Informational Text

Focused instruction of common informational text structures

Courtney Keefe

Implementation
Who

What

When

Third grade classroom

teacher

Reading curriculum and

assessments

Ongoing throughout the

year

Title 1 reading teacher

Individual Developmental
Reading Assessments
(DRA)

DRA completed 1st, 3rd,

and 4th quarters

Special Education teacher Northwest Education

Assessment (NWEA)

NWEA completed during

fall, winter, and spring
testing windows

Determination made by team

members

40 % of third graders are testing significantly

below the fall NWEA norm testing results for
informational texts.
Focused instruction of common informational
text features will be the focus to improve
informational reading comprehension for all
students.

5 Common Structures of Informational

Texts

Description or Listing

Sequence

Compare and Contrast

Cause and Effect

Problem and Solution

First Quarter Reading Curriculum Plan

Instructional Units and Corresponding Common Core State
Standards

Launch reading workshop setting

guidelines and procedures

Complete Individual
Developmental Reading
Assessments (DRA) for beginning
year benchmarks

Connections and Prior Knowledge

(3 weeks)

Visualizing and Sensory Images

(3 weeks)

Administer NWEA standardized

assessment on the computers

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.3

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.4

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.5

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.7

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.10

First Quarter Action Steps

Define and practice reading workshop procedures with class

Send parent letter describing the yearly curriculum and home reading policy

Use DRA data to determine instructional groupings of students based on

reading level

Examine Fall NWEA data with teaching team members: third grade teachers,
special education teacher, and title reading teacher.

Launch reading workshop

Design lessons and assessments for first quarter curriculum

Second Quarter Reading Curriculum Plan

Instructional Units and Corresponding Common Core State
Standards

Predicting and Asking Questions

(6 weeks)

Launch Making Inferences (3

weeks) to be continued in the third
quarter

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.1

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.2

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.3

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.4

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.5

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.7

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.9

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.10

Second Quarter Action Steps

Design lessons and assessments for second quarter curriculum

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Collaboration meeting with third grade team members

Examine student classroom work to see if focused instruction is improving

informational text comprehension

Make new determinations if needed

Complete Data Collection Google Doc for all RTI and Special Education students

Third Quarter Reading Curriculum Plan

Instructional Units and Corresponding Common Core State
Standards

Midyear DRA for all students using

nonfiction texts
Administer midyear NWEA
standardized assessment on the
computers
Continue Making Inferences
(6 weeks)

Determining Importance (3 weeks)

Begin Summarizing

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.2

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.3

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.4

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.5

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.6

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.7

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.8

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.9

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.10

Third Quarter Action Steps

Complete an individual DRA assessment with every student

Use DRA data to determine instructional groupings of students based on

reading level

Complete the midyear NWEA standardized assessment at the end of January

Collaboration meeting with third grade team members

Examine student classroom work to see if focused instruction is improving

informational text comprehension

Make new determinations if needed

Complete Data Collection Google Doc for all RTI and Special Education students

Design lessons and assessments for third quarter curriculum

Fourth Quarter Reading Curriculum Plan

Instructional Units and Corresponding Common Core State
Standards

Summarizing (3 weeks)

Synthesizing (6 weeks)

End of year DRA for all students

administered determining end of
year independent reading level.

Administer end of year NWEA

standardized assessment on the
computers

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.4

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.5

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.6

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.7

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.8

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.9

CCSS.ELA.RI.3.10

Fourth Quarter Action Steps

Design lessons and assessments for fourth quarter curriculum

Complete an individual DRA assessment with every student

Complete the end of year NWEA standardized assessment at the end of May

Collaboration meeting with third grade team members

Examine student classroom work to see if focused instruction is improving

informational text comprehension

Make new determinations if needed

Complete Data Collection Google Doc for all RTI and Special Education students

Meet with fourth grade teachers to review students data from current years
work. Make recommendations for RTI and Special Education students for next
years academic needs.

Barriers

Team members may

use varying strategies
to teach common
informational text

Additio
nal
collabo
ration
with
team
membe
rs is
needed

Focus
ed
instru
ction
may
not
yield
desire
d
result
s

Lessons may need to

be redesigned

Variet
y of
text
at
varyin
g
readin
g
levels
may
be
hard
to
gather

Student NWEA scores

may not show
significant
improvement

References
Dunkle, C. (2012). Leading the Common Core State Standards: From Common Sense to
Common Practice. Thousand Oaks, Corwin.
Wiles, J. & Bondi, J. (2011). Curriculum Development: A Guide to Practice, Eight Ed.
Upper Saddle River, Pearson.