Before and During Reading: Prior Knowledge and Predictions

Remember from Grade 4

In Grade 4 you used three kinds of clues to predict (background knowledge, text features and evidence from the text), and you checked predictions as you read.

In Grade 5 you will name where your prior knowledge comes from, especially learning in other subjects like science and social studies, and you will revise your understanding when the text surprises you. Good readers change their minds when the evidence says so!

Hook: What do you already know about monarch butterflies?

Before reading, take 1 minute. List everything you know about monarch butterflies. Then sort your list: Where did I learn this?

• From experience: I saw orange butterflies in the garden in August.
• From science class: Butterflies go through metamorphosis: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), adult.
• From social studies or geography: Mexico is south of the United States.
• From other texts or media: A video said monarchs fly south for the winter.
• From family and community: My aunt plants milkweed for monarchs.

Now read this informational text, written for this website.

The Long Flight of the Monarch

In late summer, monarch butterflies in Ontario feel the days getting shorter. Instead of laying eggs, the new generation of adults does something amazing: they fly south. Monarchs from eastern Canada travel thousands of kilometres to mountain forests in central Mexico. There, millions of them cluster together on fir trees for the winter.

Most adult monarchs live only a few weeks. But the butterflies that make the fall migration can live for months. In spring, they fly north and lay eggs on milkweed, the only plant monarch caterpillars eat. Their children and grandchildren continue the trip north. It takes several generations for monarchs to return to Canada each summer.

Making, checking and revising predictions

A strong prediction uses background knowledge plus textual information. As you read, stop at checkpoints and ask:

• Was my prediction right? What evidence confirms it?
• What new information changes it?
• What do I predict now?

If a prediction was wrong, that's not a mistake. It means you were thinking! Revising shows you are paying attention to the evidence.

Story: Mira's Monarch (in three parts)

This realistic fiction story was written for this website.

Part 1: At the end of August, Mira and her grandmother found a striped caterpillar munching a milkweed leaf in their garden. "It's a monarch," said Grandma. "Let's watch it, but we won't take it from its plant." Every morning, Mira checked the milkweed before breakfast. On the fifth morning, the caterpillar was gone.

Checkpoint 1: What do you predict happened to the caterpillar?

Part 2: Mira searched every leaf. Then she spotted it: a small green case, like a jade earring with tiny gold dots, hanging under the porch railing next to the garden. "A chrysalis!" she whispered. Grandma smiled. "Now we wait."

Checkpoint 2: What do you predict will happen next? When?

Part 3: Ten days later the chrysalis turned clear, and Mira could see orange and black wings folded inside. The next morning, a monarch hung from the empty case, slowly opening and closing its wings. But the sky was grey, and cold rain was falling. "It can't fly when it's this cold and wet," said Grandma. Mira wanted it to fly to Mexico right now. Instead, they waited. The next afternoon, the sun came out. The butterfly lifted off, circled the garden once, and flew south over the maple trees.