written form. √

literal - the explicit sense that is clearly stated in the text.

literature circle – method of encouraging students to select books by theme or interest and then engage in discussion as part of groups to extend comprehension.

loaded words – used in persuasive text to elicit emotion from the reader.

lyric - a short poem of personal feelings and emotions, intended to make a single impression on the reader. √

M.L.A. - The Modern Language Association

main idea - 1. the gist of a passage, central thought. 2. the chief topic of a passage expressed or implied in a word or phrase. 3. the topic sentence of a paragraph. 4. " a statement in sentence form which gives the stated or implied major topic or a passage and the specific ways in which the passage is limited in content or reference". (Harris, 1981). Also main topic. √

Main Idea Organizer - see graphic organizers

Matrix- see graphic organizers


media - means of communication, especially of mass communication, as books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, motion pictures, recordings, etc. √

metaphor - a figure of speech in which a comparison is implied by analogy but is not stated, as "death is slumber" (Percy Blysshe Shelly, "Mont Blanc"). √

Mind Map - see graphic organizers

mood - the emotional state of mind expressed by an author or artist in his or her work. √

myth – a story based on a culture trait, moral, religious belief, or scientific information which is designed to explain or to entertain, generally using larger-than-life characters.

neurological impress method (NIM) – an approach to teaching reading in which the teacher and learner read together while tracking the words. The teacher and learner usually sit so that the learner is on the right and slightly in front. The teacher’s voice should be close to the learner’s ear.

non-fiction - prose designed primarily to explain, argue, or describe rather than to entertain; specifically, a type of prose other than fiction but including biography and autobiography. √

one-to-one match – the relationship of a phoneme with one unique grapheme or a single spoken word with a single written word.

onomatopoeia – words of which the sound suggests meaning, such as the words pow or clank.

onset - that part of a syllable preceding the syllable peak or nucleus; normally, the consonants preceding the vowel of a syllable, as str in strip. √

orthographic patterns – sequence of visual letters, characters, or symbols in the written language.

orthography – the study of the nature and use of symbols in a writing system. √

overstatement – an exaggeration to make a point.


pacing - n. 1. using a pacer to control rate of reading in connected discourse either mechanically or manually, as by running one's fingers below and across each line of text. 2. the rate at which material to be learned or read is presented by a teaching machine or through computer-assisted instruction. 3. setting one's own pace in reading or learning. Note: By using a pacing pattern appropriate for the reading task, the reader can be helped to develop a more flexible reading rate. 4. adjusting the rate at which instruction and instructional materials are provided in order to accommodate differences in learning behavior. √

pair-share reading – joint reading aloud between two individuals who read a story simultaneously. paradox - n. 1. an apparently contradictory statement that suggests a truth, as Life is but a dream. 2. a self-contradictory, illogical statement, as Include me out (attributed to Samuel Goldwyn). √

paraphrase - the act or result of restating the meaning of something spoken or written in another form. √

personification - a metaphorical figure of speech in which animals, ideas, things, etc., are represented as having human qualities √

phoneme - a minimal sound unit of speech that, when contracted with another phoneme, affects the meaning of words in a language, as /b/ in book contrasts with /t/ in took, /k/ in cook, /h/ in hook. Note: The phoneme is an abstract concept manifested in actual speech as a phonemic variant, as the allophones of the phoneme /t/ in top, stop, pot. √

phoneme blending - v. to combine the sounds represented by letters to pronounce a word; sound out. n. the joining of the sounds represented by two or more letters with minimal change in those sounds, as /gr/ in grow, /spl/ in splash: consonant cluster. √

phoneme isolation – the act of recognizing individual sounds in a word.

phoneme segmentation - the act of dividing the spoken word into the smallest units of sound.

phonemic awareness - the awareness of the sounds (phonemes) that make up spoken words. √

phonics - a way of teaching reading and spelling that stresses symbol-sound relationships, used especially in beginning instruction. √


phonological awareness - awareness of the constituent sounds of words in learning to read and spell. Note: the constituents of words can be distinguished in three ways: a. by syllables, as /bǒǒk/. b. by onsets and rimes, as /b/ and /ǒǒk/. c. by phonemes, as /b/ and /ǒǒ/ and /k/.

phrasing - n. 1. the way in which words are chosen and grouped in speaking or writing. 2. reading in thought units. 3. using slashes or extra spaces to mark thought units into material to be read, as The man walked // into the room. √

pitch - the rise and fall of the voice when speaking. √

plagiarism – using another’s ideas or words as your own without giving credit to the author.

plot - 1. the structure of the action of a story. Note: In conventional stories, plot has three main parts: rising action, climax, and falling action leading to a resolution or denouement. 2. v. to so structure the action of a story. 3. n. a pattern of related episodes. √

conflict – the clash between opposing forces (e.g., character against character, character against self, character against society, character against nature).

crisis/turning point – understanding(s) or event(s) that drive(s) the character’s actions.climax – the most intense or crucial moment or event when the tension reaches a peak. resolution – how the story’s central problem is resolved; bringing the conflict to an end.rising action – a series of crises or turning points building tension toward the climax. falling action – the story examines the consequences of the climax and the tension fades.subplot – stories within the story that expands some aspect of the main plot, such as character, setting, or theme.parallel episodes – events that are happening at the same time, often without the main character’s awareness.

Plot Chart - see graphic organizers

Plot Map - see graphic organizers

point of view - the technique or choice of words the author uses to reveal his or her voice, as in characters (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person), events, and ideas in telling a story. √


prediction strategy - a person's use of knowledge about language and the context in which it occurs to anticipate what is coming in writing or speech, as if one read prag- at the end of a line, one prediction strategy might be to expect the word pragmatic. √ Also prediction.

prefix - n. an affix attached before a base word or root, as re- in reprint. √

prior knowledge - knowing that stems from previous experience. √

problem-solution – a text structure in which the author identifies a problem and offers a solution(s).

propaganda - an extreme form of written or spoken persuasion intended to influence the reader or listener strongly, though sometimes subtly, and usually by one-sided rather than objective arguments. √

protagonist - n. the central figure in a drama or narrative; hero(ine). √

Punctuation Carousel - activity for reinforcing punctuation.

punctuation mark - one of the set of graphic marks used in written phrases and sentences to clarify meaning or to give speech characteristics to written material; punctuation. √

Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) - a technique used to identify the relationship between a question and the answer to the question (e.g., literal or inferred).

Question-Answer Relationship QAR Organizer – see graphic organizers

Reader’s Theatre – a performance of literature read aloud by one or more individuals to practice expressive reading and fluent reading.

reciprocal teaching – a teaching strategy in which “students are involved in summarizing, question-generating, clarifying, and predicting as they read texts and observe phenomena … [and] both teacher and students share responsibility for the conduct of the discussion: (Palincsar & Brown, 1985). √

resolution - the story’s central problem is resolved; bringing the conflict to an end.


restatement – a context clue in which the writer uses difficult words or phrases and repeats them in familiar ways to clarify meaning.

retelling - n. 1. in discourse analysis, a measure of comprehension. 2. in misuse analysis, the process in which the reader, having orally read a story, describes what happened in it. Note: The purpose of including retelling in miscue analysis is to gain insight into the reader's ability to interact with, interpret, and draw conclusions from the text. v. retell. √ return sweep - the diagonal eye-movements, or saccade, from the end of one line of print to the start of the next. √

rhyme - 1. n. identical of very similar recurring final sounds in word within or, more often, at the ends of lines of verse. 2. n. verse or recurring words that represent such sounds. 3. v. to write words or lines of verse with such recurring sounds. √`rimes - a vowel and any following consonants of a syllable, as /ook/ in book or brook,/ik/ in strike, and /a/ in play. √

Rising Action Story Map - see graphic organizers

root (words) - n. 1. the basic part of a word that usually carries the main component of meaning and that cannot be further analyzed without loss of identity. 2. in a complex word, the meaningful base form after all affixes are removed. Note: a root may be independent, or free, as read in unreadable, or may be independent, or bound, as -liter- (from Greek for letter in illiterate.

rhythm of speech – using a speaking voice with appropriate intonation and inflection.

satire - the use of ridicule or scorn, often in a humorous or witty way, to expose vices and follies. √

segmentation (phoneme) - the act of dividing the spoken word into the smallest units of sound.

self-correction – a conscious correction of a reading error by a student.

self-monitoring – the student consciously uses strategies in all stages of reading to support comprehension.


semantic clues – evidence from the general sense or meaning of a written or spoken communication that aids in the identification of an unknown word. √

Semantic Web - see graphic organizers

sequence - n. organizing information (e.g., character actions, events or happenings, directions in technical text) from the text in logical order to reveal or express the order in which they occurred. The arrangement or ordering of subject matter content for presentation and study over a selected period, as a unit, semester, year, etc. Common approaches to sequencing are chronological, developmental, simple to complex, part to whole, whole to part, and thematic. Note: In its fullest sense, sequencing of content is not merely a linear arrangement, but involves provision for revisiting key concepts and skills so that each successive encounter deepens students' understanding or proficiency.

setting - n. 1. the physical and psychological background against which the action in a story takes place. 2. the time and place in which a narrative occurs. 3. the scenery and stage effects for a drama, motion picture, etc.: set. √

shared reading – an early childhood instructional strategy in which the teacher involves a group of young children in the reading of a particular big book in order to help them learn aspects of beginning literacy, as print conventions and the concept of word, and develop reading strategies, as in decoding or the use of prediction. √

short stories - a brief fictional prose narrative designed to create a unified impression quickly and forcefully, as in Edgar Allan Poe's “The-Tell-Tale Heart" or Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace". √

sight word - 1. a word that is immediately recognized as a whole and does not require word analysis for identification. 2. a word that is taught as a whole. √

simile - a comparison two unlike objects or concepts, generally using words such as “like” or “as”.

Six Trait Reading – a framework for critical reading using these six-traits; conventions, comprehension, context, interpretation, synthesis, evaluation. See Northwest Regional Educational Lab (NWREL).


Somebody/Something Wanted But So (SWBS) - “Somebody” is the character or subject, “wanted” is the goal, “but” is the problem and “so” is the solution. Example: Goldilocks (Somebody) wanted some food (Wanted) but the porridge was too hot (But) so she tried the other bowl. Spider Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers

sponge activity – a short activity that requires students to briefly review previous content. It’s called a sponge activity because it “soaks-up” those few spare moments in the school day that might not be instructional such as standing in line to transition to another activity.

stereotype – to categorize an individual or group of individuals based on generalizations.

Story Frames - see graphic organizers

Story Map - see graphic organizers

Story Organizer - see graphic organizers

structural analysis - the identification of word-meaning elements, as re and read in reread, to help understand the meaning of a word as a whole; morphemic analysis. Note: Structural analysis commonly involves the identification of roots, affixes, compounds, hyphenated forms, inflected and derived endings, contractions, and, in some cases, syllabication. √

stylistic elements – techniques a writer uses to enhance a text, such as word choice, sentence structure, and literary devices (e.g., figurative language, imagery, repetition, symbolism, dialogue).

subtopic – a main topic that has been narrowed down to a smaller topics (e.g., main topic=transportation, subtopics=automobile, bus, train)

suffix - n. an affix attached to the end of a base, root, or stem that changes meaning or grammatical function of the word, as -en added to ox- to form oxen. √

Sunburst Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers


Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review (SQ3R) – a five-step method for active elaboration of material that is read. First, the student surveys all of the headings and subheadings to get a sense of what the material is about. Next, the student poses the question “What is this material about?”, then, reads the material. As the student reads, they recite or write down what they are learning and after reading they review what they have learned.

symbolism - the use of one thing to suggest something else; specifically, the use of symbols to represent abstract ideas in concrete ways. √

synonym - one of two or more words in a language that have highly similar meanings, as sadness, grief, sorrow, etc. √

syntactic clues – evidence from knowledge of the rules and patterns of language that aids in the identification of an unknown word from the way it is used in a grammatical construction. √ substitution (phoneme) – the replacement of the initial, medial, or final sound with a new sound.

summary - a brief statement that contains the essential ideas of a longer passage or selection. √ v. summarize.

supporting details – facts, examples, details, statistics, expert opinions, or quotations used to confirm or prove the author’s message.

T-Chart - see graphic organizers

text organizers - an organizer used for reading that is organized around one or more of the following: graphics, hierarchy or sequence (outline), or key words/phrases. The organizer is used to keep track of main ideas and supporting details.

text types:

narrative text – often fiction in which the values are used to describe and/or to explain human behavior. It involves a setting and a character or characters who are involved in one or more conflicts (e.g., interpersonal, internal; with society). Theme may be directly stated or implied. The piece makes sense when read from beginning to end.

Narrative Characteristics:


Tells a story.

Contains well-developed characters.

Contains a setting describing where or when the story takes place.

Contains a carefully fashioned plot with a problem and resolution.

Contains a theme that explains the meaning of the story.

Contains vocabulary used to enrich understanding of the story.

May be written in first, second, or third person.

Traditional Narrative Structure:

Beginning: Contains a setting, characters, problem(s)/conflict(s), initiating events,

Middle: Turning points, crisis, rising action, climax, subplot, parallel episodes.

End: Resolution, falling action, ending.

Narrative Text Types Include:

Biographies (depending on text structure), drama, diaries, excerpts from novels, fables, fantasies, folk tales, historical fiction, legends, mysteries, myths, novels, personal narratives, plays, poetry, mysteries, science fiction, short stories, sitcoms, tall tales, etc.

expository text - nonfiction in which the author seeks to explain or inform. The information can be verified as true. Common structures within expository text include description, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, sequence, or a combination of such structures.

Expository Characteristics:


To inform, explain, describe, enumerate, discuss, compare/contrast, and problem-solve.

Subject orientated; is focused on a specific topic.

Multiple organizational patterns, such as context clues or text features.

Difficult to predict based on content.

Various text patterns are signaled by different headings, subheadings, and signal words.

Contains facts and information using clear and precise dialogue.

Expository Structure:

Includes definition, description, process (collection, time order, or listing) classification, comparison, analysis, and persuasion.

Expository Text Types Include:

ABC books, autobiographies, biographies, essays, book reports, brochures, cartoons, catalogs, comics, complaints, definitions, government reports, graphs and charts, interviews, invitations, journals, lists, memoirs (depends on purpose and text structure), newspaper/magazine articles, recounts of an event, research papers, speeches, etc.

technical text - nonfiction text in which the author gives information to the reader that may be used to perform a task, including planning and decision making. The material to be read may include explicit steps to follow or the steps may be implied in a graphic.

Technical Characteristics:

Sentences are commonly shortened or fragmented.

Numbered or bulleted lists are commonly used.


Employs dictionary meaning of words.

Focused on an identified topic.

Is organized in a logical and orderly way.

Hierarchical organization in which information may be accessed at random.

Domain-specific terminology.

Avoidance of humor, vague terms, figurative language, and interrogative and imperative sentences.

Often employs subordination suggesting cause and effect.

There is a balance of white space and text.

Technical Text Types Include:

Brochures, classified ads, consumer information, directions, floor plans, forms, graphs and charts, how-to guides, instructions, job preparation manuals, job related materials, maps, menus, questionnaires, recipes, regulations, schedules, school forms, syllabi, transcripts, warranties, etc.

persuasive text - is nonfiction in which the author intends to convince the reader to adopt a particular opinion or to perform a certain action.

Persuasive Characteristics:

To take an informed stand on an issue using persuasive reasons and elaborating on those reasons.

The author considers the state of the reader’s emotion, beliefs, desires, commitments.

Attempts to solve a problem by invoking change.


Written to convince the reader to adopt the writer's point of view.

Focuses on a central purpose and sometimes relies on propaganda and sarcasm.

Author uses appeal to reason, emotional appeal, and endorsement by an influential figure (e.g., bandwagon approach, glittering generalities, testimonials, citing authority, statistics, other techniques that appeal to reason or emotion),

Persuasive Text Includes:

Introduction to the problem

Background to the problem

Proposal to remedy the problem

Argument for the proposal

Refutation of opposing sides

Call to action

Text types include:

Advertisements, book reviews, brochures, business letters, charitable campaign appeals, commercials, debates (written), editorials, essays, letters to the editor, movie critiques, political campaign literature, position papers, posters, single editorials or letters, speeches, etc.

theme - n. 1. a topic of discussion, writing, etc. 2. a major idea or proposition broad enough to cover the entire scope of literacy or other work of art. Note: A theme may be stated or implicit, but clues to it may be found in the ideas that are given special prominence or tend to recur in a work. √

Theme Diagram - see graphic organizers


thesis – the summary statement of the research topic.

Timeline Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers

think-aloud – n. 1. oral verbalization. 2. in literacy instruction, “a metacognative technique or strategy in which the teacher verbalizes aloud while reading a selection orally, thus modeling the process of comprehension” (Davey, 1983). √

Think-Pair-Share – a cooperative learning strategy, where after a question is posed, the learner first reflects independently about the answer and then with a partner they discuss their ideas related to the question. Finally, the ideas generated in pairs, are shared with the whole class.

“Think Trix” -- a visual cueing system that signals students of different levels or types of questions. For example, the evaluation question card has a balance scale as it’s symbol and the recall card has a large R as it’s symbol. These cards can be used as a guide for teachers to construct questions at different Blooms levels.Thinking Tree - see graphic organizers

tone - any sound of well-defined pitch, quality, and duration. √ Note: This definition is related to fluency, not literature.

topic - the general category or class of ideas, often stated in a word or phrase, to which the ideas of a passage as a whole belong; theme. √

Two-Column Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers

Two or Three-Circle Venn Diagram - see graphic organizers

Venn Diagram - see graphic organizers

visual clue(s) – a distinctive sight feature that triggers a response; especially, a distinctive shape that aids in identification of a letter, letter group, or word. √

vocabulary - those words known or used by a person or group. √


Vocabulary Self-Correction Strategy (VSS) – a vocabulary self-correction strategy where the class selects words they would like to study from a selected text. Students discuss and record both denotative and connotative meanings of selected words in relation to the text.

Web Graphic Organizer - see graphic organizers

webbing – n. in planning writing, the use of diagrams or maps, to show the relationship among the ideas to be included. √

word family - 1. a group of words sharing a particular or common phonic element, as /īt/ spelled ite in bite, kite, despite. 2. a group of words sharing the same root or base, as phon- in phonetic, phonation, and telephone. √

word journal – a record students keep of words they are unfamiliar with in a notebook. Students determine the meaning of words through context, dictionary use, or class discussion.

word recognition - 1. the process of determining the pronunciation and some degree of meaning of a word in written or printed form. 2. the quick and easy identification of the form, pronunciation, and appropriate meaning of a word previously met in print or writing. √

word sort(s) - a vocabulary-development and word-study activity in which words on cards are grouped according to designated categories, as by spelling patterns, vowel sounds, shared meaning, etc. √

word storm – a strategy for defining a word, then, “storming” ideas related to the word such as, writing a sentence from the text where the word is used, thinking of words that are thought of when you hear the word, examining different forms of the word, identifying what people might use the word regularly, and thinking of other ways to say the same thing.

word wall – a visual display of words that is used to demonstrate a skill or concept that is being taught in the classroom.

word ladders – a technique where you change one word into another word by changing only one letter at a time. For example: we can change “boy” into “toy” by changing the letter “b” to the letter “t”. But to change the word “boy” into the word “toe”, we need to two steps: 1) boy >>toy (b>t); 2) toy>>toe (y>e). Note: you cannot change the order of the letters.


References

√ : Harris, T. L. & Hodges, R.E., Eds. The Literacy Dictionary: The Vocabulary of Reading and Writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 1995


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