Real world
UNKNOWN WORDS: Some students may not have the real world knowledge which the author assumes they have. These students will need to INFER word meanings in context or they may need to find out what an unknown word means. This is why teaching students how to infer has some complexity to it. If students DO have the real world knowledge, they may not necessarily be inferring as they read new words.
Teach students that inferring involves GUESSING, then reading on to check if our guess is right. Explain to less confident readers that it is fine to guess wrong, as long as we adjust our thinking as we go. Explain that it is fine to need to read a page TWICE, once to decode it and the second time through to PROCESS the meaning. Think aloud together about word meanings or main ideas on the second read through, let the first read through out loud be without commentary - to mimic the fluent reading processes that good readers experience.
Students may write the Boxes stories - before they do so, check whether they know the meanings of the words in the writing prompts. Do they have the assumed knowledge?
Teach students that inferring involves GUESSING, then reading on to check if our guess is right. Explain to less confident readers that it is fine to guess wrong, as long as we adjust our thinking as we go. Explain that it is fine to need to read a page TWICE, once to decode it and the second time through to PROCESS the meaning. Think aloud together about word meanings or main ideas on the second read through, let the first read through out loud be without commentary - to mimic the fluent reading processes that good readers experience.
Students may write the Boxes stories - before they do so, check whether they know the meanings of the words in the writing prompts. Do they have the assumed knowledge?