Grade 1 · English Language Arts and Reading
Quarter 2 · Week 5 · TEKS
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This Grade 1 English Language Arts lesson focuses on helping students establish a purpose for reading both assigned and self-selected texts with adult assistance. It also guides students to generate questions before, during, and after reading to deepen comprehension, and to make and confirm predictions using text features and genre characteristics. The lesson supports developing metacognitive skills to enhance understanding of increasingly complex texts.
Students should be familiar with basic reading skills such as recognizing letters and words, and have experience listening to and discussing stories or texts with an adult.
Establishing a purpose for reading means understanding why we are reading a text. This helps focus attention and makes reading more meaningful. For Grade 1 students, this often requires adult assistance to articulate the purpose, such as reading to learn new information, to enjoy a story, or to find answers to questions. Teachers can model this by stating their own purpose before reading aloud, for example, "I am reading this story to find out what happens to the main character."
Generating questions helps students engage actively with the text and deepen comprehension. Before reading, questions might focus on what students expect or want to learn. During reading, questions can check understanding or clarify confusing parts. After reading, questions help reflect on the story or information. Adults can support students by prompting with question starters like "I wonder...", "Why did...", or "What happened when...?" This practice encourages curiosity and critical thinking.
Predictions are guesses about what might happen in a text based on clues. Text features such as pictures, titles, headings, and genre characteristics like whether a text is a story or informational help students make informed predictions. For example, seeing a picture of animals might lead to predicting the story is about animals. Adults guide students to make predictions before reading and then confirm or correct these predictions as they read, teaching flexibility in thinking and comprehension monitoring.
Adult assistance is crucial for Grade 1 learners to develop these comprehension skills. Adults model thinking aloud, guide questioning, and scaffold prediction-making. This support helps students build metacognitive skills—thinking about their own thinking—which is essential for deepening understanding of texts. Over time, students gain independence in these skills.
Text features include titles, pictures, headings, and captions that provide clues about the text's content and structure. Genre characteristics refer to the type of text, such as narrative (story) or informational. Recognizing these helps students set expectations and make predictions. For example, a narrative usually has characters and a sequence of events, while informational texts provide facts and explanations.
Before reading a story about animals, the cover shows a picture of a forest and animals. What prediction can you make about the story?
The picture of a forest and animals suggests the story will be about animals living in the forest. This prediction uses text features (the cover image) to anticipate the story's content.
I predict the story will be about animals that live in the forest.
During reading, you see the story is about a lost rabbit trying to find its way home. Was your prediction correct? Why or why not?
The initial prediction about animals in the forest was correct because the story is about a rabbit, an animal, in a forest setting. Confirming predictions helps monitor understanding.
Yes, my prediction was correct because the story is about an animal in the forest.
Introduce the lesson by showing the cover of the mentor text and asking students what they think the story or text might be about. Share your own purpose for reading the text aloud.
Look at the cover and pictures of the text. Share ideas about what the text might be about and why we might want to read it.
Activating prior knowledge and setting a purpose helps students focus and engage with the text.
Read the text aloud, pausing at key points to ask students what questions they have about the story or information. Record their questions on chart paper.
Listen to the reading and share questions they have before, during, and after the reading.
Generating questions during reading helps deepen understanding and keeps students engaged.
Model making predictions before reading using text features and genre clues. During reading, revisit predictions and confirm or correct them with students.
Make predictions about what will happen or what information will be found, then confirm or adjust predictions as the text is read.
Making and revising predictions helps students think critically and monitor their understanding.
Guide students to discuss the purpose for reading the text and how their questions and predictions helped them understand better.
Share their purpose for reading and explain how asking questions and making predictions helped them understand the text.
Reflecting on comprehension strategies reinforces their use and importance.
Ask students to state their purpose for reading a new short text and generate at least one question before reading. After reading, have them confirm or correct a prediction and share a question they still have.
State a reading purpose, ask a question before reading, confirm or correct a prediction after reading, and share a new question.
This assessment checks students' ability to apply the comprehension skills independently with adult support.
Listen to the reading and share questions they have before, during, and after the reading.
What does it mean to have a purpose for reading a story?
Having a purpose means knowing why you are reading, like to learn something or enjoy the story.
Name one question you might ask before reading a book.
I might ask, "What is this book about?" or "Who is the story about?"
Look at a book cover with a picture of a farm. What prediction can you make about the story?
The story might be about animals or people who live on a farm.
If you predicted a story would be about a dog but it is about a cat, what should you do?
You should change your prediction and think about what the story is really about based on what you read.
Explain how asking questions before, during, and after reading helps you understand a story better.
Asking questions helps me think about what I want to learn, check if I understand while reading, and think more about the story after reading, which makes me understand it better.
Provide sentence starters for questions and predictions. Use pictures and simple texts to model comprehension skills. Offer one-on-one adult assistance during reading activities.
Use visuals and gestures to explain purpose, questions, and predictions. Pre-teach key vocabulary with pictures and examples. Encourage use of native language to express questions and predictions before translating to English.
Challenge students to explain their predictions using multiple text features. Encourage students to generate higher-order questions that require thinking beyond the text. Have students compare purposes for reading different genres of texts.
Encourage families to read a story or informational book together at home. Ask students to share their purpose for reading, questions they have, and predictions about the text with their family members to reinforce skills learned in class.
In this lesson, students learn to set a purpose for reading with adult help, generate questions before, during, and after reading, and make and adjust predictions using text features and genre clues. These skills help students become active, thoughtful readers who understand texts more deeply. Adult assistance supports the development of these metacognitive strategies, building a foundation for independent comprehension as reading skills grow.
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