Classes

Previewing the Vocabulary that will be used during the Reading Comprehension Section. Before teaching content or reading a story in class, pre-teaching vocabulary is very important, especially for students. Teachers will use dynamic teaching methods such as: roleplaying, pantomiming, gesturing, showing real objects, pointing to pictures, and doing quick drawings on the board. The teacher will go over the pronunciation of the words and explain meanings in sentences to students. The students will use the words in multiple ways.

Reading Fluency using Informational Text (Science and Social Studies). Teachers will use different methods for increasing reading fluency: 1) students will listen to text as they follow along with the book, 2) students will follow the print using their fingers as guides, and 3) materials will be used that challenge students to reach a higher level of reading.

Reading Comprehension using Informational Text Structure (Science and Social Studies). Teachers will use effective comprehension instruction employing strategies that good readers use such as predicting, thinking aloud, attending to text structure, constructing visual representations, generating questions, and summarizing. Instruction will include explicit explanation, modeling of a strategy, and discussion of why and when it is useful. Students will be fully involved in every part of each lesson.

Vocabulary Development using Prefixes, Suffixes, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Context. Students benefit greatly from direct teaching on how to get meaning by reading all the little parts of difficult words. For example, when students know that the word part vari- means "different", they will have a head start on the meanings of various, variety, variable, and variation.