Students will launch a four-week reading investigation by testing how word analysis changes comprehension, connecting a shared novel excerpt to their lives, and establishing plans for whole-novel and independent reading. They will begin a vocabulary and comprehension notebook, practice reflection and claim-evidence reasoning, and revise an initial investigation question using peer feedback, a rubric, and a self-checklist.

Students will frame a manageable investigation into how vocabulary knowledge affects comprehension by refining a question, testing vocabulary strategies, designing a comparison method, and piloting an evidence log. They will use feedback from peers and the teacher to revise a graded investigation plan that guides their whole-novel and independent-reading work.

Students will collect traceable evidence from a grade-level whole novel and an independent-reading text, analyze unfamiliar vocabulary, monitor comprehension, and organize emerging patterns in their investigation notebooks. They will use text connections, peer critique, self-checklists, and a midpoint competency check to improve their evidence and investigation methods.

Students will interpret vocabulary-comprehension evidence, address conflicting findings, revise evidence-based writing, create an arts-based interpretation, and complete a graded rehearsal for the Novel Connections Gallery.

Students will present their vocabulary-comprehension investigation and arts-based interpretation to an audience beyond the classroom, use peer and visitor feedback to make a final revision, and submit a curated investigation notebook with a reflective evaluation of their learning.