Reading Strategy: Plan Your Reading

Good readers make a plan before they read. When you read a story, look it over first. Think about what might happen in the story.

Reading Strategy: Plan Your Reading
    How to Preview and Predict

  • 1. Look at the title, turn the pages of the story, and look at the pictures. Read the first few paragraphs. What do you think this story is about?

  • 2. As you read, use details to decide, or predict, what will happen next in the story.

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student previewed and made predictions.

Look Into the Text: American Names

My name’s Arturo, “Turo” for short. For my father, and my grandfather, and his father, back and back. Arturos—like stacks of strong adobe bricks, forever, my grandmother says.

Really, my name was Arturo. Here’s why: Three years ago our family came up from Mexico to L.A.

Prediction Chart
DetailMy Prediction
The title has the word names in it.I think this story is going to be about names.
The first paragraph talks about names, too.

Practice Together

Reread the passage above. Follow the steps in the How-To box to make your own prediction. Make a Prediction Chart like the one above. As you read “American Names,” write the details you find and your predictions on your chart.