Close Reading Template

Close Reading Template

Teacher / Text: (Focus chunk /portion for close read)
A Family Apart by Joan Lowery Nixon Pgs. 3-5
Major Understandings
What do you want students to know after reading the text?
What does the author want them to know? / Jennifer is a lot like Frances Mary Kelly. Frances was an Orphan Train child sent from New York to Missouri. She had many exciting adventures along the way. The silver combs and the book were given to her to capture her hair and her story. Grandmother used a similar silver brush in Jennifer’s hair, and is reading to them from the book. Jeff and Jennifer are no longer bored and are now interested in the story. The book begins with a flashback, and is Frances’s story.
Purpose: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Key Details:
Grandma combs Jennifer’s hair.
She shows them the book and photograph.
The book is worn and hard to read.
Grandma knows the story well.
The story isn’t boring.
Grandma begins telling Frances’s story.
The book and combs are given to Frances by her dearest love.
The story is of her life.
Inferences:
*The silver brush grandma used was Frances Mary’s.
*The book Grandma reads is the book given to her by her sweetheart.
*Jennifer is no longer board and is now interested in the story. / FIRST READ (Key Ideas & Details)
Focus: What does the text say?
Do not frontload vocabulary and prior knowledge or use pre-reading activities
Reading format:
_X_ Students Read Text
_X_ Teacher Reads Text (Students read pgs. 1-3 independently)
___ Partners Read Text
Text-Dependent Question(s)
Select appropriate number of cognitive level questions that will require students to use evidence from the text.
1. What key details are we given?
2. What information from the text helps us answer our questions?
3. What can we infer about the book Jeff is holding? What details from the text tell us this?
4. What can we infer about Jennifer’s behavior, what details and examples tell us that?
5. What do we know about Frances’s story so far?
Optional Materials:
_X_ Pencils __ Highlighters _X_ IWB/Technology
__ Post-it _X_ Graphic Organizer __T Chart__
__ Chart Paper _X _ Other: Copy of Text
Discussion Format:
X_ Whole Group _X Small Group
__ Pair-Share _X_ Teacher Think-a-loud
Writing Format:
_X_ Summary __ Other ______
Purpose: To look at the craft and structure of the text through words and phrases. Determine how words shape meaning and tone in the story.
Complex test structures and elements
_X_ Vocabulary
_X_ Text Structure
___ Coherence
___ Syntax
___ Text Features / SECOND READ (Craft & Structure)
Focus: How does the text work? What does the author mean?
Reading Format
__ Independent reading _X_ Shared Reading
__ Read Aloud _X_ Think Aloud
__ Paired Reading
Text-Dependent Question(s)
Select appropriate number of cognitive level questions that will require students to use evidence from the text.
1. What picture does the author paint for you with words in this sentence?
2. What feeling does the author create by using these particular words?
3. Can we connect that to information that the author gave us about Jennifer before? Where?
4. How has the language changed? How does the author let you know that this is a different story, in a different time?
5. What is the author setting up for us here?
Optional Materials:
_X_ Pencils __ Highlighters
__ Post-it _X_ Graphic Organizer
_X_ Chart Paper _X_ Other:_Copy of Text_
Discussion Format:
__ Whole Group _X_ Small Group
_X_ Pair-Share
Writing Format:
_X_ Analysis __ Compare/Contrast
__ Other ______
Purpose: Compare and contrast a story of the same genre (historical fiction) on the approach to the topic of orphan trains.
Other sources to be integrated:
Additional text
__ Articles
__ Primary Sources
__ Poetry
_X Story: Rodzina
Media
_X_ Video
__ Visual Art
__ Music
__ Technology
Quantitative
__ Charts
__ Data
__ Other ______/ THIRD READ (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas)
Focus: What does the text mean? What is the text’s value? How does it connect to other information?
Reading Format
___ Independent reading _X_ Shared Reading
___ Read Aloud _X_ Think Aloud
___ Paired Reading
Text-Dependent Question(s)
Select appropriate number of cognitive level questions that will require students to use evidence from the text.
1. What is the tone of Rodzina as compared to A Family Apart?
2. Compare the use of words to create mood in both texts.
3. Compare and contrast these two text sections. How do the authors approach the same topic?
4. Is one approach more effective than another? Why
Optional Materials:
__ Pencils __ Highlighters
__ Post-it _X Graphic Organizer
__ Chart Paper __ Other ______
Discussion Format:
_X Whole Group _X_ Small Group
__ Pair-Share
Writing Format:
___ Opinion/Claim/Evidence _X_ Compare and Contrast
___ Evaluation/Synthesis __ Other ______
Related Orphan Train Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsRALN8P2WM