The reading standards for informational text are similar to
those for reading literature. They, however, focus on the genre
that predominates later schooling and life: informational text.
The standards call for kindergarten children, with prompting
and support, to ask and answer questions about essential
elements of the text; identify the main topic of a text and retell
key details of the text; and describe the connection between
two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a
text (RI.K.1–3). With prompting and support, children ask and
answer questions about unknown words, identify the front
and back covers and the title of a book, name the author
and illustrator and define their roles in presenting ideas or
information in a text, and describe the relationship between
illustrations and the text (RI.K.4–7). They identify basic similarities in and differences between two
texts on the same topic, such as illustrations, descriptions, or procedures (RI.K–9). With assistance,
children also identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text (RI.K.8). This task is an
important precursor to constructing evidence-based arguments, which comes into play strongly later in
elementary school.
Kindergarteners who are ELs benefit from and participate in all of the instructional activities
described in this chapter. Some EL children may not have had experiences actively engaging in group
reading activities in which they exchange information and share ideas and opinions with a partner.
This lack of experience may prevent them from participating in discussions, which limits their oral
language development. Teachers ensure equity of participation in discussion activities by providing
structured routines and frequent opportunities for students to interact with texts and peers. For
example, during a read aloud, when teachers pose a comprehension question, instead of calling on
raised hands they ask all students to think about the question for a few seconds and then discuss
their thinking with a partner. This think-pair-share routine can be loosely structured (turn and talk) or
highly structured (by using designated partners, identified roles, sentence frames) depending on the
purpose. If teachers want students to use a specific word, they provide an open sentence frame that
contains the word (e.g., Bees are extraordinary because___.).
To support EL students in asking questions, teachers also model how to ask initial questions (Why
are bees extraordinary?) and follow up questions (Can you say more? Can you explain how/why?) and
encourages students to ask these same types of questions to extend their conversations, rather than
merely saying one sentence.
When students are first learning a routine like think-pair-
share, teachers typically begin with a single sentence and
model responses. Over time, teachers encourage children
to have more extended conversations about the content.
Children ask, as well as answer, multiple questions to
exchange ideas.
Teachers encourage parents and other caregivers of EL
children to read aloud often (in the primary language and,
to the extent possible, in English) and ask in the primary
language the same types of questions asked during school
read alouds. In addition to fostering biliteracy, the development of comprehension skills in the primary
language enhances comprehension in English because these types of skills transfer across languages.
Just as they have many
experiences engaging with
literary texts (such as stories
and poems), kindergarten
children should have many
opportunities to actively
engage in group reading
activities focused on a range
of informational text.Teachers ensure equity of
participation in discussion
activities by providing
structured routines and
frequent opportunities for
students to interact with texts
and peers.204 | Chapter 3 Kindergarten