Yes, close reading is perfect for upper elementary students and transitional readers.
It’s not that elementary students can do close reading – they need to do close reading.
Elementary students need close reading for many reasons:
- To develop text analysis skills.
- They need close reading to develop a deep and detailed understanding of text.
- They need close reading to learn to examine text evidence.
Elementary students at the transitional stage of reading should rapidly develop text dependent strategies. Close reading is the perfect approach to teaching them how to refine those reading strategies and increasing their reading levels at the same time!
For more detailed teaching strategies, read here: Close Reading for Elementary Students
It’s more than signposts (see more about Notice and Note, Close Reading) and answering questions.
Close reading for elementary students and intermediate students should provide scaffolding for reading skills. Young readers can gain very little from worksheets that merely ask recall questions.
Close reading resources need to provide open-ended prompts. Students are required to think, reflect, reread, and write. This is the process that will build long-term reading results!
Great readers clarify words and phrases. They think about connections they can make to the text. They make inferences from details in the texts, and they analyze the text. Close reading can develop these skills.
Christmas Around the World Close Reading
Help your students dig deeper into informational text with these holiday themed close reading passages and questions. Read about Christmas in five different countries and cultures! Five close reading passages with activities.
