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Core Components
Subject, Content Area, or Topic
Language Arts: Fiction Comprehension
Student Population
49- 4th grade students
Learning Objectives
Students will ask and answer questions generated during reading.
Students will analyze and examine text to find important details and events and make inferences.
Students will support their answers with prior knowledge and text evidence.
Virginia Essential Knowledge and Skills (SOL)
ELA.4.5.8 Ask and answer questions about what is read.
ELA.5.4.1 Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases.
Materials/Resources
The Bat Boy and His Violin by Gavin Curtis
Anchor Chart Paper
Computer, Online Forum
High Yield Instructional Strategies Used (Marzano, 2001)
Time
(min.) Process Components
*Anticipatory Set
Teacher will remind students of the other comprehension strategies that have been used so far.
Summarizing being the past two days. Teacher will explain what readers do to comprehend a story.
Teacher will create an anchor chart that will discuss important reading comprehension strategies.
Predictions I can think about what’s -What do I think will happen next?
going to happen and make -Since _____ happened, I think _______
predictions based on what I will happen.
know and what I have read. -I’m guessing this will be about ____.
-This title/heading/picture makes me think
_______.
-Although the author hasn’t told me this, I
think ______.
Monitoring I can stop and think about -Is this making sense?
my reading and I know -Do I need to reread?
what to do when I don’t -What does this word mean?
understand. -What text clues help me fill in missing
information?
Summarizing I can identify the most -This story is mainly about ____.
important ideas and restate -The author’s most important ideas were
them in my own words. ______.
-What are the key words?
-How does the text’s organization help me?
Visualizing I can picture what is -What are the pictures that come to mind
happening while I read. while I’m reading?
-What do I hear, taste, smell or feel?
-What do the characters, setting and the
events look like in my mind?
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
*State the Objectives (grade-level terms)
I can ask questions that will help my comprehension while I am reading.
The teacher will explain to students that there are GOOD questions (and not so good
questions) that help in understanding a story. You will be focusing on asking and
answering two specific types today:
● Questions that are “Right There” (the answers are stated in the text, or they
can be found in a dictionary, etc. – these are low level questions and are
literal in nature).
● Questions that are “Think and Search” questions (these questions require
using text evidence and what you already know to form an answer – this
leads to the skill of inference – these are interpretive, and higher-level
questions).
The teacher will tell students to open the online forum for them to write down their
questions as a class. Students will participate in the online forum by posting right there
questions and think and search questions. Teacher will tell the students that as a class
the questions will be discussed.
The teacher will show cover of The Bat Boy and His Violin. Build background - Explain
that the story takes place in 1948 when segregation was a way of life in many parts of the
US. Ask – What do you think you know about segregation? If necessary, explain that
segregation, or the practice of keeping people of different racial groups apart, was
practiced throughout the US until the mid-1900s. Some states in the South had laws that
required blacks to attend different schools from whites and to use separate public
facilities, like restrooms and drinking fountains. Also, during the 1940s, professional
baseball was also segregated. Black players, unwelcome in the Major Leagues, played in
the Negro Leagues. In 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play in the
Major Leagues.
The teacher will read the story slowly and clearly showing the illustrations and stopping at
the pre-marked stopping points. Model asking question by using the suggested questions
provided. Generally - the first question listed is “Right There” and the second is “Think and
Search.” The teacher will play some clips of the music that is referenced in this story –
Swan Lake, Mozart, Minute Waltz
The teacher will repeat this procedure for each chunk of the story.
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
The students will generate questions. Students write their questions on the online forum
when the teacher pauses between pages. Questions from the online forum will be
recorded on chart paper. The class will identify different questions as table groups and
discuss “Right There” question and show how you go into the text to answer it. Students
will complete the same process and identify a “Think and Search” question. Model using
what you know and the text as evidence to formulate an answer.
At the end of the read-aloud, have students ask/answer any additional questions they may
still have. Help clarify answers for them.
*Closure
The teacher will bring closure to the lesson by restating the learning target and how it helps us as
readers to understand the story we are reading. Generating questions helps us to better think about
the story as it is being read and helps us to deepen our understanding of a story. Being able to
combine our questions with text evidence is a reading strategy that good readers use..
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015