Reading Into

Player tries to answer specific questions, written on the question card, that are based on a paragraph of text that was read to them. The questions prompt the player to recall facts and/or underlying feelings and core values indicated in the text. Note—Some texts (e.g., non-fiction, scientific texts) may not have feeling or values questions.

SCORING
Each identified fact or remembered item = one point
Each identified underlying feeling = five points
Each identified value = seven points
MATERIALS Short texts with accompanying questions about facts, feelings, and values, written on cards
FICTIONAL TEXT EXAMPLE
Excerpted from the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum (in the public domain)
Text: When Dorothy was left alone she began to feel hungry. So she went to the cupboard and cut herself some bread,
which she spread with butter. She gave some to Toto, and taking a pail from the shelf she carried it down to the little
brook and filled it with clear, sparkling water. Toto ran over to the trees and began to bark at the birds sitting there. Dorothy
went to get him and saw such delicious fruit hanging from the branches that she gathered some of it, finding it just
what she wanted to help out her breakfast.
Then she went back to the house, and having helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set
about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds.
Dorothy had only one other dress, but that happened to be clean and was hanging on a peg beside her bed. It was
gingham, with checks of white and blue; and although the blue was somewhat faded with many washings, it was still a
pretty frock. The girl washed herself carefully, dressed herself in the clean gingham, and tied her pink sunbonnet on her
head. She took a little basket and filled it with bread from the cupboard, laying a white cloth over the top. Then she
looked down at her feet and noticed how old and worn her shoes were.
“They surely will never do for a long journey, Toto,” she said. And Toto looked up into her face with his little black
eyes and wagged his tail to show he knew what she meant.
At that moment Dorothy saw lying on the table the silver shoes that had belonged to the Witch of the East.
“I wonder if they will fit me,” she said to Toto. “They would be just the thing to take a long walk in, for they could not
wear out.”
She took off her old leather shoes and tried on the silver ones, which fitted her as well as if they had been made for
her.

Fact question: What did Dorothy eat to satisfy her hunger?
Answer: Bread, butter, delicious fruit, water from the brook (four points)
Feeling question: Why would Dorothy share the food with Toto?
Answer: She loves Toto and wants him to be well-fed (five points)
Value question: Name a strong value that Dorothy might hold, and offer an example.
Answer: 1. She believes in cleanliness because she put on a clean dress. (seven points)
2. She believes animals deserve respect because of the way she treated Toto. (seven points)
Nuanced Value question: Would you have taken the Witch of the East’s shoes? Why or why not?
Answer: 1. I wouldn’t have taken them because that would be stealing. (seven points)
2. I would’ve taken them because I needed sturdy shoes for the long trip and the Witch of the East wouldn’t be using
them. (seven points)
FACTUAL TEXT EXAMPLE
Text: Florida is a wonderland of natural wetlands and coral reefs. There are manatees, dolphins, alligators, herons, and
crocodiles. Alligators eat fish and create ponds that the fish can use, even in the dry season. The everglades is like a wide
river that flows from north to south. Florida’s land mass is extended by mangrove plants that are able to live in salt water.
The mangroves trap dirt and dropping leaves, creating new land.
Fact question: Name three animals that live in Florida.
Answer: Dolphins, alligators, crocodiles (three points)
Inferential question: Do the fish need alligators?
Answer: Yes, they create ponds for other animals during the dry season. (five points)
POEM EXAMPLE

Level: Middle school, higher elementary, high school
Text: A state-approved poem from the book Navajo—Visions and Voices Across the Mesa, written and illustrated by
Shonto Begay; an adopted book for California Core Curriculum, Middle School
MOTHER’S LACE
In the morning when I leave my hogan,
The mesa echoes with cries of birds.
The air is crisp and clean.
It flows through me, washing away
All ills in my spirit.
Fact question: What is a “hogan?”
Answer: A house (one point)
Feeling question: How does the author feel about the scene?
Answer: The author feels healed. (five points)
Values question: After reading this poem, what might be an important value that the author holds.
Answer: The author has a reverence for nature and native American culture. (seven points)