Informational Text Sets for First and Second Graders
My oldest son was not an avid reader at first. We went to the library every week, and he picked halfheartedly among the shelves. I love books, so imagine my chagrin when we would get to the end of a library visit (and at least five supportive book talks from me!) and he would say, "I didn't find any books that I liked."
In the middle of second grade, something changed. We found the airplane and flight section of the library. My son started checking out books--books that I was pretty sure were too hard for him, but books! I wasn't sure how everything was going to turn out until one day he said, "Do you know the three basic principles of flight?"
"Yes," he replied, and he went on to talk about what makes powered flight possible. Something was working! Even though I hadn't been confident that he could understand the books he had chosen, motivation and background knowledge pulled him through. And we started to see a snowball effect--his reading about flight impacted his overall reading, and he transformed from a reluctant reader into a student who is never without a book.
The power of related texts
Related texts help readers to develop vocabulary and content knowledge. When readers see the same ideas presented in different ways and across different media, they build strong connections. For young readers, the power to follow personal interests can create a lifelong love of reading.
As it turned out, my younger son followed a similar reading trajectory--he didn't want to spend any time or effort reading the primer books. Instead, he wanted big cat books with new information and interesting details. Reading about cheetahs and their spots helped him to learn the concept of camouflage; reading about how lions live in prides helped him to understand social groups.
With Activity Spot, you can create informational text sets and send them to student iPads. Connect text, videos, and activities like drawing and graphic organizers. Students can hear text read aloud for them, which makes this a great tool for readers who long for more complex text than what they can decode on their own.
You can create text sets for students or small groups, or create a text set for a class to share. It's amazing to hear students talk about ideas that they have seen, and the different ways that these ideas are presented.
Here are some texts sets that are already created:
Polar Bears and Black Bears
