Before Reading

Lesson Plans for THE MIND GAME Level K

Before Reading

Introducing the Book
Show children the book, and have them read the title and scan the illustrations to make initial predictions about the main idea or topic.
Ask and say: What do you see on the cover? What do you think this story is about? What do the illustrations tell you about the kind of text this is? Share with the group anything else that you can infer from the illustrations or title.

Building Background
You will want to offer suggestions for eliciting prior knowledge and building background. Provide questions that get to what the child already knows about the topic. What do they know about computers?
Ask: What do people do with computers? Do you ever use a computer? How much time do you spend on the computer? What are you missing out on when you are using a computer?

Book Walk
While doing your book walk, go through as much of the book as you feel necessary, pointing out things you believe will challenge children as they read. Look at the pictures with them and discuss what they see. You may want to write down some of the words they suggest. This step will help reduce anxiety that some children feel when faced with a book that has unfamiliar text.

Reading Strategies
Remind children to use any or all of the following strategies to help them in their reading.

How will the pictures help you understand the text?
How does what you read connect to what you already know?
What can you do if you don't understand a part you just read? Reread any sentence or page that was difficult to make sure that you understand the text.

Ask children about the strategies they will use if they get to a difficult word. You may want to act as a role model to show them how it might look or sound as they are reading. Pretend to read, getting confused or slowed down because you are not understanding a part. Model a strategy to help yourself gain meaning through rereading, asking yourself questions, or looking at illustrations.

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Building Background
You will want to offer suggestions for eliciting prior knowledge and building background. Provide questions that get to what the child already knows about the topic. What do they know about computers?
Ask: What do people do with computers? Do you ever use a computer? How much time do you spend on the computer? What are you missing out on when you are using a computer?

Book Walk
While doing your book walk, go through as much of the book as you feel necessary, pointing out things you believe will challenge children as they read. Look at the pictures with them and discuss what they see. You may want to write down some of the words they suggest. This step will help reduce anxiety that some children feel when faced with a book that has unfamiliar text.

Reading Strategies
Remind children to use any or all of the following strategies to help them in their reading.

How will the pictures help you understand the text?
How does what you read connect to what you already know?
What can you do if you don't understand a part you just read? Reread any sentence or page that was difficult to make sure that you understand the text.

Ask children about the strategies they will use if they get to a difficult word. You may want to act as a role model to show them how it might look or sound as they are reading. Pretend to read, getting confused or slowed down because you are not understanding a part. Model a strategy to help yourself gain meaning through rereading, asking yourself questions, or looking at illustrations.

Go to During Reading