Strategies
Since I am integrating reading and science in my unit, I will choose four books to introduce my science concepts namely: The Story of Water on Our Planet (history of water), The Lorax (green chemistry), and Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems, (The Drop in my Drink: The Story of Water on Our Planet, and S is for Save the Planet: A How to be Green Alphabet (green chemistry). To introduce the topic about water, I will use The Drop in my Drink: The Story of Water on Our Planet.
Before, During and After reading strategies will be integrated in the science lesson. Prior to reading the books I have chosen for my unit, I will set a purpose for reading the story. For example in "The Lorax", each student will take the role of a junior scientist who will investigate why the Trufulla Forest disappeared. They will have to find out what happened to all the plants and animals before and after the Once-ler arrived in the Trufulla forest. The book will be previewed by pointing to the title, pictures and captions, headings and bold-faced prints, and other graphics. Then I will activate students' background knowledge by asking them to think about what they already know and write their ideas on sticky notes provided by the teacher.
This strategy is called the Herringbone strategy. It is used for fiction, non-fiction and expository text. I find this strategy applicable for the science content of my unit. The Herringbone strategy helps students summarize and synthesize what they have learned in the text. Students make decisions for selecting the main idea, significant details and its relationship to science. Using a K-W-L chart (What I Know, What I Want to Learn and What I Learned From the Story), I will post the sticky notes. The first two, K-W- columns will be filled out with sticky notes; then after reading the story, students will put their replies to lessons learned in the L- column.
While I am reading aloud, I will check for students' understanding by asking Comprehension Purpose Questions (CPQ) that have been prepared in advance and written on sticky notes. The Comprehension Purpose Questions are asked from concrete to abstract using the Bloom's Taxonomy concept. The CPQ will be posted on the board or on the walls for the students to see. When teachers read with a question in mind, we help readers cut through the dense text and zero in on important information. Remember that we, the teachers have to plan in depth and read ahead. CPQ questions help students review content and relate what they have learned to what they already know. 4
When some students do not understand a sentence or a paragraph, rereading helps. Whenever there is a vocabulary word that is not understood, I can skip it and read to the end of the paragraph and tell the students to think about what would make sense. I will use the context clue, go back and tell the students to guess what the word is.
I will teach the students how to connect background knowledge to the information in the text. Since students have brainstormed prior to reading the text, I will tell them to think how the information is similar to what they already know about the topic, event or person. I will ask the students to find the direct information in the text. If I am reading a longer text, I will stop and review what has happened in the story or what information has already been given.
After reading aloud, I will tell students to work in groups of four. Each group will do the Think-Pair-and-Share strategy. The four students in the group will pair up, think and discuss the story. As a group, they will share their ideas and one student in the group will be chosen to summarize the story orally. After doing this activity, each group will come up with a written summary. I will give students a Venn diagram handout. The students to use graphic organizers like the Venn diagram to visualize their ideas. Finally, I will go back to the posted CPQs, tell the students to write their answers to the questions and discuss them with the whole class.
Each student must have a science/reading journal notebook to write and record their reading and science activities. In their journal notebooks, I will teach key words using semantic maps. Semantic maps are used to teach vocabulary development. Schirmer states that new knowledge is gained from finding new relationships in old knowledge and from relating new information to old knowledge. That means students use a semantic map as a visual aid to help them think of other words related to the new word. I will write one vocabulary word or a key concept and ask the students to think of words related to the vocabulary word or the key concept. The teacher and the students group the words in categories. I will suggest new words and encourage the students to find where the words would fit into the semantic map.
The Gist strategy will be used to check students' understanding. I will use seven prompts before, during and after reading. Before reading, ask the students these questions: What do you think this text is all about? What makes you think so? The next three prompts will be used during reading are as follows: Did you find evidence that supports your prediction? Explain your answer. Did you find evidence that does not support your prediction? If yes, explain your answer. Do you want to change your prediction at this point? Why or why not? The last two prompts to ask students are: Do you want to make changes of what it is all about. If yes, why do you want to make these changes? Finally, what did you learn that you did not know before reading?
Remember to tell the students to write their responses and reactions to what they are reading in their science/reading journal notebook. These are some of the strategies that I will use in integrating reading with science content. The seven prompts or questions can be displayed on sentence strips around the room, or on a transparency, or a smart board or on the chalk/white board or copies are provided for each group of students. Thus, students will be able to monitor their own comprehension.
Research studies have shown that reading and science education develop similar types of skills such as problem solving and sequencing. Armbruster explains that, "the study of science helps develop language and reading skills and strengthens the logical processes necessary for effective content reading". 5 Student achievement will increase in both areas when integrating science and reading. Hands on activities or science experiments help students learn better because they are solving problems, engaging in direct investigation, interacting, and promoting the use of real language. Students create meaning by listening science, talking science, reading science and writing science. Therefore, using these strategies in my unit will entice my students to learn meaningfully and effectively.
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