Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, Grades K-2. Nancy Boyles

of guiding students to read text and pictures well. So what’s different now? Well, to borrow from that famous ad, “This is not your mama’s K–2 reading!” We’ve amped it up, and some of the literacy field’s authors have helped describe it in a manner that is replicable in classrooms (Boyles, 2014; Fisher & Frey, 2013; Shanahan, 2012).

      Close reading is one of those hot “trendy” topics in education that actually deserves a permanent place in K–12 classroom practice because, when implemented well, it really does help students to read and think analytically. In the intermediate and upper elementary grades and in secondary education, close reading has been widely embraced as a protocol that will help more students read more challenging texts, and the hope is that this will enable high school seniors entering college or the work force to be better prepared for the demands of 21st century careers. As you look out at your class of kindergarten, first, and second graders, who are still mastering the art of sitting still on the rug during read aloud, it’s hard to fathom that how you teach reading has a ripple effect on the reading proficiency of college seniors, but it does. That is, if we educators can use close reading as a cohesive, coherent practice K–12, it will actually make our teaching lives easier, and it will create a nation of readers, something we’ve been dreaming about for quite some time.

      The question when working with K–2 students is not why but how? How will we start them on this path to close reading? Six- and seven-year-olds are generally not yet in a position to read complex texts on their own, or to annotate what they read like students in the upper elementary grades and beyond, or to process abstract thoughts without guidance. It’s all in the approach. So let’s think about exactly how we can make close reading happen in the primary grades using these six basic guidelines to get started:

      1 Rely on high-quality picture books that you read aloud.

      2 Teach an initial close reading lesson to build content knowledge.

      3 Teach close reading follow-up lessons to build skills.

      4 Assess close reading appropriately with formative assessments.

      5 Teach close reading through units so students can make connections between texts.

      6 Teach close reading through learning pathways that show students how to learn.

      In short, this book, Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, Grades K–2, and its companion volume for Grades 3–6, are the “how,” painted on a canvas of picture book units. I work with hundreds of teachers each year, and their most common request is Give me a running start on close reading lessons and unit teaching. I don’t have time to figure out all the planning for this kind of teaching and to find all the great books that should be part of these units. So these lessons and units were developed to save you days and days of planning time and to let you in on the trade secrets of success I’ve learned. One important difference in this K–2 volume is the bank of reproducible formative assessments (see page 18 for more on their use).

      Courtesy of Rick Harrington Photography

      I made the Reader Response Frames and assessments a focal point of this K–2 book, in part because I realized the tremendous pressure on teachers to get students ready for the higher stakes assessments that begin in third grade. I also added them because I see how young learners love and often need these scaffolds as they begin their journey as readers, writers, and thinkers. Now let me walk you through each of these guidelines and explain how the lessons and units in this book support each one.

      1. Rely on high-quality picture books that you read aloud.

      By high-quality picture books, I don’t mean those really basic-level readers used for guided reading. As you’ve probably recognized yourself, there just isn’t enough content and ideas in them for kids to sink their teeth into during close reading. Instead, our go-to for close reading is picture books that offer plenty of qualitative complexity with thought-provoking themes, variation in structure, sophisticated language, and forays into corners of the world and times in history that inspire students to stretch their thinking along with their imagination. These books showcase the written word at its best, and they provide fabulous graphic support readers can use to make meaning.

      Tips for Success

       Look for picture books with limited narrative. Too long a story or too much information will lead to more wiggles than learning with our youngest scholars. Remember that quantitative complexity, noted as Lexile in the Common Core, is not a consideration for primary grades, so you don’t need to factor this heavily into your text selection.

       For an initial close reading lesson with the whole class gathered around you, it is fine to have a single copy of a text. But in subsequent lessons when you want more interaction, it will be important to have multiple text copies, perhaps a book for every four or five students, so they can get up close and personal with everything a book has to offer.

      How This Book Supports the Use of Picture Books

       Twenty high-quality picture books are the sources for all close reading lessons.

       The picture books represent a variety of cultures around the world and are both literary and informational; one is even a primary source.

       The picture books include plenty of strong female characters as well as strong males; both are engaged in problems and situations to which young students can relate.

      2. Teach an initial close reading lesson to build content knowledge.

      One of the hallmarks of close reading is that students have the opportunity to read a text once, and then read it (or parts of it) again, and perhaps even additional times if there are numerous complexities to explore. But to keep these repeated readings dynamic (rather than giving kids a feeling of déjà vu!), the initial close reading lesson and each of the planned follow-up lessons has to have a distinct purpose that you and your students are aware of.

      Tips for Success

       As you prepare for and deliver an initial close reading, remember that your goal is twofold: to build students’ understanding of the book’s content and to get students ready to dig deeper when you return to the text with a more specific focus (for example, examining the author’s point of view or elements of the text’s structure).

       Remember that our ultimate goal is for students to read authentically, the way we read, appreciating how all parts of a text work together. Let these authentic motives drive the text-dependent questions you ask and the points you discuss, rather than allowing a reading strategy to “drive the bus.” For instance, we don’t pick up a book, a newspaper, or a magazine and say to ourselves, “I sure hope I can visualize today.” No, instead, our reading is driven by the text, not by a particular “objective” that has been predetermined for us. We want students to read this way, too, to get as much from a text as they can the first time around. Indeed, we want them to read closely to experience the many wonderful facets of a text.

      How This Book Supports the Teaching of Initial Close Reading Lessons

       Step-by-step plans are provided for all twenty initial close reading lessons.

       Lessons are designed for whole-class instruction and should take twenty to thirty minutes (depending on the developmental level of your students).

       The lessons are rigorous, requiring students to make careful observations about details and providing opportunities for deeper thinking.

       The lessons provide scaffolding before reading without overdoing the frontloading, during reading with thoughtful text-dependent questions, and after reading with tasks that help students reflect