Use the information below to answer the questions that follow.
Before reading aloud a book about a farm to a group of beginning readers, a firstgrade teacher has the students brainstorm and briefly discuss words related to farms. Next, the teacher reads the text aloud from a big book, pointing to each word being read. Periodically, the teacher stops to discuss with students key concepts or events described in the text and to guide students in relating the text to the illustrations. After finishing the readaloud, the teacher puts the book in the classroom library and encourages the students to read it on their own.
Questions:
1. The students are most likely to be successful in their independent reading of the book if:
A. the students can decode and understand the meaning of at least 95 percent of the words in the text.
B. the text does not include compound sentences joined by coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, or but.
C. the students come from homes where silent reading is extensively modeled and encouraged by caregivers.
D. the text primarily deals with fictional rather than factual accounts of characters and/or events.
2. The theoretical basis for including the brainstorming activity in this lesson is that having the students share their vocabulary knowledge about farms prior to the reading will:
A. give the teacher an opportunity to assess and compare the students' oral language skills.
B. reinforce the students' understanding and recognition of key concepts about print.
C. facilitate the students' comprehension by activating prior knowledge and building schema.
D. prepare the students to benefit from explicit phonics instruction related to the text.
3. The most important reason for putting the book in the classroom library is to promote the students':
A. love of reading by facilitating their access to a story that they have already heard, understood, and enjoyed.
B. understanding of the alphabetic principle by reinforcing their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences.
C. oral language development by providing them with the opportunity to imitate the teacher's reading of a text.
D. use of metacognitive strategies by allowing them to practice selfmonitoring when reading silently.