English Developmental Continuum P-10 – Reading

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Text Level Knowledge: Scaffolding Learning From Level 1

• Indicators of Progress
• Text Characteristics
• Teaching Strategies for Fiction texts
• Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction texts

 

Indicators of Progress

• Students decide the likely topic of a text by using the title, illustrations and their existing knowledge of texts and the topic.
• Students use their beliefs about the meaning of the text and how ideas are expressed in sentences, to predict words and match their prediction with the written words.
• Students read aloud with natural oral language fluency phrases and short sentences that they have not heard read previously.
• Students show that they can integrate pictorial and written information. They say ideas that are consistent with the topic. They use the topic of a text to predict ideas and to decide on appropriate words. If they say words that do not match the pictorial information, they self correct.
• Students show a trend away from reading sentences from memory to a greater awareness of the need to match what is said with what is written and to attend to the written words in the order given.
• Students match simple written sentences with illustrations and recognise when a sentence that is read does not match the accompanying illustration.
• Students demonstrate an increased awareness of some of the concepts of print including: (1) for a text that they hear being read while following the written form, they show word-by-word matching, identify when words have been omitted from or added to what is said, identify when lines have been omitted or reread and when an incorrect page is read; (2) distinguish between upper and lower case letters in continuous texts; and (3) locate spoken high-frequency words.
• Students show increasing accuracy in reading aloud sentences that have repeated words and that rhyme and they predict words that rhyme with earlier words.
• Students answer literal questions about sentences they have read and complete spoken sentences. For example, having read one or more pages, they retell what was read, read a sentence from the text from which a word has been deleted and suggest or select the deleted word.
• Students answer inferential questions about the actions of particular characters and the sequence of events that make up the plot. For example, What do you think he will do now?
• Students identify high-usage reading vocabulary in the text. For example, they can select you, Mum, was, for.
• Students express emotion as they read the narrative, for example, curiosity, surprise or concern.
• Students display fluency in the texts they read aloud.
• Students identify new words they have learnt and suggest other words for them.

 

Text Characteristics

• Texts have varied simple sentence patterns that support sentence phrasing.
• Texts have several lines of text per page and longer sentences.
• Texts have a blend of oral and written language patterns.
• Illustrations provide a moderate level of support.
• Texts provide opportunities to visually analyse some new or unusual words.
• Texts contain words that require greater visual attention.
• Texts contain an increasing range of high-frequency words and the vocabulary is extended.

 

Teaching Strategies for Fiction texts

Before Reading: Getting your knowledge ready for reading

The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is The Best Pizza in the World by Jenny Feely, published by Horwitz Martin Education of Australia.

Linking the title and picture

The teacher points to the title and asks students to suggest how they might read /say any of the words. If no child volunteers ‘pizza’ the teacher can have the students say the first two sounds, look at the picture and guess the word.

The teacher reads the title while students point to the words. They repeat the title aloud.

The teacher leads the students to link the title with the picture. Why is this the best pizza? Who thinks it is the world’s best pizza?

The teacher directs attention and asks students to say what is shown on the title page. They describe the picture of the pizza and read aloud the title. How is the picture of the pizza on this page different from the picture on the cover? Which one came first?

The teacher writes ‘The’ and ‘the’ on the whiteboard and asks students to read each and say the difference between them. Introduce or review the concept of a capital letter.

Readers look at how the title is written. Which words begin with capital letters ? Draw students’ attention to key words.

Predicting what the story might tell them

The teacher asks students to say what might happen in the story.

During Reading: Tuning into the text

The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is The Best Pizza in the World by Jenny Feely, published by Horwitz Martin Education of Australia.

Questioning the pictures

Students answer and ask questions about the pictures. For example:

• Does the boy look happy?
• Does the lady have much food in her basket?
• What do you think they will buy in the supermarket?

Retelling sentences

After the sentences have been read at least twice, the students retell each sentence and say it in their own words.

Reading and finishing incomplete sentences

Some of the key words are written on the whiteboard and/or on cards and students read them. They can select the words that finish each sentence. For example:

Luke

went

He

went

with

his

Some of the word cards are arranged into incomplete sentences and students read them silently and suggest or select the missing word.

Inferring feelings

The teacher asks the students:

• How would you feel if you were Luke?
• How much cheese do you think they will buy?

Identifying and predicting repetition

Students review and identify the parts that are repeated, that is, “make the best pizza in the world.”

The students repeat this in unison. They assemble these words using their word cards and practise reading them.

Retelling and summarising

Students reflect on the mental pictures they have made so far of the text and talk about what has happened. For example, Luke and his Mum are going to make the best pizza in the world. They have bought some tomatoes.

Practise reading aloud

In later reading sessions students re-read this prose to achieve fluency. Useful activities can include:

• Choral reading of the text
• Students can re-arrange the word cards into novel word strings and sentences for peers to read
• Students in groups writing similar text for peers to read.

After Reading: Consolidate and review the text

The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is The Best Pizza in the World by Jenny Feely, published by Horwitz Martin Education of Australia.

Retelling the story

Students reflect on the mental pictures they have made of the text and talk about what happened. They retell the story in their own words and say the questions they can answer having read the story.

Describing emotional response to the text

The readers talk about their emotional response to the text. Ask readers: How do you like the story? Was it funny / scary / exciting?

You can teach them to ask themselves:

• How did I feel while reading the story?
• What made me feel that way?
• How would I like to change the text so that it is more interesting?

 

Teaching Strategies for Non Fiction texts

Before Reading: Getting your knowledge ready for reading

The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is Wonderful Water by Sylvia Lee, published by Mimosa Publications.

Responding to pictures

Students say in sentences what they see on the cover. They hear a question and part of the answer. They complete the sentence and then repeat the answer. When the student has answered the question other students can say the ideas in a sentence. For example:

Question	Sentence prompt	Sentence
What is the girl doing?	The girl is…	The girl is having a shower.
Where is the girl?	The girl is...	The girl is in the shower.
Does the girl like it?	Yes, the girl …	Yes, the girl likes it.

Suggesting questions about the pictures

Students answer questions about the picture, for example:

• Who is having a shower?
• How much water is there?
• How hot is the water?

Students hear other questions and decide whether they do know the answers to them yet, for example:

• What is the girl’s name?
• How hot is it?
• When will she stop?

Predicting and articulating ideas and events in the text

Teachers remind students about what the front and back covers say. They ask students What might the story tell us? Students may need to be prompted to think of ways in which they use water.

During Reading: Tuning into the text

The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is Wonderful Water by Sylvia Lee, published by Mimosa Publications.

Retelling and paraphrasing sentences

After the sentence has been read at least twice, students retell each sentence and say it in their own words.

Formulating questions

Teachers ask the students to think about the event in each picture.

• How would you feel if you were the little girl?
• What might you be doing in a few minutes?
• What might you have been doing just before you went to the sink?

Students say the questions they can answer having read relevant pages.

Working with vocabulary to finish sentences

The teacher writes some key words from the text on the whiteboard and/or on cards and students read them. Students select the words that finish each sentence. For example:

We

need

We

need

water

for

Retelling the text in their own words

After the sentences have been read at least twice, the students retell each sentence and say it in their own words.

Suggesting and answering questions

Teachers point to a picture showing, for example, the boy drinking. What is this called? The teacher points to a glass. What is this called? Why is the girl drinking?

Infering and describing feelings

The teacher asks the students

• How would you feel if you were the boy/girl before you drank the water?
• How would you feel after drinking the water? Introduce the term “thirsty”.

Identifying questions to answer

Students say the questions they can answer having read selected pages, such as:

• What is one thing we need water for?
• Why did the boy and the girl need water?

After Reading: Consolidate and review the text

The text used to model these teaching and learning strategies is Wonderful Water by Sylvia Lee, published by Mimosa Publications.

Retelling and summarising

Students reflect on the mental pictures they have made so far of the text and talk about what has happened, for example:

• We need water for many things.
• We need water for drinking.

Describing an emotional response to the story

Teachers encourage students to ask themselves:

• How did I feel while reading the story?
• What made me feel that way?
• How would I like to change the text so that it was more interesting

Reviewing and Collating

Students review and collate what they already know about the text:

• Students imagine they were in the story and describe what has happened so far. They discuss what pictures on relevant pages of the text show about how people use water.
• Students review by reading key words on cards.

We

need

water

for

lots

of

things

drinking

• Students think ahead by suggesting questions the next few pages might answer. These are collated, for example. What might we need water for next?
• After reading some pages, students predict the words that might appear on subsequent pages.

Reviewing key vocabulary

Students identify and review the new words they have learnt by reading the story. They locate them in the text.