Using Close Reading to teach Test Prep Strategies...Reading the Question

To begin, I went through the standards that needed to be revisited before the test. I love using a calendar and writing exactly what I'm teaching and how I'm teaching it.

The calendar helps me see what I'm teaching from one day to the next. It helps me scaffold my instruction making sure that my instruction builds upon the previous day. 

The texts I used were from previous year's grade 4 state tests 2015 released test and 2016 released test. I modeled with an excerpt from "Swimming with Sharks" and my students worked on an excerpt from "Lawn Boy". I chose these two texts because I wanted to show them that the texts were part of actual books that I had in my library.

Before we started reading, we talked about the directions and the blurb before the test--so many children skip over it and miss all the important information that the author is giving you before you start reading.

Then we started the first part of close reading process, which is to read the text for enjoyment. While the students are listening, I had them circle any vocabulary words that they didn't know or were unsure of. We talked about them after the first read.

This is the first page of the text. You can see some of the annotating we did. 

I gave them the question: After reading "Swimming with Sharks," summarize the text.

We then did a close reading of the question using these prompts:
     *What does this question mean?
     *What is it asking me to do?
     *How do I answer it?

Using SCAPES (setting, characters, adjectives to describe the characters, problem, most significant event, and solution), we were able to summarize the text.

We wrote the new strategies on a chart:

My students tried this in their reader's notebooks with the question:

Summarize paragraphs 6-13 in the text "Lawn Boy." 

They worked around the room laying on carpets and working on small tables--reading the text, practicing the strategies, and writing their responses 💙💙💙

What are some ways you use close reading? Leave a comment letting me know 💛💛