Ahhh…close reading passages, a necessary evil. Students aren’t big fans of close reading, but these mini-readings are important for their skill building, especially if there is a set of questions that are relevant to the skills they are practicing.
That’s why I created a set of questions for the passage “Piano Lessons,” a resource from NCSU that can seen in its original pdf version by clicking here.
The questions I created focused on connections, again another part of my unit on Making Connections, which help students develop relationships with the characters in their books or see similarities/differences between their lives and what they’re reading.
The questions ask students to think about their personal lives, relationships, and family members, which relates to the topic of the “Piano Lessons” reading. This is a simple, but effective way of helping students (fifth through eighth grade) work on their reading skills.
*To view/download the set of questions, which includes the reading passage, click here: “Piano Lessons” – Close Reading Activity.