Determining Author's Purpose Chart (see attached example)

Charts enable students to organize their thoughts. They also allow teachers to quickly and accurately assess if students have an understanding of the strategy being utilized.

Sentence Stem (see attached example)

Sentence stems are a way to scaffold instruction for students. They ensure students use academic language in their speaking and writing. This can be especially helpful when working with English language learners or in aiding students in writing complete sentences. Give students a copy of the sentence stem you would like them to use. This works well in the student's writing notebook or on the back of a bookmark they are using.

Conferring

• Before asking students to read from their good fit book, ask what inference they have made about the author's purpose for writing the particular book was.
• Ask students to provide the clues they used in order to determine the author's purpose.
• Ask students to read a portion of their good fit book.
• After listening to the student read, ask if they still agree with the inference they previously made about the author's purpose. Ask the student to provide evidence to support their inference.