Garde 1 - Read-Aloud Supplemental Guide

Fables and Stories: Supplemental Guide | Preface ix

many content words have multiple meanings associated with them.

Students with strong oral language skills may be able to navigate

through the different meanings of some words without much effort.

However, students with limited English language proficiency and minimal

vocabulary knowledge may be less likely to disambiguate the meanings

of words. This is why it is important that teachers have a way to call

students’ attention to words in the lesson that have ambiguous meanings

and that students have a chance to explore the nuances of words in

contexts within and outside of the lessons.

Syntactic Awareness Activities

Syntactic Awareness Activities call students’ attention to sentence

structure. During the early elementary grades, students are not expected

to read or write lengthy sentences, but might be able to produce complex

sentences in spoken language when given adequate prompting and

support. Syntactic Awareness Activities support students’ awareness

of the structure of written language, relationships between words,

and grammar. Developing students’ oral language through syntactic

awareness provides a solid foundation for written language development

in the later elementary grades and beyond.

Vocabulary Instructional Activities

Vocabulary Instructional Activities are included to build students’ general

academic, or Tier 2, vocabulary. These words are salient because they

appear across content areas and in a variety of written texts. These

Vocabulary Instructional Activities support students’ learning of Tier

2 words and deepen their knowledge of academic words and the

connections of these words to other words and concepts. The vocabulary

knowledge students possess is intricately connected to reading

comprehension, and the ability to access background knowledge, express

ideas, communicate effectively, and learn about new concepts.

English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities

The Supplemental Guide assists education professionals who serve

students with limited English language skills or students with limited

home-literacy experience, which may include English Language Learners

(ELLs) and students with special needs. Although the use of this guide

is not limited to teachers of ELLs and/or students with special needs,

the following provides a brief explanation of these learners and the