Scaffolding Reading

Comprehension:
Applying What We Know

Informational Text Example

Anita L. Archer, Ph.D.

archerteach@[Link]

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 Comprehension – “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning
through interaction and involvement with written language. It consists of three elements:
the reader, the text, and the activity or purpose for reading” (RAND Reading Study
Group, 2002, p.11).

Scaffolding Reading Comprehension

in the Elementary Grades
The amount and type of scaffolding is dependent upon the reader, the text, and the
activity or purpose for reading.

Before Reading
• Teach the pronunciation of difficult to read words.
• Teach the meaning of critical, unknown vocabulary words.
• Teach or activate any necessary background knowledge.
• Preview the article.

During Reading
• Utilize passage reading procedures that provide adequate
reading practice.
• Ask appropriate questions during passage reading.
• When necessary, scaffold higher order questions by first
asking literal questions.
• Teach strategies that can be applied to passage reading.

After Reading
• Use graphic organizers to help students summarize critical
points of article.
• Engage students in a discussion.
• Have students answer written questions.
• Provide engaging vocabulary practice.
• Have students write summaries of what they have read.
Anita L. Archer, PHD

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Weekly Reader Article
Follow the Leader

A group of sandhill cranes made their first flight last fall by learning
to follow the leader. But their leader was not another crane. The
birds followed a scientist who flew a small airplane.

Sandhill Cranes Soar South

Eleven sandhill cranes flew from Wisconsin to Florida last fall. The
birds followed a scientist flying a small airplane on the 39-day trip.

Each fall, cranes travel from cold areas, like Wisconsin, to warm
areas, like Florida. Baby cranes learn from their parents how to
make the trip. But these cranes learned to follow scientists.

When the sandhill cranes hatched, the first thing they saw was a
group of scientists dressed to look like adult cranes. The scientists
fed the chicks. The chicks thought the scientists were their
mothers.

Then the scientists trained the young birds to follow an airplane.

The scientists played a tape of the noise that planes make. They
also played sounds adult sandhill cranes make. So the cranes
learned to trust and follow people in planes.

Cranes Helping Cranes

By flying to Florida, 11 sandhill cranes were helping their cousins,

the whooping cranes. Many sandhill cranes live in the United States.
But few whooping cranes live here anymore.

Only one group of whooping cranes knows how to migrate, or

travel, from the North to the South. Scientists hope to teach other
whooping cranes to migrate. More cranes may survive if they can
learn to travel back and forth.

Next year, scientists will train whooping cranes to migrate the same
way they trained sandhill cranes.

Copyright © 2003 Weekly Reader Corp.

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Before: Teach or activate any necessary background knowledge.

These birds are Sandhill Cranes.

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In the fall, sandhill cranes fly south to warmer places.

These are whooping cranes. There are fewer and fewer

whooping cranes in the United States.

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Before: Teach the pronunciation of difficult to read words.

Tell students the pronunciation of words if the words are

irregular or difficult to decode.
group
area
science
scientist
learn
learned
Guide students in using decoding strategies.

crane train
cranes trained
sandhill cranes survive
whooping cranes travel
tape airplane
migrate Wisconsin
hope Florida
follow
following trust
fly noise
flying

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Before: Teach the meaning of critical, unknown
vocabulary words.

Select 4 words from this list for robust vocabulary

instruction. Select words that are: 1) unknown, 2)
critical to passage understanding, 3) useful in the
future, and 4) more difficult to obtain (abstract, no
known synonym).

cranes
whooping cranes
sandhill cranes
airplane
travel
migrate
scientist
flying
survive
learned
thought
followed
trained
young

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 Utilize student-friendly explanations.

Word Dictionary Student-Friendly

Definition Explanation
train Teach a particular When you teach an animal to do
skill or type of something, you train the animal.
trained behavior through
practice and
instruction over a
period of time.
travel Make a journey When a person or an animal goes
typically of some from one place to another, they
traveled length or abroad. travel. The word travel is
usually used when the person or
animal goes a long distance.
migrate Move from one When birds or other animals
region or habitat to move from one place to another
migrated another especially at a certain time each year, they
regularly according to migrate.
the seasons.
survive Continue to live or When people or animals don’t
exist, especially in die when things are very bad,
survived spite of danger or they survive.
hardship.

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Provide robust, explicit vocabulary
instruction.
Example A.
1. Introduce the word.
This word is travel. What word?

2. Present a student-friendly explanation.

When a person or an animal goes from one place to
another, they travel. So when a person or an animal goes
from one place to another place they ___________. The
word travel is usually used when the person or animal goes
a long distance.

3. Illustrate the word with examples.

If you went from Oregon to Minnesota in an airplane, you
would __________________.
If you drove from NewYork to Boston in a car, you would
_____________________.

4. Check students’ understanding.

(Deep processing question.)
Why might a family travel to another city? Tell your
partner. (The teacher calls on an individual.)

(Generate examples.)
Tell your partner some place that you and your family have
traveled to. (Teacher monitors.)

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Example B.

1. Introduce the word.

This word is migrate. What word?

2. Present a student-friendly explanation.

When birds or other animals move from one place to
another at a certain time each year, they migrate. So
if birds move to a new place in the winter or spring, we say
that the birds migrate.

3. Illustrate the word with examples.

These birds are moving to a warmer place for the winter

months. These birds ____________________________.

These wildebeests in Africa are moving to a new place so

that they can find water and grass. Wildebeests _______.

4. Check students’ understanding.

(Deep processing question.)
Why might birds migrate? Tell your partner. (The teacher
calls on an individual.)

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Example C.

1. Introduce the word.

This word is survive. What word?

2. Present a student-friendly explanation.

When people or animals don’t die when things are very
bad, they survive.

3. Illustrate the word with examples.

Look at the people on this river. It is very dangerous.

However, the people don’t get hurt or die, they
__________.

Check students’ understanding.

(Examples and non-examples.)

Get ready to tell me if this group would survive.

If the winter was very cold and all food was buried under the snow,
would whooping cranes survive? Why not?
If whooping cranes had plenty of food and the weather was warm,
would they survive? Why?

(Deep Processing Questions)

If a rabbit was being chased by a coyote, what could the rabbit do
to survive?

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Before: Preview the article.

Warm-Up
Before you read a chapter or a section of a chapter in
your science, social studies, or health book, Warm-up.
Get an idea of the chapter’s content by previewing these
parts.

BEGINNING
 Title

 Introduction

MIDDLE
 Headings

 Subheadings

END
 Summary

Questions

Curriculum Associates, Skills for School Success

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During: Ask appropriate questions during passage
reading.
During: When necessary, scaffold higher order questions
by first asking literal questions.
A group of sandhill cranes made their first flight last fall
by learning to follow the leader. But their leader was not
another crane. The birds followed a scientist who flew a
small airplane.

What group of animals is this article about?

What did the sandhill cranes follow?
Do birds usually follow airplanes? Why not?

Let’s see what was done so that the cranes would follow the
airplane.

Sandhill Cranes Soar South

Eleven sandhill cranes flew from Wisconsin to Florida

last fall. The birds followed a scientist flying a small
airplane on the 39-day trip.

Each fall, cranes travel from cold areas, like Wisconsin,

to warm areas, like Florida. Baby cranes learn from their
parents how to make the trip. But these cranes learned
to follow scientists.

When the sandhill cranes hatched, the first thing they

saw was a group of scientists dressed to look like adult
cranes. The scientists fed the chicks. The chicks
thought the scientists were their mothers.

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 Then the scientists trained the young birds to follow an
airplane. The scientists played a tape of the noise that
planes make. They also played sounds adult sandhill
cranes make. So the cranes learned to trust and follow
people in planes.

When the baby cranes were born, who did they first see?
Who fed the baby cranes?
Who did the baby cranes think were their mothers?
Why did the baby cranes follow the airplane?

Cranes Helping Cranes

By flying to Florida, 11 sandhill cranes were helping their

cousins, the whooping cranes. Many sandhill cranes live
in the United States. But few whooping cranes live here
anymore.

Only one group of whooping cranes knows how to

migrate, or travel, from the North to the South.
Scientists hope to teach other whooping cranes to
migrate. More cranes may survive if they can learn to
travel back and forth.

Next year, scientists will train whooping cranes to

migrate the same way they trained sandhill cranes.

Are there many whooping cranes?

Do all whooping cranes migrate?
If the scientists were able to get the sandhill cranes
to follow the airplane and migrate, how might that
help the whooping cranes?

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 During: Teach strategies that can be applied to passage
reading.

Paragraph Shrinking
1. Name the who or what.
(The main person, animal, or
thing.)
2. Tell the most important thing
about the who or what.
3. Say the main idea in 10 words or
less.
(From the PALS program by Fuchs, Mathes, and Fuchs)

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After: Use graphic organizers to help students summarize
critical points of article.

Sandhill crane eggs hatched.

Sandhill crane babies saw the scientists

dressed like sandhill cranes.

The scientists fed the baby cranes.

The baby birds thought the scientists were

their mothers.

The scientists played tapes of airplanes

and adult sandhill cranes.

The sandhill cranes trusted the scientists

and followed the airplane.

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After: Have students answer written questions.
 Teach students to change the question into part of the answer and write the
partial answer down.
 For each written question, have students determine if the answer is : In the
book OR In my head. Guide students in applying the QAR strategy.

QUESTION ANSWER RELATIONSHIPS

4 Types of Questions
In the Book Q AR’s In My Hea d Q AR’s

Right There Author and You

The answer is in the text,

The answer is not in the
usually easy to find. The
story. You need to think
words used to make up the
about what you already
question and words used
know, what the author
to answer the questions
tells you in the text, and
are Right There in the how it fits together.
same sentence.

Think and Search On My Own

(Pulling it Together)
 The answer is not in the
The answer
(Raphael, 1986) is in the selection. You can even
selection, but you need to answer the question
put together different without reading the
pieces of information to selection. You need to
find it. Words for the use your own experience.
answer are not found in
the same sentence. They
come from different places
(Raphael, 1986)
in the selection.
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After Reading: Have students write summaries of what
they have read.

Option #1: Have students complete a paragraph summary frame.

Scientists taught ____________________ cranes to

migrate by following an airplane to a warmer place.
When the baby sandhill cranes were born, the first
thing they saw were _______________ dressed as
_____________ ____________. The babies thought
the scientists were their ________________. The
scientists ___________ the baby cranes, made noises
like adult sandhill crates, and got the little sandhill
cranes familiar with _________________sounds.
Soon the sandhill cranes __________________ the
scientists and were willing to follow their airplane.
This same process will be used to save __________
__________________, an endangered group of birds.

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Option #2: Teach students a strategy for summarizing an
informational article.

List - Make a list of important details.

Cross-out - Cross out any unnecessary or weak details.
Connect - Connect ideas that could go together
in one sentence.
Number - Number the details in the order that they will
appear in the paragraph.
REWARDS PLUS (Sopris)

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