The first paragraph of Fighting for a New Nation (Downey, 2010) is:
In 1776, colonists living in the 13 colonies decided to go to war. They went to war against England because they wanted to rule themselves (p. 7).
The final paragraph is:
As the English surrendered, a band played a song that was popular at the time. It was
In between the first and last paragraph are 14 topic sentences.
Fourth, the students are asked: What was this selection about? What questions do I have about the material I have just read?
Finally, the students are asked to read the complete selection.
The preview strategy for early readers of expository text is easy to teach, encourages curiosity, emphasizes difficult vocabulary, helps in concept formation, and encourages language development. It is especially effective with English language learners (ELL) who frequently struggle with expository text because of the complexity of the content and unfamiliar vocabulary (Ogle & Correa-Kovtun, 2010). It is a strategy that may assist ELLs or struggling readers understand how paragraphs are organized, identify the importance of the first sentence of a paragraph, how to read and interpret the captions under pictures, and figure out new vocabulary. Finally, this preview strategy creates a framework from which early readers can easily learn steps behind the important fluent reading skill of skimming, which is a strategic reading skill that helps readers become more proficient, independent readers (Samuels & Dahl, 1975)
Study Log Strategy
Teachers can help lower elementary students better understand expository text by explicitly teaching them its structure (Lenski, Wham, Johns, & Caskey, 2007; Williams, 2008; Williams et al., 2004) and by showing them how to identify the main idea and supporting details as they read (Harris & Sipay, 1990; McWhorter, 2008). Vacca and Vacca (2004) contend that “Main idea-detail relationships can be described as a distinct pattern of organization” (p. 339). A graphic organizer such as a study log can be used to help students visualize this organizational pattern. A simple study log for lower elementary students is a chart where students write the first sentence of the paragraph in their own words. This helps them understand the first sentence of a paragraph often provides the main idea of the paragraph. On the right side of the chart, they list two or three details from the paragraph. This helps learners find details that support the main idea. This chart (see Figure 1) is similar to a traditional outline, but it more clearly helps a beginning reader of expository text see the main idea-details relationship in their minds.
Helping young readers find the main idea and supporting details are two important steps in learning how to read and study text (Smith, 2008; Vacca & Vacca, 2008). Using the study log graphic organizer helps students find the main idea and identify supporting information. To teach students how to use a study log graphic organizer, the teacher will:
1. Show students an expository text and select
one paragraph to use as an example to illustrate the structure.
2. Explain to students how most paragraphs
begin with a sentence that is usually the main idea of the paragraph and how the remaining sentences provide details to support that main idea.
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Figure 1: Study log for expository text example