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The strateg y is designed to support beginning read - ers in reading and understanding informational texts by facilitating close interactions between readers and text (see, e.g., McKeown et al., 2009) by mirroring the thinking processes that proficient readers may do automatically (see, e.g., Neufeld, 2005). The strat - eg y is designed to be used f lexibly and can be altered to respond to the different demands particular infor - mational texts present and to the diversity of abili - ties and practices of beginning readers. As a result, beginning readers may cycle through the strateg y several times in the reading of a text. We describe each of the five steps of the strateg y in turn. (See Table 1 for a summar y of strateg y steps.) Step 1: Read The first step in the strateg y is designed to help be - ginning readers recognize and respond to the par - ticular challenges informational texts present for reading and understanding. These challenges may differ from those in narrative texts because infor - mational texts may present material through many sources of information, including the text itself, illustrations, captions, diagrams, and labels. The beginning reader must recognize that each text fea - ture may represent information that is supplemen - tar y to the information discussed in sentence form (Stead, 2002). The first step of the strateg y prompts beginning readers to read each source of informa - TEACHING TIP Supporting Beginning Readers in Reading to Learn:

A Comprehension Strategy Lori McKee, Gay Carr This teaching tip outlines a comprehension strategy to support early primary students in reading to learn while learning to read. Lori McKee is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at Western University, London, ON, Canada, and an elementary educator with the Thames Valley District School Board, London, ON, Canada; e-mail [email protected].

Gay Carr is an elementary educator with the Thames Valley District School Board, London, ON, Canada 360 The Reading Teacher Vol. 70 No. 3 November/December 2016 literacyworldwide.org tion presented in the text by scanning images, reading la- bels, considering diagrams, and reading prose. In the Read step of the strate - g y, beginning readers might ask, n Where is the informa - tion on this page or in this book?

n Have I looked at the pic - tures, labels, diagrams, and other text features? Step 2: Stop The second step of the strateg y reminds begin - ning readers to stop frequently when reading informational texts. This is necessar y because in - formational texts are often densely written and use content- specific vocabular y that may be unfamiliar and difficult for children to understand (Klein, 2008).

The frequency of stopping when reading informa - tional texts may depend on the difficulty of the text, the number and type of text features, and the stu - dent’s experience with using the strateg y. The Stop step creates space for gradually “connecting and in - tegrating information” (McKeown et al., 2009, p. 28) through the Think, Ask, and Connect steps. In the Stop step, beginning readers may stop af - ter reading a section of text (e.g., a sentence, a short paragraph, or a set of pictures). Beginning readers might ask, n Do I think I understand the information?

n Do I need to reread a section? Step 3: Think The third step of the strateg y encourages begin - ning readers to think about what they have read by recognizing how the text structure can support the meaning presented in the text. In addition, this step provides opportunities for the beginning reader to summarize information from a variety of sources. As beginning readers think about what they have read, they may identify structural ele - ments such as keywords or formatting that sig - nal the organization of the piece so that they can use this information to support comprehension (e.g., the words first and next in procedural texts may help readers identify that the text is commu - nicating information about a sequence, and text written in a list may help the reader identify a de - scriptive structure; Dymock & Nicholson, 2010). To further support comprehension, the Think step prompts readers to summarize and synthesize information presented in print and in text features and to identify questions they have about the information pre - sented (Dymock & Nicholson, 2010). In the Think step of the strateg y, beginning readers might ask, n Did the author give me any clues in the ways he or she organized the text?

n What do the words in the text mean?

n How does this match the information from the pictures and other text features? Step 4: Ask The fourth step of the strateg y invites beginning read - ers into a dialogue with the author. In this step, stu - dents vocalize questions about the content of the text (see, e.g., Wilhelm, 2007). When we invited the begin - ning readers to ask questions about the text in our classes, our young students started to talk with the author as though he or she were present and referred to the author by name when asking questions. The process of asking questions about the text invites be - ginning readers to engage deeply with the text to con - struct meaning (see, e.g., Dymock & Nicholson, 2010). 1. Read: The reader reads the text as well as text features and images.

2. Stop: The reader stops reading frequently to process unfamiliar terms and concepts.

3. Think: The reader thinks about structural elements, such as signal words, and how they suppor t understanding. The reader is prompted to begin synthesizing information.

4. Ask: The reader asks the author questions about the text to suppor t comprehension.

5. Connect: The reader considers other information he or she may know about the subject matter and makes connections to personal experiences, other texts, and/or world events.

Table 1 Summary of the Strategy n Compared with narrative texts, what different demands do informational texts place on beginning readers?

n Are informational texts available to my students in my classroom librar y?

n How frequently do I read aloud from informational texts to my students?

PAUSE AND PONDER TEACHING TIP 361 The Reading Teacher Vol. 70 No. 3 November/December 2016 literacyworldwide.org In the Ask step, beginning readers might ask, n What is the author tr ying to tell me?

n Why would the author want me to know that?

n Why did the author show me the information t h i s w ay? Step 5: Connect The fifth stage of the strateg y encourages begin- ning readers to connect what they have read to their prior knowledge (Dymock & Nicholson, 2010) by making text- to- self, text- to- text, and text- to- world connections. These connections help readers use what is known to help comprehend new information (Neufeld, 2005). In the Connect step of the Read, Stop, Think, Ask, Connect strateg y, beginning readers might ask, n What does this information remind me of?

n Have I seen something like this before?

n Do I know any other information about this topic? Introducing the Strategy to Beginning Readers We found that a highly scaffolded read- aloud/ think- aloud process (e.g., Ness & Kenny, 2016) was ver y helpful when we introduced the strat - eg y to our grade 1 classes. We modeled the use of the strateg y repeatedly using ver y simple in - formational texts, and we then guided students through other simple informational texts. After several weeks of modeling and guided practice, our young students started to use the strateg y on their own when reading independently. In Table 2, we show what a read- aloud /think- aloud process might sound like through each step of the strateg y when a teacher introduces the strateg y to begin - ning readers. Further Considerations As stated previously, the Read, Stop, Think, Ask, Connect strateg y is designed to be used f lexibly and can be adapted to meet the needs of beginning readers with particular abilities in diverse settings.

Before introducing the strateg y to a particular group of beginning readers, we encourage educators to consider students’ prior learning, text selection, and multimodal support.

Prior Learning We encourage educators to consider their students’ prior learning. The strategy invites beginning read - ers to make connections to the texts they read. To do this effectively, young readers need to understand how to make connections when reading. When we introduced the strateg y in our classes, most stu - dents were successful with making text- to- self con - nections, some could make text- to- text connections, and a few could make text- to- world connections. In addition, the strateg y asks students to consider how text structures can support the author’s intended meaning. In our classes, we introduced students to procedural texts with signal words (e.g., first , next ) within a guided reading context prior to teaching the strateg y. We used our understandings of students’ Read: “I see there are a few pictures on this page. I am going to cover par t of this page so I can really concentrate on the information in the pictures. What information do I see in each of the pictures? Oh, some pictures have the same information, but I see some more details in some of the pictures.” Stop: “ There was a lot of information in those pictures. I am going to stop to make sure I remember and understand all of that information.” Think: “I wonder if I can remember all that information in the pictures. Hmm. I saw a really big picture and some smaller pictures. Am I forgetting any thing? Oh, yes, I saw some labels, too.” Ask: “I noticed that not all of the pictures seemed to be about exactly the same thing. I wonder, why is this picture bigger than the others? Is it tr ying to tell me something?…Why would the author want me to know that?” Connect: “ These illustrations make me think of [subject content]. It reminds me of a book we have in our classroom reading bins.” Stop to show the book. “But I think this book has some dif ferent information.” Table 2 A Sample of Scaffolding the Strategy Through Read- Aloud/Think- Aloud TEACHING TIP 362 The Reading Teacher Vol. 70 No. 3 November/December 2016 literacyworldwide.org prior knowledge as the starting point of instruc- tion and continued to support students in extending their abilities in these areas.

Text Selection We encourage educators to carefully select the in - formational text they use when modeling the use of the strateg y. In our classes, we selected a simple text that had short sentences, had multiple text features, and was written about a topic that was interesting to our students. When we introduced the strateg y to our stu - dents, we only read through one page of a text. We wanted to emphasize to the children that we were encouraging a deep reading of the text rather than reading a large quantity of pages. We used an in - formational text from our school librar y, but the strateg y can be used with simple, leveled infor - mational texts, trade books, and websites. Some sample informational texts that may be useful for beg inning readers include the following: n National Geographic Kids website: kids.nation algeog raphic.com n PebbleGo leveled text databases (free trial available): https://www.pebblego.com/login/ in dex.html n Rau, D. (2006). Hot and bright: A book about the sun . North Mankato, MN: Picture Window.

n Troupe, T.K. (2014). Glowing with electricity:

Science adventures with Glenda the origami firef ly. North Mankato, MN: Picture Window. Multimodal Support We encourage educators to consider how they might further support their beginning readers through multimodal resources. In our classrooms, we found it useful to make a very simple poster for students to reference (see Figure 1). We further supported our students’ use of the strateg y by asking them to cre - ate gestures to help them remember each step of the strateg y (see Table 3). We also encourage educators to consider how students might use a graphic organizer to sup - port the comprehension process. We found it helpful to provide opportunities for our students to draw or write their understandings of the in - formational text read on a graphic organizer. To support our students, we selected graphic orga - nizers (T- charts, Venn diagrams, etc.) according to the demands of the particular informational text read. Summary Read, Stop, Think, Ask, Connect is a strateg y de - signed to support beginning readers in reading and understanding informational texts. In our prac - Read: Hands open like a book.

Stop: Hold hand up like a stop sign.

Think: Point to the head.

Ask: Make a question mark in the air.

Connect: Link both hands.

Table 3 Gestures to Support the Meaning of the Strategy Steps Figure 1 Read, Stop, Think, Ask, Connect Strategy Classroom Poster TEACHING TIP 363 The Reading Teacher Vol. 70 No. 3 November/December 2016 literacyworldwide.org tices, we found the strateg y very useful in helping our beginning readers navigate the complexities of informational text and guiding them toward a deep construction of meaning. We invite other educa- tors of beginning readers to use this comprehension strateg y as a way to “help children learn to read at the same time they read to learn” (Moss, 2005, p. 50).

REFERENCES Dooley, C.M., & Matthews, M.W. (2009). Emergent comprehen - sion: Understanding comprehension development among young literacy learners. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy , 9 (3), 269 –294. doi:10.1177/1468798409345110 Dymock, S., & Nicholson, T. (2010). “High 5!”: Strateg ies to enhance comprehension of expositor y text. The Reading Te a c h e r , 64 (3), 166 –178. doi:10.1598/RT.64.3.2 Klein, P. (2008). Content literacy [Monograph]. What Works? Research Into Practice , 13 , 1– 4. Retrieved from www.edu.

gov.on.ca/eng /literacynumeracy/inspire/research/content Literacy.pdf McKeown, M.G., Beck, I.L., & Blake, R.G.K. (2009). Reading com - prehension instruction: Focus on content or strateg ies?

Perspectives on Language and Literacy , 35 (2), 28–32.

Moss, B. (2005). Making a case and a place for effective con - tent area literacy instruction in the elementar y grades. The Reading Teacher , 59 (1), 4 6 –55. doi:10.1598/RT.59.1.5 Ness, M., & Kenny, M. (2016). Improving the quality of think- alouds. The Reading Teacher , 69 (4), 453 – 460. doi:10.10 02 / trtr.1397 Neufeld, P. (2005). Comprehension instruction in content area classes. The Reading Teacher , 59 (4), 302–312. doi:10.1598/ RT.59.4.1 Robb, L. (2002). The myth: Learn to read /read to learn. Instructor , 111 (8), 23 –25.

Stead, T. (2002). Is that a fact? Teaching nonfiction writing K–3 .

Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Wilhelm, J.D. (2007). Engaging readers and writers with inquiry: Promoting deep understanding in language arts and the content areas with guiding questions . New York, NY: Scholastic. ■ Duke, N.K. (2013). Star ting out: Practices to use in K–3.

Educational Leadership , 71(3), 40 – 44.

■ Duke, N.K., & Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2003). 6 reasons to use informational text in primary grades . Retrieved from w w w.scholastic.com/teachers/article/6-reasons- use-informational-text-primary-grades ■ Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2014). Closely reading informational texts in the primar y grades. The Reading Te a c h e r , 68(3), 223–227.

■ “Reading Informational Texts Using the 3-2-1 Strateg y” (a ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan by M. Reimer): w w w.readwritethink.org/classroom- resources/lesson-plans/reading-informational- texts-using-951.html?tab=1#tabs MORE TO EXPLORE 1. Evaluate students’ prior learning and experience with informational text forms.

2. Select a simple informational text with a variety of text features.

3. Model and remodel the use of the strateg y through a read-aloud or think-aloud.

4. Suppor t students with multimodal suppor ts (poster, gestures).

5. Gradually guide students toward independent practice.

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