Text Dependent Questions: Chapter 2 (linky)

WELCOME back for  Chapter 2 of Text Dependent Questions!  This book,  written by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, has helped guide me in my understanding of a close read.  I hope you are feeling it has been worth your time as well.

What the Text Says

The authors remind us that before students are able to dive deep into the text, they must have an understanding of what the text says.  The students start with the “when” and “where” questions. The students also must differentiate between key details in the text and those facts that are simply interesting  (hello…. KINDERGARTEN!!!).  This is something we spend time working on in my classroom.  Weeding out the weeds and cultivating the sprouts of ideas.

I was not surprised to read the importance of collaborative conversations in this chapter either.  Within the green pages of this chapter, there was a discussion of the reciprocal relationship between talk, understanding, and writing.  I love this quote:

“Writing floats on a sea of talk.” p36

I asked in our Facebook Book Discussion Group if they wanted me to walk thorough this planning process with a book.  They agreed…  I grabbed a book as I walked out the door.

DISCLAIMER:  I am currently in a hotel room with my husband and The Perfect Son.  We are on a 12 hour trip to Missouri for a wedding.  We had to bring our  Labrador, Dexter with us (long story).  Anyhow, I forgot my camera, so these images are meh…  

If you have looked at our Guiding Readers you will know that I am a HUGE fan of Nicola Davies.  Every one one of her books always lends themselves to a rich conversation.

I love that her books include a narrative text and  informational text.

Here are the questions that I generated for this text.  Keep in mind, there are different types of text.  This is a story of the girl and her interaction with ducks  AND informational text about ducks.  I will mostly focus my questions around the informational text.

• Who is telling the story?
• What is the book about?
• Talk about the ways that male ducks and female ducks are different (coloring, sounds, egg laying)
• Talk about the ways that male ducks and female ducks are the same (blue on their wings, eating, sleeping)
• Talk about the things that ducks eat.
• Talk about how the ducks’s needs are different in the winter than in the summer. (They need more food in the winter).
• Talk about where the ducks sleep.
• Where did the author say they ducks sleep at night?

Naturally, these questions can lead into follow up questions and clarifying questions.  But I think this would be a good starting point.

YOUR TURN

What does the text say?

What practices do you follow to help ensure your students know what the text says?

Videos in ACTION!

After watching the videos and observing the students’ discussions.  What are some of your take-aways?

TRIVIA MOMENT:  I went to Rosebank Elementary.  The same school as the Alex Cabrera video.  Small world!

Other Thoughts?

What else?

Thank you for joining us for Chapter 2 of Text Dependent Questions!  You can still get this fantastic book HERE and catch up!

Now the discussion part… you have a few options:

1. Comment below!  Easy, breezy!
2. Join our Facebook Group… we are a kindergarten crowd, but we promise to let you in for our book chat  🙂
3. If you have a blog, you can link up!