Before Reading Activity: Tea Party

This prereading strategy, developed by a teacher in California, involves interaction with peers and active movement. Kylene Beers (When Kids Can't Read; What Teachers Can Do, 2003, p. 94) described first seeing it in action within a classroom at the middle-school level. The activity allows students to make predictions prior to engaging with the full text. Single-line or sentence statements are taken from the text to be read and placed on index cards, which are then distributed among the students, one per student. The student is to read the statement to as many classmates as possible, have a short discussion with the each classmate about it, and then the partner student is to reciprocate. Time is allowed for all students to interact with their classmates. Students subsequently move into groups to debrief on what they have heard and discussed. Finally, the group writes a "We Think" statement from their interactive experience with their classmates.

Beers provides a complete description of the activity along with student dialogue and questions/answers that might arise from implementation.

Reference:

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can't read; What teachers can do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

http://www.vanguardnyc.net/foodforthought/mainidea111509.pdf