By Laura Scott

Beginning readers use pictures to make sense of a new book. The illustrations and photographs help bring the story to life and make reading fun. At times, however, it is beneficial to draw students’ attention to the words of a story. This helps them realize the story comes not only from the pictures but also from the words! It encourages students to pay close attention to print and offers opportunities to practice various reading skills.

An effective way to draw attention to the text of a book is by typing out and printing just the words of the story, excluding pictures and pages of the book. After reading a book several times, encourage students to read just the typed text of that same story on a separate sheet of paper. This puts the familiar words of the story in a new place, encouraging students to focus only on the text and recognize words from the story outside of the book. 

This blog has an activity packet that includes isolated text from two books typed out on separate sheets of paper. Click here to download the activity packet in English. Click here for Spanish. 

Isolated Text Activity: 100^th Day of School

During whole or small group, practice reading the fiction-nonfiction pair One Hundred Animals and Hundredth Day of School from Hameray’s Kid Lit Series. Once students are familiar with the books, practice reading the isolated text from the books located in the activity packet. Remind students that they are familiar with the words and encourage them to read with confidence, fluency, and expression. Use the isolated text to practice word work, decoding, or concepts of print, like counting how many words are in a sentence or discussing the meaning of quotation marks.

After students read both books, they will have read more than 100 words! Use the last page of the activity packet to draw and color a picture of students or a class reading more than 100 words.   

Click here to download the Activity Packet.  

To celebrate the 100th day of school, One Hundred Animals and Hundredth Day of School are available to read online for a limited time. Click here to read the books online.

This activity is also available in Spanish, with Lecturitas books Cien animales and El centésimo día de clases. Click here to access the reading activity packet in Spanish.

Access the online books Cien animales and El centésimo día de clases by clicking here (available for a limited time).

More Ways to Practice Reading with Isolated Text

• Model fluent and expressive reading. Read the story while students read the isolated text on separate sheets of paper. Invite students to repeat after you as you read each sentence. Focus on expression, pausing at punctuation, and reading at an ideal pace.
• Invite students to practice reading the books’ isolated text independently or with partners. Remind them to read fluently and with expression.
• Play the game “Find That Word.” Say a word from the story and challenge students to find that word in the isolated text.
• Practice concepts of print with the isolated book text. Identify the beginnings and endings of sentences, count how many words are in a sentence, and find the longest word.

Drawing students’ attention to the book's text reinforces the critical role of words in a book. It offers opportunities to practice fluency, concepts of print, and word identification.

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Kid Lit is a unique series for beginning readers featuring fiction stories highlighting meaningful childhood moments matched with companion nonfiction to support comprehension, build knowledge, and boost vocabulary. Ideal for beginning readers and grades K–1. Reading levels A–D. Also available in Spanish.

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Laura Scott taught English Language Learners of all ages for twelve years and spent three years as a bilingual coordinator and co-teacher in dual language K-1 classrooms. She is a part of the Hameray team. Laura values giving a voice to all students by supporting teachers as they bravely try new approaches to learning in their classrooms.