Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program

Grade 5

Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000493917
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

The Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program targets reading comprehension skills in high-ability learners by moving students through an inquiry process from basic understanding to critical analyses of texts, using a field-tested method developed by the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary. Students in grade 5 will learn to comprehend and analyze any reading passage after completing the activities in Jacob's Ladder, Grade 5 (2nd ed., previously published as Level 3).

Research conducted by the Center for Gifted Education with Title 1 students demonstrated that the Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program delivers results related to improved reading comprehension, increased critical thinking, and an enhanced interest in reading. Using skill ladders connected to short stories, poetry, essays, and nonfiction, students move from lower order, concrete thinking skills to higher order, critical thinking skills. The ladders include multiple skills necessary for academic success, covering language arts standards such as sequencing, determining cause and effect, classifying, inferencing, and recognizing main ideas. The second edition of the book builds off the previous Level 3 edition, including new readings and ladders for student use.

This book provides teachers with an explanation of the nature of supplementary tasks that scaffold reading comprehension. Also included is an overview of the goals and objectives of the Jacob's Ladder tasks and suggestions for implementation, giving every teacher the tools needed to promote successful reading comprehension.

Optional Student Workbook Packs

In addition to this teacher's guide, companion student workbooks are available for Poetry, Short Stories, and Nonfiction and Essays/Speeches. The student workbooks feature ample room for student responses and notes, make reviewing and providing feedback on student work easier than ever, provide students with an easy-to-use reference to use during discussions, and save time, as there is no need to reproduce student handouts.

Grade 5

Part I: Teachers’ Guide to Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program

DOI: 10.4324/9781003235941-1

Introduction to Jacob’s Ladder, Grade 5

Jacob’s Ladder, Grade 5 (2nd ed.) is a supplemental reading program that implements targeted readings from short stories, poetry, and nonfiction sources, building on the work in the previous edition, Jacob’s Ladder, Level 3. With this program, students engage in an inquiry process that moves from lower order to higher order thinking skills. Starting with basic literary understanding, students learn to analyze texts critically by determining implications and consequences, generalizations, main ideas, and/or creative synthesis. Suggested for students in grade 5 to enhance reading comprehension and critical thinking, Jacob’s Ladder, Grade 5 tasks are organized into four skill ladders: A–D. Each ladder focuses on a different skill. Students “climb” each ladder by answering lower level questions before moving to higher level questions or rungs at the top of each ladder. Each ladder stands alone and focuses on a separate critical thinking component in reading.

Ladder A focuses on implications and consequences. By leading students through sequencing and cause-and-effect activities, students learn to draw implications and consequences from readings. Ladder B focuses on making generalizations. Students first learn to provide details and examples, then move to classifying and organizing those details in order to make generalizations. Ladder C focuses on main ideas, themes, and concepts. Students begin by identifying setting and characters and then make inferences about the literary situation. Ladder D focuses on creative synthe-sis by leading students through paraphrasing and summarizing activities. Table 1 provides a visual representation of the four ladders and corresponding objectives for each ladder and rung.

TABLE 1 Goals and Objectives of Jacob’s Ladder by Ladder and Rung

A3: Consequences and Implications		B3: Generalizations		C3: Main Idea, Theme, or Concept		D3: Creative Synthesis
Students will be able to predict character actions, story outcomes, and make real-world forecasts.		Students will be able to make general statements about a reading and/or an idea within the reading, using data to support their statements.		Students will be able to identify a major idea, theme, or concept common throughout the text.		Students will create something new using what they have learned from the reading and their synopses.
A2: Cause and Effect		B2: Classifications		C2: Inference		DD: Summarizing
Students will be able to identify and predict relationships between character behavior and story events, and their effects upon other characters or events.		Students will be able to categorize different aspects of the text or identify and sort categories from a list of topics or details.		Students will be able to use textual clues to read between the lines and make judgments about specific textual events, ideas, or character analysis.		Students will be able to provide a synopsis of text sections.
AA: Sequencing		BB: Details		C1: Literary Elements		DD: Paraphrasing
Students will be able to list, in order of importance or occurrence in the text, specific events or plot summaries.		Students will be able to list specific details or recall facts related to the text or generate a list of ideas about a specific topic or character.		Students will be able to identify and explain specific story elements, such as character, setting, or poetic device.		Students will be able to restate lines read using their own words.
Ladder A		Ladder B		Ladder C		Ladder D

The second editions in the Jacob’s Ladder series consist of seven levels, divided by grade: K–1, 1–2, 3, 4, 5, 6–7, and 7–8. Most of the books contain short stories, poetry, and nonfiction selections, including biographies. Additionally, most of the pieces include at least two commensurate ladders for each selection, with a few exceptions (e.g., K–1 poetry section and the Level 1 poetry section, which have one ladder per poem). Jacob’s Ladder, K–1 and 1–2 differ from the rest of the series in that the majority of the short stories are Caldecott Medal or Caldecott Honor picture books. Many of the stories are intended to be read aloud for the first reading. In addition, although Jacob’s Ladder, K–1 does contain poetry, it does not contain nonfiction selections.

Although grade-level distinctions have been set for each of the second editions, teachers may find that they want to vary usage beyond the recommended levels, depending on student abilities. Evidence suggests that the curriculum can be successfully implemented with gifted learners and advanced readers, as well as promising learners, at different grade levels. Thus, the levels vary and overlap to provide opportunities for teachers to select the most appropriate set of readings for meaningful differentiation for their gifted, bright, or promising learners.

Ladder A: Focus on Implications and Consequences

The goal of Ladder A is to develop prediction and forecasting skills by encouraging students to make connections among the information provided. Starting with sequencing, students learn to recognize basic types of change that occur within a text. Through identifying cause-and-effect relationships, students then can judge the impact of certain events. Finally, through recognizing consequences and implications, students predict future events as logical and identify both short- and long-term consequences by judging probable outcomes based on data provided. The rungs are as follows:

• Ladder A, Rung 1, Sequencing: The lowest rung on the ladder, sequencing, requires students to organize a set of information in order, based on their reading (e.g., List the steps of a recipe in order).
• Ladder A, Rung 2, Cause and Effect: The middle rung, cause and effect, requires students to think about relationships and identify what causes certain effects and/or what effects were brought about because of certain causes (e.g., What causes a cake to rise in the oven? What effect does the addition of egg yolks have on a batter?).
• Ladder A, Rung 3, Consequences and Implications: The highest rung on Ladder A requires students to think about both short-term and long-term events that may happen as a result of an effect they have identified (e.g., What are the short-term and long-term consequences of baking at home?). Students learn to draw consequences and implications from the text for application in the real world (e.g., What are the short-term and long-term consequences of not saving any money?). Students learn to see implications and determine consequences from text for application in the real world. An implication is a possible result of an action. A consequence is the actual result of an ac...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Part I: Teachers’ Guide to Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program
• Part II: Readings and Student Ladder Sets
• Appendix A: Pre- and Postassessments and Exemplars
• Appendix B: Record-Keeping Forms/Documents
• Answer Key
• Common Core State Standards Alignment