Concept Question Board

How can we help students develop comprehension and vocabulary pertaining to the OCR unit selections? By developing each UnitÂ’s Concept Question Board!

Follow the 3 Steps outlined below and you will have fabulous Concept Question Boards that are interactive and help develop unit concepts.

Step 1: Always begin the Concept Question Board (CQB) on the first day of the unit—during the Unit Opener! This:
-Helps active prior knowledge, effectively making connections between what students already know and what they would like to know
-Sets the pace for the unit by creating curiosity and setting goals for the unit
Opening the Unit and beginning the Concept Question Board:
• Activate Prior Knowledge: As students what they know about the topic and use a graphic organizer, such as a Circle Map to brainstorm what they know and post it on the Concept Question Board
• Set Reading Goals: Tell students what they will learn about in the unit and whether it is a designated research unit
• Have students browse the unit opener and lead a discussion about what they noted while browsing
• Have students browse the selections in the unit and lead a discussion about what they noted while browsing
• After browsing, hand out index cards or post-it notes, ask students to write and post ideas or questions about the unit, and have students post them on the Concept Question Board
• Introduce 2 or 3 vocabulary words taken from the first story in the unit, have students discuss the words or role play, then post the words on the CQB.

Here's what a Civil War Unit CQB looked like on day 1 after opening the unit.

Step 2:Make the CQB interactive by inviting students to bring in and post any:
• Pictures, drawings, photos
• Any research they might do
• Realia (foreign money, games, etc)
•Invite students to bring in pictures, articles, maps, and anything else related to the unit theme, to share with the class and post on the Concept Question Board.
• Start the habit yourself by bringing in something interesting and posting it on the CQB (Examples: For the "Money" unit, put some salt in a ziploc bag and keep it in your pocket while opening the unit and beginning the CQB. At the end, tell students that you have something people long ago valued more than gold, and ask them to guess what it is. After a few guesses, show them the bag of salt and post it on the CQB. It's amazing how this little "teaser" gets students interested for weeks. For the Civil War unit, bring in a picture of children soldiers, spies, women soldiers, etc. Students become fascinated by this information and motivated to bring in some of their own.
• Take the lead by bringing in something to add to the CQB at least once a week. Remember, we have to MODEL, MODEL, MODEL what we want students to do.

Step 3: Refer to the CQB at least 2 to 3 times a week! Try:
• Bringing something to post on the CQB
• Making connections between an aspect in a current story and a concept or question posted on the CQB
• Adding 2 or 3 new vocabulary words at the beginning of each story
• Adding: “READ THE CQB” as a “Must or May Do” activity during IWT

BIG PAYOFFS!
Following these 3 steps is a great way to help students expand their understanding of the unit themes, increase their comprehension of the unit selections and concepts, deepen their vocabulary, and become more active participants in their own learning!