Using Prior Knowledge

When using prior knowledge, readers purposely bring to consciousness what they already know that relates to what they are going to read or what they are reading. Thus, they establish a framework for the new information that they will encounter in the text.

In Digging Reading, prior knowledge is defined as everything a reader knows related to the title and the text. Students learn early in the week to think about what they know before and while they're reading. In their Activity Books, they make figurative as well as literal connections by drawing a line between their prior knowledge listed on the left and the passage on the right. As the week progresses, students become more aware of how their prior knowledge helps them understand what they read.