Are you ready to start teaching close reading but aren’t sure how to start or what to do? Don’t worry! I got you!
Teaching close reading is very do-able when you have the right resources and these easy steps!! Get ready to tackle close reading like a PRO!!
PLUS… After you read about how to teach close reading, be sure to look for the exclusive FREEBIE at the end of this post that will help you give close reading a try with your students!
So let’s dive in…
Step 1 of Teaching Close Reading: Choose the right text
Not every text is worthy of being a close reading text. Why? Because your students will read the text 3 times! So you’ll want the text to be short and have interesting content for your students! That doesn’t mean you can’t use books… Just choose a single chapter or section instead of making your students read the whole book three times!
Animal Habitats Close Reading Resources
If you don’t want to have to go hunting for close reading texts, the above passages are perfect for close reading! They only have 3 paragraphs each, so they’re not too long to read multiple times. Plus, they go perfectly with any habitat unit because each set of passages is about animals from a different habitat: ocean, desert and rainforest. Click the picture above to check them out!
Step 2 of Teaching Close Reading: Decide how to read the text
Close reading doesn’t always have to happen the same way. Sometimes I read texts aloud to my students to model different strategies and sometimes my students read the texts on their own. There is no “right way” to read the texts when you are doing close reading. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Whole group read-aloud: Read it aloud to your students. This is great for introducing close reading to your students and modeling for them how to look back at the text multiple times.
- Small groups: Close reading works well for small reading groups because the students will have more opportunities to discuss and share their thoughts.
- Independently: Once your students are more experienced with close reading, they may be capable of completing their close reading independently.
Step 3 of Teaching Close Reading: Read the text multiple times
Here’s the fun part! Now you’re ready to actually read the text with your students!
However, you do NOT want the fact that they’ll be reading the text multiple times to be a secret!! That is a sure-fire way to end up with some upset students!
Instead, tell your students that they will read the text more than once and that they will be looking for different kinds of information each time they read it. Try not to give your students too much background information about the topic because you’ll want them to to use text evidence later on to answer questions!
The structure below is just a guideline. If you’d rather change it up and focus on vocabulary during the 1st read, go for it! Or if you want to focus on comprehension during the 2nd read, feel free! As with anything else in teaching, teaching close reading needs to work for you!!
1st Read: Overall comprehension
The goal for this first read is for your students to just read and get a basic understanding of the text. Try not to ask any comprehension questions after this first read. What you might want to do is talk about the text structure instead. Here are some ideas for questions to ask after the 1st read (if you choose to ask any at all):
- What kind of text is this (i.e. fiction or nonfiction)?
- What kind of text structure is this (i.e. compare/contrast, description, sequence, etc.)?
- What is the author’s purpose in writing this text?
2nd Read: Vocabulary
This time your students are going to focus on tricky vocabulary. You can either pick the words ahead of time or have the students pick out the words that they felt were tricky. Either way, try to have your students make predictions and use the context clues to figure out the meanings of these unknown words.
Having the definitions ready to go is so helpful because a) you’re not trying to think of the definition on the spot, and b) your students can check to see if the word actually means what they thought it means!
The vocabulary cards in the picture above come from my Animal Habitats Close Reading resources. What makes these amazing is that the words and the definitions are all right there for you!! You don’t have to do anything except print them and cut them out!
For each close reading passage, there are 3 vocabulary words for your students to focus on. There are also 2 options for the vocabulary cards: one-sided cards with the word and definition on the front, and two-sided cards where the word is on one side and the definition is on the other.
3rd Read: Dive Deeper into Comprehension
Now is the time for your students to really dive into comprehension! This is when you get to ask your students those text-dependent questions that you’ve been waiting to ask!! Just like with the vocabulary words, it’s best to have some questions prepared ahead of time!
My Animal Habitats Close Reading sets not only include various nonfiction passages and vocabulary cards, but they also include two different comprehension activities for each passage.
Every close reading passage has a short-answer comprehension activity where students can go back and highlight where they find the answers. There is also a more open-ended comprehension activity for each passage that helps your students practice comprehension skills like:
- Identifying the main idea and supporting details
- Comparing and contrasting
- Identifying myths vs. facts
To check out the whole resource with all 18 nonfiction passages, 54 vocabulary cards and 36 comprehension activities, click the picture below!
Or, if you want to try out my nonfiction passages, vocabulary cards and comprehension activities for free, you’re in luck!! I have an exclusive FREEBIE for my readers! When you click the image below and enter your personal email address, you’ll receive the password to my FREEBIE Library where you can find this resource (and other free resources) that aren’t found anywhere else!
Click the image below to sign up to receive the password and download your close reading FREEBIE!
Looking for close reading passages about specific animal habitats? You can also check out these resources! Click any of the pictures to see them in my store!
Now you are ready to give close reading a try in your classroom!! Be sure to leave a comment below to let me know how it goes and, as always, feel free to ask me any questions you may still have!
