1-Audio Books – Reading Comprehension Grade 6-9 (SAMPLE)

learning skilLS

instructional strategy
Audio Books

Use audiobooks with a physical copy of the book in front of the student. Encourage students to whisper/mouth, or read aloud while following along with the audiobook.

academic skill

Grade 3 – 9

READING COMPREHENSION: Understanding and Responding to Text- vocabulary

Lesson Objective, Goal and Success Criteria

Review and analyze vocabulary words. reading passages and images to understand the meaning of a variety of vocabulary words using generalized morphological knowledge in varied contexts. 
Develop vocabulary acquisition and be able to use context clues and morphological knowledge to analyze and comprehend unfamiliar words in various contexts.
  1. Able to define and explain the meaning of selected vocabulary words.
  2. Able to Identify and explain the morphological components (prefixes, suffixes, and roots) of selected vocabulary words.
  3. Able to read and comprehend passages relevant to specific vocabulary words.

UDL Instruction

Pictionary Challenge:
  1. Place 12-15 vocabulary rooted words in a box for each grade level.
  2. Students get in pairs with each pair picking one word they decide on how to draw a picture of the word to make it easy to guess it. One or both students in the pair draw the picture. The pairs put their names on their picture.
  3. Each pair of students pass their picture to another pair of students to their right and the student pairs try to guess the word that goes with each picture. Use the supplemental worksheet to record answers.
  4. There are 2 winning pairs of students for this challenge:
    • The pair of students who get the most words from pictures right
    • The pair of students who picture gets the most correct guesses
The teacher guides a full class discussion about the words with the least amount of guesses, and asks students how they could be figured out. Ask students to think about the last time they encountered a word they didn’t know the meaning of and how they figured out its meaning.
Login or sign up for an account at Readworks, a free literacy website: www.readworks.org Click the “content” tab, then “reading”, then select a reading passage based on the appropriate grade level, topic or type of book based on ability and interest of most students in the class.  https://www.readworks.org/find-content#!contentTab:search/q:/g:/t:/pt:/features:/

Start by reviewing the vocabulary activity to review words in the reading and ask the students to pay attention to the vocabulary words in the reading and how they are used. Give students sticky notes to write down any unfamiliar words.

Show the reading passage on a screen while playing the read aloud audio recording to help the class keep up with the pace (the playback speed can be adjusted slower or faster). After the reading, the students place all their sticky notes on the board at the front of the class for the teacher to review with the entire class together, explaining how they can figure out the meaning.

Differentiated Instruction

Assign each student a passage on Readworks. Pick up to 6 passages students can choose from a variety of grade levels and interests. The teacher requests an email with the answers.
  1. Review vocabulary words
  2. Read/listen to the reading passage
  3. Complete the multiple choice comprehension questions (first 5 questions) 
Each student uses the reading comprehension response sheet to record answers.

Measurement of Success

The teacher presents the answers to the comprehension questions for each reading passage on the board.  The student self-corrects their answers checking correct answers and marking x for incorrect answers then gives their record sheets to the teacher.  The teacher scans sheets for any incorrect answers and reviews those answers specifically as a whole class. This reduces any stigmatization for students who may get several answers incorrect and helps teachers know who may need extra assistance.

Materials, References and Resources

Laptop and presentation screen.- $0 Tablets or mobile devices- $0 Sticky note pads- $2 Earbuds or headphones- $??
Kame’enui, E. J., & Baumann, J. F. (Eds.). (2012). Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice. Guilford Press.
Wright, T. S., & Cervetti, G. N. (2017). A systematic review of the research on vocabulary instruction that impacts text comprehension. Reading research quarterly, 52(2), 203-226.


Website link for Readworks: Readworks Website link for Wordsmythi: Wordsmyth Website link for Etymonline: Etymonline

Link to worksheet for the Pictionary Word Challenge: Pdf link Word document link

Reading Comprehension ResponsesLink to worksheet for the Reading Comprehension Responses: Pdf link Word document link

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