Your Literacy Standards Companion, Grades 3-5. Leslie Blauman

important for me to know in order to locate that information?

       What are captions? How do they help me understand the pictures and words on this page?

       How can I use words in bold, headings, and other features in the text to find information quickly?

       How can I use the glossary to help me locate information?

       How can I use the indices to help me get information?

       How can I use electronic menus, hyperlinks, sidebars, and icons to get information?

       What other search tools can I use?

       4 Gist: Students break down the structure of a text to explain events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text; noting patterns such as chronology, cause/effect, or problem/solution.

       They consider:

       How are the main sections of the text organized?

       What organizational pattern does the author use?

       How does this pattern help me understand the meaning of the text?

       How does this pattern help me explain events, ideas, or information in the text?

       How can I identify and use key words to help me explain the organization and structure of the text?

       Is the text organized chronologically?

       Do I notice cause/effect in the text?

       Is the text organized by problem/solution?

       5 Gist: Students break down the structure of a text to compare and contrast events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts, noting patterns such as chronology, cause/effect, or problem/solution.

       They consider:

       What is the main idea of the texts?

       Can I find the important events, ideas, or information in each text?

       Can I identify key words that help me find patterns such as chronology, cause/effect, or problem/solution in each text?

       How are the texts and the information similar?

       How are the texts and the information different? Can I contrast the structure and the information?

       How does the structure of these texts affect their meaning and style?

      Common Core Reading Standard 5: What the Teacher Does

       To teach students to refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems and to describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections:

       Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud—students’ minds are in a sense freed up to see the beauty of the structure, and how structure builds meaning, when they can hear the author’s language.

       Explicitly teach elements of stories (beginning, middle, and end; chapters); dramas (scene, casts of characters, setting, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions); and poetry (stanza, verse, rhythm, meter).

       Provide text sets for each genre so students will be familiar with them. Have specific sections of the classroom library for each.

       Using the display screen or a shared text under the document camera, have students highlight a stanza, part of a scene, and so on, and explain how it builds on the previous one used.

       Create flow charts or plot charts to show how successive parts build on earlier ones.

       Have students work in small groups to look at a favorite text and pool understandings about its structure. Give them hints to look at first and last lines, first and last paragraphs.

       Use a variety of story structure graphic organizers to help students understand how stories, poetry, and drama are organized.

       Ensure that students read texts in all these genres during independent reading time.

       To refer to the structural elements of poems and drama and to explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose: