Why Background Knowledge?
Research studies have shown time and again that, whether students are considered “strong” or “weak” readers, when prior knowledge is equal, their reading comprehension is essentially the same.
In other words, gaps in comprehension aren’t gaps in skills. They are gaps in knowledge.
By reading across a variety of topics, students gain a wide base of knowledge that they can draw upon as they encounter new texts. This knowledge building works like velcro -- new knowledge easily sticks to existing knowledge. In this way, students’ background knowledge grows exponentially more quickly when they read texts on similar topics.
In other words, gaps in comprehension aren’t gaps in skills. They are gaps in knowledge.
By reading across a variety of topics, students gain a wide base of knowledge that they can draw upon as they encounter new texts. This knowledge building works like velcro -- new knowledge easily sticks to existing knowledge. In this way, students’ background knowledge grows exponentially more quickly when they read texts on similar topics.
How to Build Background Knowledge with ReadWorks
Article-A-Day is designed to help students build critical background knowledge in just 10 minutes a day. Students choose an article to read each day from hand-curated text sets that focus on a new topic each week. They then watch their knowledge grow as they write about what they learned in their Books of Knowledge.
Students will gain the most from the Article-A-Day routine by reading four or more articles from an Article-A-Day set each week and doing the routine for 15 or more weeks in the school year. Our Scope & Sequences make it easy to have Article-A-Day be a routine all year long! |
How to Differentiate for Your Students
Article-A-Day allows for differentiation by making the selection and assigning of texts for different students easier, including ELLs, struggling readers, and students who need a challenge.
Using Article-A-Day digitally makes even more tools available like audio, translations, and sentence frames. A teacher can provide any of these tools to the whole class, small groups, or individual students.
Using Article-A-Day digitally makes even more tools available like audio, translations, and sentence frames. A teacher can provide any of these tools to the whole class, small groups, or individual students.
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