Examples of Prompts to Use During Read Aloud to Highlight Particular Reading Skills

Read Aloud

Reading Skill / Ways We Preface Think Alouds During Read Aloud / Ways We Prompt Students to Talk, Think or Write During Read Aloud / Examples from The Great GillyHopkinsby Katherine Patterson
Envisioning / -As I read this part, I’m picturing…
-When I picture this in my mind, it makes me think…
-When I read this part, I can hear/
smell/taste/feel…
-I’m picturing the character right now, and I’m imaging how she looks
(moves/sounds, etc.) I bet…
-This book is set (in the old days), so I’m picturing that…
- Wait, I have to stop and picture this part…The author just gave lots of details.
(I see her/him…I imagine…) / -I’m going to reread this part. Readers do that so we can get a vivid picture in our minds. In a minute, you can share your mental picture with your partner…
-Imagine with your partner what the character looks like when she says that…
-Let’s really picture this part. Look closely at this illustration, and try to put ourselves inside the scene by thinking about the sounds/smells/tastes, etc.
-The author just gave us a big description of …..Turn and talk to your partner about what you’re envisioning right now. / Agnes Stokes was waiting outside when she started for school the next morning.
“You know some things about Agnes. See her.”
Gilly’s first impulse was to turn around
“What does Gilly’s face look like? Add it to your picture.”
Gilly’s first impulse was to turn around and go back into the house until Agnes had left, but it was too late.
“Agnes has just seen Gilly. What does she look like now? Show me. Make your face look like Agnes’s face. Make your body look like hers.”
Agnes was already waving and yelling at her.
“Hear Gilly’s thoughts. What is she thinking? Turn and tell your partner.”
Agnes was already waving and yelling at her. What a creep! Gilly walked past her quickly without speaking. She could hear Agnes’s little scurrying steps behind her; then there was a dirty hand on her arm.
“Partner A, be Gilly and partner B, be Agnes and act out the movie in your mind.”
Reading Skill / Ways We Preface Think Alouds During Read Aloud / Ways We Prompt Students to Talk, Think or Write During Read Aloud / Examples from The Great GillyHopkinsby Katherine Patterson
Accumulating the Text / -What’s happened so far is…and this makes me think that…
-This part fits with the last part because…
-Whoa! This doesn’t seem to fit with everything else. I’m thinking that…
-Hey, this is similar to what happened at the beginning of the book…I’m thinking that…
-OK. We just finished that chapter, and now I want to take a minute to think about how what happened in this chapter connects with the rest of the story so far… / -Turn and talk with your partner about the important parts of the last chapter to help us hold on to them as we read the next chapter.
-Turn and talk to your partner about how this part fits with what we’ve already read.
-Hmmm… how does this part fit in with what we’ve read already? Turn and talk with your partner
-Let’s take a minute and talk with our partners about the characters we’ve met so far. Turn and talk about the different characters and their relationships with each other. / Agnes Stokes was waiting outside when she started for school the next morning. Gilly’s first impulse was to turn around and go back into the house until Agnes had left, but it was too late.
This seems to fit with other parts of the book. Talk to your partner about other scenes where we saw Gilly acting this way.
Agnes was already waving and yelling at her. What a creep! Gilly walked past her quickly without speaking. She could hear Agnes’s little scurrying steps behind her; then there was a dirty hand on her arm.
Disgusted, Gilly shook it off. Agnes’s hand was gone, but she hooked her chin over Gilly’s upper arm, her face twisted up to look Gilly in the face. Her breath smelled.
“What are we going to do today?” she asked.
So far Gilly is once again trying to get away from someone who wants to be close to her. What does this make you think? Turn and Talk
Predicting / -Oh, I know what’s going to happen next… I bet she’s going to…
-Wait, I feel tension because of ….. So I think what’s going to happen is…
-He has a big decision to make…I’m thinking that he’s going to…
-Oh, I thought … was going to happen, but now I’m thinking something different because… / -Turn and tell your partner what you think is going to happen next.
-Oh, the author is leaving us hanging right here…what do you think is going to happen?
-Wait. It seems like the author is giving us some hints right now. Turn and tell your partner what you think the character is going to do…
-Hmmm. Given this information, turn and talk to your partner about whether or not you need to revise your prediction. / Agnes Stokes was waiting outside when she started for school the next morning. Gilly’s first impulse was to turn around and go back into the house until Agnes had left, but it was too late. Agnes was already waving and yelling at her. What a creep! Gilly walked past her quickly without speaking. She could hear Agnes’s little scurrying steps behind her; then there was a dirty hand on her arm.
“You know some things about Gilly and Agnes. What do you think Gilly will do? What will Agnes do? Stop and jot. Let’s read on and see what they do.”
Reading Skill / Ways We Preface Think Alouds During Read Aloud / Ways We Prompt Students to Talk, Think or Write During Read Aloud / Examples from The Great GillyHopkinsby Katherine Patterson
Inferring / -What I just read said…but I’m thinking there’s more going on here. I think that…
-I’m noticing … and this makes me think that…
-The words say…but when I look at the illustration I think…
-She’s saying…but I think she really means…because…
-Given what just happened, I think the character is feeling/thinking…
-I have some things I wonder about, things I am not sure about. I can use some of these prompts to theorize about my wonderings:
-It seems as if…
-Maybe it could be…
-But what about…
-It’s really about… / -The character said…what do you think she really means by that?
-Turn and tell your partner what the character is probably feeling/thinking about this?
-Hmmm. It seems like there’s more to this part than is on the page. Turn and tell your partner what you think is really going on right now… / “You need anything, honey, just let Trotter know, OK?”
Gilly jerked her head in a nod. What she needed was to be left alone. From the bowels of the house she could hear the theme song from Sesame Street. Her first job would be to improve W.E.’s taste in TV. That was for sure.
Huh. It seems like Gilly is planning something. Using what you know about her, turn and talk to your partner. What do you think that Gilly might be thinking of doing?
“It’s going to be okay, honey. I know it’s been hard to switch around so much.”
“I like moving.” Gilly jerked one of the top drawers so hard it nearly came out onto her head. “It’s boring to stay in one place.”
“What do you think Gilly is feeling right now? Stop and jot what you think is really going on here and why. Let’s read on and see if we can add to our thinking.”
Synthesizing / -Wow. That was a powerful scene. I want to reread it, this time thinking about the images and messages it conveys, so I can better understand it.
-It seems that this part is a metaphor for…
-When I finish a book, I like to think about what happened in the story and also about the big themes and deeper meanings that I got from it… / - Okay, this part was pretty intense. Turn and talk to your partner about what you think it means to the story…
- This is the part where the character overcame his problem. Turn and talk to your partner about what you think the author is trying to say to us…
- Turn and talk about how this part fits with the idea we’ve grown so far… / Agnes Stokes was waiting outside when she started for school the next morning. Gilly’s first impulse was to turn around and go back into the house until Agnes had left, but it was too late. Agnes was already waving and yelling at her. What a creep! Gilly walked past her quickly without speaking. She could hear Agnes’s little scurrying steps behind her; then there was a dirty hand on her arm.
Hmm. Gilly is having another problem with someone. How does this interaction with Agnes fit with her interactions with other people? Stop and jot how this scene is the same or different from other scenes.
Disgusted, Gilly shook it off. Agnes’s hand was gone, but she hooked her chin over Gilly’s upper arm, her face twisted up to look Gilly in the face. Her breath smelled.
“What are we going to do today?” she asked.
So we have had this idea that Gilly is mean to people when she is afraid of getting hurt…sometimes for good reason. Turn and Talk to your partner about how this part fits with that bigger idea.
Critiquing / - This part feels a little unrealistic to me because it says…while I know from my own experience that…
- Wait a minute…this part leads me to think that… but that’s a stereotype!
- When I read this, I’m wondering what this character’s point of view is about the situation…
- Hmmm, is it fair that…. happened? Maybe it’s fair because… (But maybe it’s not fair because…) / - I’m going to read this part again, and I want you and your partner to think and talk about whether or not this seems realistic to you, based on what you know about…
- The author/character is saying…How does that make you feel? Turn and tell your partner.
- Often there are other ways of looking at a situation. Turn and tell your partner what another character might be thinking right now… / Miss Ellis had once told her that Courtney was from Virginia. Everybody knew, didn’t they, that families like Courtney’s did not eat with colored people? Courtney Rutherford Hopkins was sure to go into a rage, wasn’t she, when she heard that news?
Stop and Jot for a moment – what is Gilly really saying here? What does this show that she believes? What stereotypes might she have?
Reacting to the Text / - Wow, I need to pause there. I can’t imagine…because before we read….
- When I read this, what instantly pops into my head is that I just can’t believe/I really believe…because…
- As I read this part, I find that I really admire…because they…
- When I read this I’m worried/concerned about…because I know…and this makes me think… / - Think about the important parts of what we’ve just read, turn and talk with your partner about your thoughts and feelings about what has happened.
- Let’s really think about this. What would you think if…happened? How does that help you understand about the story/characters?
- Hmmm…how does this part change or add to what you were thinking and feeling before? / Agnes Stokes was waiting outside when she started for school the next morning. Gilly’s first impulse was to turn around and go back into the house until Agnes had left, but it was too late. Agnes was already waving and yelling at her. What a creep! Gilly walked past her quickly without speaking.
“Think about Agnes right now as a real person. How do you feel about what is happening to her? Turn and talk.”
She could hear Agnes’s little scurrying steps behind her; then there was a dirty hand on her arm. Disgusted, Gilly shook it off.
“What reaction are you having to what Gilly just did to Agnes? Stop and jot.”
Reading Skill / Ways We Preface Think Alouds During Read Aloud / Ways We Prompt Students to Talk, Think or Write During Read Aloud / Examples from The Great GillyHopkinsby Katherine Patterson
Making Personal Connections / -I am most like… This lets me know I’m…This lets me know my character is…
-One time I acted like…when I…This makes me realize I’m…This makes me think my character is…
-I know exactly how______feels, because… This teaches me that I’m… This teaches me my character is or isn’t…
- That reminds me of the time… This makes me think I’m the kind of person who… Maybe this character is the kind of person who… / - Let’s take a minute to talk with your partner about how your life, the things that have happened, and people and experiences that are part of your life are like this story. How does that help you to understand the story better?
- Before we read on, let’s think of times when we may have felt the same way as our character feels. What does that tell you about the character? Turn and talk with your partner.
- Have you or someone you know ever experienced something like this? How does that help you understand the story better? Turn and talk with your partner. / The clamor of their answers clashed in Gilly’s brain. She started to put her head down on the desk, but someone was shoving a book in her face.
It wasn’t fair—nothing was fair. She had once seen a picture in an old book of a red fox on a high rock surrounded by snarling dogs. It was like that. She was smarter than all of them, but they were too many.
“It seems like Gilly has a really bad attitude here. Let’s see if we can think about a time when we felt this way – surrounded by people who wanted us to do things we didn’t want to do, and really frustrated – so we can understand Gilly better. Turn and Talk.”

3-8 Summer Institute Reading Packet

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