Reading Interventions for Middle School Science

This lesson plan outlines a strategy to be used with upper middle school students as a reading intervention in science.

Reading informational text and comprehending the science involved is difficult for most students. Chunking the material into smaller concept oriented blocks allow students to investigate content one concept at a time in order to focus on necessary vocabulary. Whole class reading allows for all students to hear and follow the information to be read. Students complete an accompanying activity allowing for reinforcement of the concept while working in collaborative groups for student to student support. Students will complete “reading labs” in assigned groups during science class. Topics will address concepts in Earth Science/Geosciences involving storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, biomes, ecosystems, and populations.

Each student will receive a copy of the reading and materials needed to complete the supporting activity.

All students receive a large piece of paper (8 ½ X 14) to construct a single folio for the concept to be studied. One side will contain the content reading with the other side illustrating the concept studied.

The whole class will follow along the informational text reading as the teacher reads informational text displayed using doc cam. Students may highlight areas as the reading is completed. Once completed, students may work in assigned lab groups to develop the folio information as s demonstration of comprehension of material.

Students will need 1 class period to read the articles and complete the application activity demonstrating comprehension of the content material.

Students will compile the folios into their individual science binders as reference material for each unit studied. This reference material will be used to help students understand the science behind each concept as they progress through the course material with additional lab investigations.

The finished student product can be assembled through demonstration techniques modeled by the teacher using a doc cam. The finished folio may then be used to study from and becomes part of the organizational goal for classes as they maintain a science binder.