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Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, Grades K-2
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Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, Grades K-2
Ready-to-Go Resources and Assessment Tools Galore

Foreword by Tanny McGregor

Additional resources:


280 pages | Corwin

Every teacher in K-2 who has ever wished for comprehension lessons that get students where they need to be in reading, talking, and writing about texts, take notice: your wish just came true. 

With Lessons and Units for Closer Reading: K-2 you get  20 initial close reading lessons and 80 follow-up comprehension skill lessons that expertly scaffold young readers. What makes these lessons so spot-on is that Nancy combed through hundreds of standards and standardized assessments to arrive at the 12 skills that matter most at K–2. 

The lessons are arranged into 5 units of study, providing you with instant standards-aligned curriculum. Other can’t-live-without features:

  • 12 illustrated reproducible sets of Active Reader Cards that give children tactile and visual support for key comprehension skills (available to print in four-color!)

  • Step-by-step and day–by-day how-to’s for the initial lessons and follow-up lessons, including text-dependent questions for every featured picture book 
       
  • Illustrated, short fables that engage kids with themes including making choices, making a difference, and making sense of character traits

  • 12 Formative Assessments that take the scare factor out of testing for young learners with lots of graphic support and options for oral and written tasks

  • Performance criteria that give you standards-aligned means of measuring what your students have learned, so you can adjust your instruction

Teachers in K-2: Nancy knows what an amazing feat you pull off each year, taking young learners from 0-60 in the space of the school year. With Lessons and Units for Closer Reading, she gives you the gift of time, with a treasure trove of at-the-ready materials. 

Nancy Boyles, a former classroom teacher, is the author of many best-selling books and a literacy consultant who provides curriculum support nationwide. This book is part of a three-part series that offers schools a K-6 solution for reading instruction.

 

 
Reading Closely in K–2: Guidelines for Getting 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 using units so students can make connections between texts.

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

 
 
Teaching and Assessing Students’ Comprehension
The Twelve Skills in Focus

 
How the Assessments Are Embedded Across Books and Units

 
How the Assessments Are Embedded in Weekly Instruction

 
During Reading Success: It’s in the Cards

 
After Reading Success: Framing Students’ Thinking

 
How to Evaluate Students’ Written Responses

 
Rubric for Evaluating Reader Response Frames

 
 
Standards: Putting the Assessment Tools to Work
 
The Reproducibles: Active Reader Cards and Reader Response Frames
Student-Friendly Forms for Teaching and Assessing the Standards

 
 
The Units and Lessons
 
Learning Pathway: How to Study a Character Trait
Unit Focus: Why Is It Important to Show Kindness to Others?

 
Fable to Begin the Unit: The Wind and the Sun

 
Close Reading Lessons for Melissa Parkington’s Beautiful, Beautiful Hair

 
Close Reading Lessons for Mama Panya’s Pancakes: A Village Tale From Kenya

 
Close Reading Lessons for Each Kindness

 
Close Reading Lessons for Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla

 
 
Learning Pathway: How to Study an Animal
Unit Focus: How Are Animals the Same? How Are Animals Different?

 
Fable to Begin the Unit: The Hare and the Tortoise

 
Close Reading Lessons for Panda Kindergarten

 
Close Reading Lessons for Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems

 
Close Reading Lessons for Surprising Sharks

 
Close Reading Lessons for Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!

 
 
Learning Pathway: How to Study a Person
Unit Focus: How Can You Make a Difference—Even if You’re a Kid?

 
Fable to Begin the Unit: The Lion and the Mouse

 
Close Reading Lessons for Blizzard

 
Close Reading Lessons for The Wednesday Surprise

 
Close Reading Lessons for Rosie Revere, Engineer

 
Close Reading Lessons for The Story of Ruby Bridges

 
 
Learning Pathway: How to Study a Place
Unit Focus: What Is Special About This Place?

 
Fable to Begin the Unit: The Lion and the Dolphin

 
Close Reading Lessons for Antarctica

 
Close Reading Lessons for Fernando’s Gift

 
Close Reading Lessons for Creatures of the Desert World

 
Close Reading Lessons for America the Beautiful: Together We Stand

 
 
Learning Pathway: How to Study a Theme
Unit Focus: Why Is It Important to Make Good Choices?

 
Fable to Begin the Unit: The Two Frogs

 
Close Reading Lessons for Fireflies

 
Close Reading Lessons for Those Shoes

 
Close Reading Lessons for Maddi’s Fridge

 
Close Reading Lessons for The Empty Pot

 
 
References

Supplements

Sample Materials & Chapters

At a Glance

Reading Closely in K-2


Nancy N. Boyles

A former classroom teacher and professor of reading, Nancy Boyles is a literacy consultant, who provides workshops, model lessons, and curriculum support to districts and organizations nationally, regionally, and locally. Over the course of her career she has received numerous awards , including New England Reading Association’s Outstanding Literacy Leader Award and Connecticut Reading Association’s Celebrate Literacy Award for exemplary service. More About Author