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Winter Read Aloud using the Science of Reading for Comprehension

 Winter Read Aloud

I found this book recently and fell in love with it for many reasons - 

family relationships

diverse family (from Lebanon)

sensory details - which connects to onomatopoeias

character traits and points of view

and most of all SNOW...

      In switching from the old idea of reading multiple books for exposure to isolated skills, I designed this mini-unit around the fundamentals of the comprehension side of the Science of Reading.  Verbal reasoning is woven into the unit in several ways. This unit includes opportunities for inferencing as well as Visible Thinking Routines like See, Think, Wonder, and the Circle of Viewpoints.  Some are used to build background knowledge and some are used to reflect on the learning. 

 The lessons are broken into three parts - 

Before Reading

  • Background Knowledge - this book can be read in isolation or with other winter read-aloud books to build knowledge about a snowy day.  You could read this before a big snowstorm, as part of a five senses unit, as part of a weather unit, or even a book about relationships with family. 
  • Vocabulary - this unit introduces six vocabulary words using images, kid-friendly definitions, and sentences. Throughout the unit, we will act out the words, answer questions that connect to background knowledge, and graphic organizers. 
During Reading
  • Interactive Read-Aloud Questions - This unit is a shared reading unit.  What does that mean? That means the story is read aloud to the students and reread for close reading analysis.  The questions are planned out to hit multiple skills as you read aloud to them. 
    • First Read - What does the Text Say? (multiple skills)
    • Second Reading - How does the Text Work? (figurative language - onomatopoeia)
    • Third Reading - What does the Text Mean? (point of view)


After Reading

  • Students need a way to apply what we have discussed through the read-aloud. The after-reading activities have been carefully crafted and can be used for formative and summative assessments. What activities did I choose? 
    • Role on the Wall - analyzing character traits. 
    • Create your own Onamatopeia to match an illustration
    • Creating I AM poems - character point of view
    • Creating Sensory poems
    • Analyzing Sentence structure - looking at sentences and analyzing word parts for meaning.
To find the book, you can search your local library or purchase from Amazon at 

this link - Ten Ways to Hear Snow. 


To purchase the no-prep unit, visit my store The Other End of the Reading Rope. 





Leslie



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