A Comprehension/Vocabulary Lesson

Materials:
Any nonfiction article for struggling readers
highlighters
A 5W and H graphic organizer
Paint sample swatches

Focus skill: Comprehension/Summary and Vocabulary

Lesson 1:

1. Pre-read text: Highlight title, subtitles, pictures, captions, etc. and have students share prior knowledge and make predictions about the article.
2. Pre-teach vocabulary: highlight key vocabulary/tier 2 words to go over with students.
If students are able to define vocabulary, write a word or phrase to define it.
If students are struggling with the word, then use a graphic organizer like Glance then Magnify or a Vocabulary tree.
3. Read the text with the students first focusing on highlighting the first and last sentence of each paragraph in order to focus on the main idea. Complete the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, why, and how.)
4. Go back and read the entire text with students and add more to the graphic organizer if needed.
5. Read over the graphic organizer information with students and have them write a 2 to 3 sentence summary using the information gathered in the graphic organizer.

Lesson 2:

1. Create a cloze passage of the text by deleting key tier 2 vocabulary words. Have students complete the cloze passage using words that make sense in the context of the article.
2. Then, students create base sentences using the words from a teacher created word bank.

Lesson 3:

Introduction: Before starting the lesson, we review the types of text structures aloud together. We read the titles and predict what the text will be about.

Lesson: Students read the selected text independently while highlighting any unfamiliar words. With this lesson, the comprehension group consisted of students with different leveled texts of the same Newsela article 820 and 1030L.

Group discussion of unfamiliar words occurs. We use context clues and knowledge of roots to make an inference of what the word means before I tell the students the meaning. Students write the meaning of unfamiliar words they highlighted.

Students analyze text features of the article for clues on the structure of the text. We discuss the title, heading, and images that help with the overall understanding of the text.

Students read the text together in small groups while looking for signal words that would identify the text structure. I had two groups of three within the comprehension group. Students use the text structure mat to help them. Laminate the maps for easy use.

We discuss what text features could be added to the text to assist with understanding.

I ask basic comprehension questions that both groups can answer.

We complete the text structure reflection by discussing the text feature used and what clue it gives the structure of the text.

Students share the signal words together that were found in the text. We discuss how these signal words helped determine the text structure.

Closure: Independent Practice--students answer "What is the text about?" in their own words.

Future Lessons

Ongoing comprehension check: The next day students will answer comprehension questions over the text. 

Students will be given leveled texts about a topic from the Newsela article using Brittanica Online. Students will paraphrase it in the interactive notebook. Students will use their knowledge from the previous article to gain comprehension of the topic.

Technology:

Twice per week students complete Compass lessons on the computer.

Click here for a worksheet to accompany this lesson