Mentor Texts: Make Predictions
What kind of prediction do you make the most often? Do you predict how a movie will end, what your spouse will think of your dinner, how only your baby will sleep tonight, if going for that run will help you feel better? There are so many things to predict all the time! I think kids most often predict how soon they will go out to recess!
Predicting as a reading strategy is an excellent way to utilize your understanding of the text and analysis of the characters.
Engage Your Students in a Concrete Understanding of Predicting
The idea of predicting for students is fairly simple and they get really excited about doing it! It gets more tricky when they are challenged to include the because in their prediction and have text evidence to support what they think will happen. Concrete experiences with Presley The Predictor help them to master that!
Presley The Predictor is part of my Comprehension Crew instructional strategy. The Comprehension Crew is a group of characters each representing an essential reading skill. Each character has a profession, song, gesture, and prop that provide a concrete representation of the reading skill. These characters are used to model and reinforce each skill both in real life situations and in text. The character helps students to understand, remember, and intentionally apply skills as they are reading. This teaching format helps you provide intentional, concrete, and meaningful experiences with asking questions for your students. The reading character helps the skill COMES TO LIFE for the students and make it fun!
While Presley reads, he is consistently pausing to use the story clues to think about what could happen next. His fortune telling background has helped him know how to make information based predictions. Presley also provides them with the confidence for predicting events because it doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong!
Click on the picture above to see this resource pack. The product includes a model lesson to teach predicting with any text and an abundance of predicting activities! Presley can start helping you teach predicting today! Read more about how I use this strategy in my classroom here!
Teaching Predicting With Mentor Texts
Check out some of these picture books I love to use:
- Wanda’s Roses
- The Great Fuzz Frenzy
- The Bad Seed
- Piggie Pie!
- Tops and Bottoms
- Lost and Found
- The Man Who Walked Between The Towers
- The Empty Pot
- Pout Pout Fish Goes To School
Check out some of these wordless picture books I love to use:
- A Ball For Daisy
- Carl at the Dog Show
- Spring Hare
- Float
- Where’s Walrus
- Flashlight
- Good Dog Carl
- Mr. Wuffles!
Read more about how I teach predicting in my classroom here!
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