Stop, Drop, & Discuss

I have been in a practicum placement for other classes that I am taking at ECU. I have been working in a first grade classroom. In the school that I am at they are focusing a great deal of time to reading and learning about informational text. Recently, my cooperating teacher provided me a handout that the teachers use in order to get the students thinking about what they are reading so they are able to gain as much information they can. The list was provided by my teacher and was written by the teachers at B.T. Bullock Elementary in Sanford, NC. I will list a few of the questions that I found useful throughout my time there and maybe you will be able to use them sometime as well!

1. (Titles are very important. Author's choose them with care.) What is the significance of the title? Do you agree with the author's choice of title? Give at least 3 examples from the text and explain why or why not? Basing your title on the text, if you could give the book a different title, what would it be?
2. Has anything ever happened to you similar to (or like) what happened in the book? How did you react to it differently? Tell what the event is and then give your similar experience.
3. What scene in the book you are reading spoke to you personally in either a positive or negative way? Why?
4. Explain how something you read in the text made you think about some other thing you have read. 
5. How can the theme be applied to your/our current situation?

These are just a few of the ones that I have found myself using the most in order to help with informational text..Maybe they will be useful to you.