Website review by Stephanie Trautman, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2015
Into The Book
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Into the Book

Solid reading strategies can deepen understanding; needs more support

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Learning rating
Editorial review by Common Sense Education
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Grades
2–5 This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
Subjects & Skills
English Language Arts, Communication & Collaboration, Critical Thinking
Price:  Free, Paid Wisconsin residents can watch the full video lessons free at WIMediaLab.org. For all others, the DVD series is $395, individual skills are $89, and the "Behind the Lesson" professional development VHS is $295. Posters and bulletin board strips also can be ordered.
Platforms:  Website
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Take a look inside

6 images
Reading strategy titles appear only after completing a first activity or rolling over an icon.
Summarizing activity asks students to read text, drag-and-drop main idea and supporting details, and then write a summary using a yardarm and sail organizer.
Teaching tools are offered for educators
A lesson on inferring is interactive, with highlighting, a map, and gathered clues.
Kids can print and email reports showing their work.
The Teacher Area of Into the Book

Pros: Empowers kids to master texts, and they'll develop some speaking and writing skills to boot.

Cons: Confusing objectives and directions, plus some inconsistency in the text quality, will slow kids down.

Bottom Line: A strong foundation for reading comprehension, but a smoother online experience would improve classroom potential.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

In the hands of a skilled and experienced teacher, this curriculum could be the catalyst that sparks student interest in the deeper meaning of texts. Daily and weekly activities, such as conferencing and small-group text responses as outlined in the videos and print lessons, could help form a reading-comprehension curriculum specifically for second-, third-, or fourth-graders. Interaction ground rules (such as respectful listening, turn taking, and concise responses) will be critical for these discussions to be effective.

Because the eight skills are presented all at once and not in any order, teachers likely will want to guide students to begin with lower-level skills, such as connecting, visualizing, and activating prior knowledge, to build a foundation for the higher-level skills. Because there may be some confusion within the activities, the website may be best used after all the strategies have been introduced. Because progress isn't tracked or reported, kids should be directed to email their work in a report so teachers can monitor their progress. Though the curriculum could be used anywhere from second to eighth grade (or with ELL students), it's important to note that the texts are mostly at a third-grade level, in terms of both difficulty and content.

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Standards:

Into the Book revolves around eight reading-comprehension strategies. The site includes practice activities that complement a nearly complete full-year student curriculum and professional development curriculum with accompanying lessons and DVDs. The student activities are available in English and Spanish. In the Student Area, kids can watch videos of small-group discussions, then practice the skills by engaging in step-by-step activities -- reviewing, for example, how to ask questions to further their understanding of the texts. A female narrator presents learning objectives and leads kids through such activities as creating a space rocket or connecting ideas between texts (although the pirate handbook summarizing activity is narrated by -- you guessed it -- a pirate). Kids can print their work and email the results, but work isn't saved online, despite a login key, buttons, dialogue boxes, and prompts to save.

The Teacher Area emphasizes additional resources, including online activity and video guides, books, and guidelines for student-teacher conferences and whole-class activities. The Common Core standards are mapped for every lesson for third grade to give users an example. Although Into the Book could be used in the classroom as early as second grade and as late as eighth grade, the online reading selections are limited to a third-grade level.

Into the Book includes a rich and cohesive reading-comprehension curriculum, but the Web-based activities -- meant as practice to support classroom lessons -- can be problematic and confusing. There's a great, holistic approach to reading comprehension that stimulates higher-level thinking skills, but the site's online practice activities will require quite a bit of interpretation and support from teachers. Although there's great potential here, it's a bit disappointing that the meaning, consistency, and timing for some learning activities can be problematic. Including a single defined question starter set or an essential question would help students build more context, and letting kids reference prompts while typing questions would help. Developing readers also might benefit from more support in the form of definitions for unfamiliar terms.

On the plus side, higher-level skills such as synthesizing, inferring, and evaluating flow seamlessly from the more basic foundational skills presented here. A progressive question-and-answer structure gives kids a chance to go back and answer their own questions based on further readings -- at least for the Questioning activity. Videos shot on a classroom-like set show viewers what the skills look like in practice. There are professional development plans and tools for educator effectiveness that could be implemented at both the elementary and middle school levels.

Overall Rating
Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

Colorful, mostly obvious progressions are undermined by occasional confusion and hang-ups. Games have a tacked-on feeling.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

Learning content is very good and hard to find elsewhere, but terminology can be inconsistent and directions confusing across material sets. Only the third-grade reading level is available, and selection quality isn't always phenomenal.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

Solid resources help teachers create a rich learning environment. A more intuitive experience for kids with access to more online help would make the learning here more immersive and effective.

Common Sense reviewer
Stephanie Trautman Classroom teacher
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Key Standards Supported

Language

  • L.3.2a

    Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

  • L.3.4a

    Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

  • L.3.5b

    Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).

Reading Foundational Skills

  • RF.3.3c

    Decode multisyllable words.

  • RF.3.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.3.4c

    Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Reading Informational Text

  • RI.3.1

    Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

  • RI.3.2

    Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

  • RI.3.4

    Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

  • RI.3.5

    Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

  • RI.3.6

    Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

  • RI.3.7

    Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

  • RI.3.8

    Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

  • RI.3.10

    By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Reading Literature

  • RL.3.1

    Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

  • RL.3.2

    Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

  • RL.3.4

    Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

  • RL.3.5

    Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

  • RL.3.6

    Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

  • RL.3.7

    Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

  • RL.3.9

    Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).

  • RL.3.10

    By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Speaking & Listening

  • SL.3.2

    Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Writing

  • W.3.6

    With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.3.8

    Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

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