Australia.’ I am going to read the page aloud and tell you what the clues are that helped me figure it out.”
Mr. E. reads the page aloud and then thinks aloud, saying, “‘The most important rain forests are near the equator, in the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.’ It doesn’t say anywhere if there are tropical rain forests in Africa and Australia. But I can use the information in the sentences and the map to figure it out. When I look at the map on this page, I see that Africa and Australia are between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. When I put that map information together with what I read in this sentence, I can figure out that there are tropical rain forests in both Africa and Australia. Let’s put a yellow sticky note on this sentence and another on the map to mark the clues I used to figure out the answer.”
When the trios have marked the clues with yellow sticky notes, Mr. E. draws their attention to the second question.
TIP
When reading on their own, students often skip over words they can’t immediately pronounce. Use the vocabulary introduction time to help them with both meanings and pronunciations.
I Do, and You Help
He and the class read it together: “Find out the average high and low temperatures in a tropical rain forest and the average amount of rain.”
He says, “Question two is a Find It question. We need to find two facts: the average high and low temperatures and the average rainfall in a tropical rain forest. Read these two pages with me, and help me find these facts.”
The students and Mr. E. read the two pages chorally: “The temperature rarely goes above 93 degrees or drops below 68 degrees. At least eighty inches of rain falls each year.” Students eagerly volunteer the answers to both questions. They mark these two sentences with green sticky notes.
TIP
Students work together and interact more when they have just one copy of the text.
You Do It Together, and I Help
Before letting the trios read and work together to answer the remaining questions, Mr. E. makes sure that they identify questions three, four, and five as Figure It Out questions and question six as a Find It question.
He says, “Begin by writing the answers to the first two questions that we did together on your Find It or Figure It Out question sheet. Then, read each question and find or figure out the answer. For the Figure It Out questions, explain to each other which sentences and pictures have clues and how these clues help you figure it out. Mark them with yellow sticky notes, and write the answer on your sheet. For question six, you will need to find the sentences that tell you what epiphytes are and how epiphytes help trees. Use your green sticky notes to mark the places where you found these answers.”
As the students work together, Mr. E. circulates the room and reminds students to explain to each other where they found answers and which sentences in the text provided clues that helped them figure out answers not right there on the page.
TIP
The “You do it together, and I help” phase of the lesson is a perfect time to listen in on the discussions your students are having and formatively assess how they are thinking and what misunderstandings they may have.
The Class Debriefs
The class gathers together, and students share their answers to the questions and where they placed their sticky notes. For the Figure It Out questions, Mr. E. leads students to share their thinking and explain how they used the text clues to figure out the answers.
Mr. E. asks students to look back through the pages read and create one more Find It question and one more Figure It Out question. They write their two questions and mark the places where they found answers or clues with yellow and green sticky notes. Mr. E. concludes the lesson by letting a few students volunteer their questions and the thinking and details they used to answer the questions.
Planning and Teaching a Find It or Figure It Out Lesson
Read the informational or narrative text and come up with Find It or Figure It Out questions. Find It questions should be literal. Students should find the answer to the question in a sentence or two. Figure It Out questions should have clues to help students figure out the answer. Include one or two questions for each page or two-page spread. Use the following seven steps when teaching a Find It or Figure It Out lesson.
1.Tell students the purpose of the lesson: “When you read, you get information in two ways. Some information is easy to find because it is right there on the page. Other information is not right there on the page, but if you look for clues, you can figure out the answer. Today, we are going to use our Find It or Figure It Out strategies to answer some questions about .”
2.Have students read each question chorally with you and build meanings for key vocabulary. Having students tell you what they think the important vocabulary is will help them learn how to identify key vocabulary. Seize every opportunity to point out morphological relations among words. Make sure students can pronounce all words, and remind them of similar words that will help them pronounce difficult words.
3.Model for students what you want them to do by using the “I do, and you watch” phase for the first question. Read the pages aloud, answer the question, and show where you found the answer or clues to help you figure it out. Explain how you used your brain and the clues to figure out answers.
4.For the second question, use the “I do, and you help” phase. Have students read the text with you and locate where they found answers or clues and explain their thinking.
5.Have students work in trios to complete the remaining questions. Circulate among your students, and be sure they locate the evidence in the text that helps them determine the answers and explain their thinking. Have them use small sticky notes to mark the places where they found the answers and the clues they used to figure out answers. Eavesdrop on the trios’ interactions to make formative assessments of students’ ability to make inferences.
6.Gather your students and have them answer the questions and explain where they found answers and clues and how their brains used the clues to figure out the answers.
7.Have students write a new Find It question and a new Figure It Out question. Share some of these with the whole class as time permits.
Find It or Figure It Out Lessons Across the Year
In subsequent lessons, as students demonstrate their ability to answer literal and inferential questions and to support their answers with evidence from the text, you should fade your modeling and turn over the responsibility for all questions to the trios. Continue, however, to begin every lesson by having students read each statement chorally with you and providing instruction on word meanings and pronunciations. When your observations of each trio’s interactions indicate that most of your students have learned to make logical inferences and to support those inferences with evidence from the text, have students answer the questions independently (“You do, and I watch”). Use the assessment results to determine which students meet the standards and which need more work on that skill.
To help students apply their inferencing skills when reading on their own, remind students as they are about to begin their independent
