Program Synopsis
In this episode, Mrs. Pingel teaches the students the strategy of activating prior knowledge. During a read-aloud of The Story of Kate Shelley, Emmet is so engaged that he goes "into the book" and helps Kate. He then uses the strategy to help him with his rock climbing.

Featured text:
The Story of Kate Shelley. Short story written for this program. Several versions of this true story are available online, and in children's books.

Teaching Suggestions:

• Think about how you want to use this program. How does it fit into your teaching plan?
  1. Use it to introduce the strategy of activating prior knowledge.
  2. As a follow-up or review.
  3. Let a group of students watch the video, then present to the class their own explanation of how using prior knowledge helps comprehension.

Before viewing:

• Set a purpose for watching the video. Explain that students will be trying the strategy themselves after they watch the video.
• Ask students to watch for something specific in the program, for example:
  1. Why do you think a hat is the icon used for prior knowledge?
  2. How does activating their prior knowledge help Mrs. Pingel's students better understand or enjoy the story?
  3. How does Emmet use his prior knowledge?

During viewing:

• Pause the video during teachable moments. For example:
  1. After Kamilah explains how prior knowledge helps her play video games.
     Ask students if they have prior knowledge that helps them do something in their life.
  2. When Mrs. Pingel asks "What do you know about storms?"
     Allow your students to activate their prior knowledge first, making a class list. Then continue with the video and see how their list compares with the list created by Mrs. Pingel's class. Pause again to discuss why the lists are different (everyone brings different prior knowledge to a text) and how differences in prior knowledge affect our reading of a text.
  3. After student book groups discuss how their prior knowledge helped them understand the story.
     Ask students to notice how talking about their prior knowledge made the book discussions interesting for students.

After viewing:

• Ask students to answer your pre-viewing focus questions if you asked them.
• Discuss the idea of going "Into the Book," especially if this is the first video in the series you have watched. We hope that after watching several episodes, students will begin to get the idea that using reading strategies can make a text come alive for them.
• Have students do the Prior Knowledge activity in the student area of the Web site. Discuss how students' prior knowledge helped (or hurt) them in their journey.
• Use Mrs. Pingel's pre-and post- reading discussions of "The Story of Kate Shelley" as a model for discussions before and after your next read-aloud. You may wish to show a clip from the video again before a book discussion in your class.
• Read one or more of the versions of the Kate Shelley legend. Discuss how Kate's prior knowledge of railroads helped her save the train.
• Try some of the lesson plans on this site.
• Listen to the Prior Knowledge song.

Preview Clips

Introduction to Prior Knowledge clip Notice how the thinking cap special effect shows what is going on inside the heads of students as they activate their prior knowledge. Research shows that students who do not automatically use reading comprehension strategies can be helped by explicit teaching of the strategies. Try it yourself: Use the metaphor of the thinking cap to remind your students to activate their prior knowledge before and during reading. You can use the Prior Knowledge poster or make your Prior Knowledge hat pointer to help remind students. Kate Shelley clip Notice how Emmet uses prior knowledge to get "into the book." The fantasy portions of Into the Book show how using reading strategies can help students interact with texts on a personal level, and how the strategies can be used in a variety of practical ways. Try it yourself: Ask students how Emmet uses his prior knowledge to help Kate. Discuss how students have their own prior knowledge that can help them in different ways. Book discussion clip Notice how Mrs. Pingel introduces the book discussions. She is interested in hearing what the students have to say, but she does not tell them exactly what to talk about. Notice that Mrs. Pingel monitors the discussions and takes notes on student understanding and use of strategies, but does not disturb the students unless they request help. Try it yourself: Guide student book discussions with general questions rather than specific "right there" questions. Allow students to manage their own discussions, except when guidance is clearly needed.