Reader Strategies Blog Series
In this series, we will be walking through some strategies for using the Natural Inquirer Readers with children from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Each strategy will include a downloadable lesson map so you can take the blog post and put the plan in action in your classroom.
We’ve designed the blog series to progress from the first strategy to the next, but you can also use the strategies separately or in any order you’d like. We’ll provide supply lists that we’ve designed to be as simple as possible, step-by-step instructions, extension and next steps activities, and standards alignments.
Download the lesson map and get started right away!

What Is a Natural Inquirer Reader?

Each Reader in the Natural Inquirer Reader series introduces young kids to a scientist. In simple language, kids will learn about the work the scientist does, tools they use, and questions they try to answer. Each Reader includes questions for discussion, a glossary, and a fun activity.
What Is a Scientist?
Objective:
Like we learned before, readers are detectives. When we read, we use clues to help us make meaning, just like a detective. Scientists are kind of like detectives, too. We’re going to use our detective skills to find out what makes a scientist a scientist!
In this lesson plan, students will explore what makes a scientist a scientist – asking questions, gathering data, using tools, experimenting, recording findings, finding answers, and asking new questions.

To reach this objective, students will gather information about scientists from the Natural Inquirer Readers and other sources. They will compile the information they gather into an anchor chart about scientists that can then be displayed in the classroom. Students can also use this information to complete a variety of extension activities, like putting on a scientist parade or making a scientist card.
Before beginning, students should be able to:
- Distinguish between fiction and nonfiction texts
- Identify elements of nonfiction texts that help readers make meaning of the text
- Distinguish between questions and statements
See the Fiction and Nonfiction Lesson Map and the Elements of Nonfiction Lesson Map for guided lesson plans using Natural Inquirer Readers and other texts.
Supplies:
- A Natural Inquirer Reader to demonstrate, then one or more other Readers for students to try on their own or with teacher assistance (order class sets or make copies of the Readers)
- To identify clues in a Reader: a smartboard – OR – photocopies of a Reader and markers or highlighters – OR – multiple copies of the Reader (one for each student) and sticky notes or strips of paper
- Large paper for your anchor chart
- Markers, crayons, pencils, or pens
What Is a Scientist? Lesson Map
Ready to put the plan in action? Download a pdf of the What Is a Scientist? Lesson Map, featuring all the key details you need to use this lesson plan in your classroom.
Instructions
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What Do We Know about Detectives and Nonfiction?
Elements of Nonfiction Lesson Map- Recall what we’ve already learned about detectives, who gather clues to answer a question, and about nonfiction and its elements. See the link below to the previous lesson map.
- Continue: “Readers are like detectives, too. When we read, we gather clues to help us understand what we’re reading. Today, we’re going to talk about someone else who gathers clues – a scientist! We’re going to use our detective skills to find out what a scientist is.“
Brainstorm Characteristics of a Scientist
- On large paper or a smartboard, have students brainstorm what they already know about scientists.
- You can ground this discussion in a variety of ways: read a story or share a video about a real or fictional scientist; invite a scientist to be a guest speaker in your classroom; conduct a simple science experiment with your class.
Introduce a Natural Inquirer Reader
Browse Readers- Choose one of the Natural Inquirer Readers to share with your students. You can either download the pdf to use on your smartboard, order a class set for each student to have their own copy, or make photocopies for each student.
- We’ll be using “Meet Dr. Warwell” as our example for this walk-through.
- Possible introduction: “In this book, we’ll meet a scientist named Dr. Warwell and learn about his work. He studies tree seeds and how they grow. As we read, we’re going to look for clues about scientists.“
- Note: you may also want to provide some background information about the scientific field the Reader addresses.
Introduce the Anchor Chart
Download Blank Anchor Chart- Begin your anchor chart on large paper or on a smart board. You can label the chart “What Is a Scientist?”
- Make two columns in your chart: one column will be for the clues, and the next column will be for what those clues tell the reader about scientists.
- Explain: “We’re going to use this chart to write down clues we find and what those clues tell us about scientists.“
- The example chart (shown to the right) is to get you started. Feel free to change column headings to suit your audience.
Download a blank anchor chart like the one seen here on the “Templates” tab.
Reader Walk-Through with Anchor Chart
- Read the text together and stop to point out clues as you come to them. Add these “clues” to the chart.
- For each clue, ask students to think about what that clue might tell us about scientists in general.
- Tailor your walk-through to the reading level of your audience. Do a picture walk with non-readers where you gather all your clues from the photos. Skim the text or do a more thorough reading with more advanced readers.
- Some examples of clues you can add to your chart include where the scientist is working, what the scientist is doing, what tools the scientist uses, etc. See the sample chart below and the photos for more examples.
- Use terminology appropriate for your students or select words to add as important vocabulary.
- Variation: you can mark up your Reader as shown in the examples below on a smartboard before adding the clues to your anchor chart.
Sample Anchor Chart for "Meet Dr. Warwell"
A sample anchor chart for “Meet Dr. Warwell.” As you read through the book, you will add more rows to the chart.
Click on the images below for examples of clues you might find.
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Review the Reader and the Initial Brainstorm
Now review the Reader to see how much your students understood about the text.
Some questions to ask:
- What did we learn about scientists?
- How did the clues help us understand what scientists do?
- Are there any ideas from our brainstorm that we should also add to our chart?
- How are we like scientists, too?
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Independent, Small Group, or Guided Walk-Through
Try the activity again with a different Reader. Depending on how the first walk-through went and the reading level or age of your students, this may be done with varying levels of support. Options include:
- Repeating the walk-through together as you did the first one.
- Putting students in small groups to work through an anchor chart for a new Reader together. Groups can share their anchor charts with the class or contribute to a whole class anchor chart you build together.
- Having students complete another anchor chart for a new Reader individually. They can share their completed anchor charts in small groups or with the whole class to contribute to a class anchor chart.
Note: It may be helpful during this step to allow students to mark on their copies of the Reader or to use sticky notes or strips of paper to mark “clues” as they read.
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Final Anchor Chart: What Is a Scientist?
- Display the final anchor chart featuring the characteristics of a scientist in your classroom.
- Refer to the anchor chart during science lessons.
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Extension Activities
- Create a Venn diagram of the two scientists from the lesson: what characteristics do they have in common and what characteristics are different? Use this to emphasize the similarities of scientific work and the variety of fields of scientific study.
- How are we like scientists, too? Have students brainstorm ways that they are like scientists or point out scientist traits they display while working on other classroom work. Use a token (like a magnifying glass or a lab coat) to award students when they think like a scientist.
- Do a scientist dress up or scientist parade. Bring in tools that a scientist might use (like a magnifying glass, test tubes, calipers, measuring tape or ruler, etc.) or draw or print pictures of the tools. Students can dress as their favorite kind of scientist and carry tools that scientist would use.
- Make a scientist card like the Natural Inquirer collector cards. Students can make one for their favorite kind of scientist or they can make one of themselves as a scientist. You can use this activity to get started.
Education Standards
We correlated this lesson plan to the Common Core standards for Reading – Informational Text. Download the standards correlations in the Educators Guide tab. This lesson plan will also likely satisfy subject-area-specific standards regarding reading for information and critical reading and thinking skills.
What's Next?
Next in our Reader Strategies series: Meet a Scientist! Help young readers explore the work of scientists and the variety of scientific fields. Use Natural Inquirer Readers to meet several different kinds of scientists and learn more about their work.
Amy Dover, Guest Contributor
This blog series was a collaboration between Amy Dover and the Natural Inquirer staff. We couldn’t have done it without you, Amy!
Hi! My name is Amy, and I am a guest blogger for the Natural Inquirer program. Before I retired, I wore several hats: Speech/Language Pathologist, Special Education Teacher, and Literacy Coach. I’ve always enjoyed investigating fun and creative ways to teach all subjects in interdisciplinary ways. In my spare time, I love to read, cook, walk, explore different crafts, and spend time with my family and friends.