Reading Strategy: Plan Your Reading

Good readers preview a selection to see what it is about. Then they decide why they will read the selection. This means they set a purpose for reading.

Reading Strategy: Plan Your Reading
    How to Preview and Set a Purpose

  • 1. Look at the title. What do you think the selection is about?

  • 2. Read the first sentence. Now what do you think?

  • 3. Ask yourself: What do I want to find out? Your answer is your purpose for reading.

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student previewed and set a purpose.

Look Into the Text: title A Lion Hunt
Preview

The title and first sentence are about lions.

first sentence I’M GOING TO TELL YOU the lion story. Where I live in northern Kenya, the lion is a symbol of bravery and pride. Lions have a special presence. If you kill a lion, you are respected by everyone. Other warriors even make up songs about how brave you are. So it is every warrior’s dream to kill a lion at one point or another.

Set a Purpose

I’ll read on to find out …

Practice Together

Now it’s your turn to look into the text. Reread the passage above. Follow the steps in the How-To box to do your own preview. Then set a purpose for reading “A Lion Hunt.”