>> Paired book lessons for grades one through
five provide students with opportunities
to see connections and differences across literary and informational texts
in three different types of pairings;
fiction to fiction, non-fiction to non-fiction,
and fiction to non-fiction.
These opportunities all help students
to engage in higher-level thinking to meet your state’s standards,
including Common Core.
Book pairs and the questions contained in each lesson
are carefully selected to help students
achieve a deeper understanding of the text.
Students practice close reading skills
to answer text-dependent questions along a range of complexity,
from constructing an answer from evidence found explicitly in the text
to gathering evidence from several places
and using inferencing skills
to construct an answer.
Each paired book lesson is associated with two different
leveled Reading A to Z books,
and is organized around a key question.
To initiate each lesson, first, introduce the key question as a group.
Next, introduce the first book,
and preview its set of questions with students.
As students read the book either as a whole class,
in small groups or individually,
they must read carefully to analyze and evaluate
the text in order to answer
the text-dependent questions
for that book.
This process is repeated with the second text.
Sample answers are provided to the teacher
for each question in the lesson.
During the discussion of each text,
students practice finding evidence for each answer within the text.
Students also practice collaboration using speaking and listening skills,
as they consider multiple viewpoints
and build perspective on a topic or issue.
A student response graphic organizer
supports students during their discussion
of each text-dependent question set,
allowing them to record important points
that will eventually help lead them to their written response
to the key overarching question.
After answering the questions for each text,
students are encouraged to come together into groups,
to answer the questions requiring both texts,
providing them with further opportunities
to practice reaching a consensus,
an important twenty-first century and career-readiness skill.
Finally, students use the points
they’ve unpacked from the individual texts
to construct an answer to the key question.
Once responses are complete,
teachers can then facilitate
a whole-class or small-group discussion of student
constructed answers to the key question,
and the evidence that supports those answers.
Higher-level thinking, reaching a consensus,
working as a team and proficient listening
and speaking skills are all attributes of a twenty-first century student
and career-ready individual.
The use of paired book lessons will give students
the essential practice they need in all these areas,
keeping them firmly on the path to educational success.