Before Reading

Lesson Plans for INSECT LIFE CYCLE level L

Before Reading

Introducing the Book
Before handing out the book, introduce it by showing the front and back covers, the title page, the table of contents, and the index.
Ask: What do you see on the covers? What does this tell you about the book’s contents? What do you think the book will be about? There should be a lot of prediction going on at this stage. Using the table of contents, you might give examples about where to find specific information. You can also use think-aloud strategies in this section. Come up with a question regarding some aspect of the subject at hand. For example, you can say you want to know what larva is. Show children how to look up the word larva in the index, find the page, and learn about larvae.

Building Background
See Using the Worksheet section above.

Book Walk
The Book Walk for this book, is simply a way to help children become familiar with the format of an informational book that is broken into sections. This may be a new concept for children. Go through the book and show children how each new section begins with bolded text that introduces the upcoming topic. If you are going to be reading the book in sections, this will be an important thing to show children. Also, go over and look at some of the pictures. This will help children become familiar with the topic they are about to learn more about. This will also show them that you recognize the importance of the photos in this book. Point out some of the content words that were discussed earlier so children have an idea where they are and won’t be worrying about them. This is just a way to help children feel more comfortable with the text they are about to read.

Reading Strategies
Discuss any reading strategies children can use to help them read. Discuss the strategies that have been used by children during their prior reading experiences. Remind them that they should be listening to themselves as they read, to make sure that things make sense. Talk to them about context clues and how to be aware of whether or not what they are reading makes sense in the context of the subject of the book.
Ask:

How will the pictures help you understand the text?
How does what you read connect to what you already know?
What can you do when you come to a word you do not understand?
What can you do if you don’t understand a part you have just read?

It may be appropriate for you to role-play reading the book and coming to a word you do not know. Explain that this is normal, and show children how to overcome this problem without losing their place or becoming overwhelmed. Remind children to reread a section and/or page if they had more than one trouble area while reading it the first time. This will help to ensure their level of understanding.

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