Activating Prior Knowledge

Activating prior knowledge requires readers to draw from their background knowledge and to use that knowledge to help them understand what they are reading.  Background knowledge is made up of a person's experiences with the world (including what he or she has read), along with his or her concepts for how written text works, including word identification, print concepts, word meaning, and how text is organized.

Activating prior knowledge is something that we do naturally as proficient readers. We always relate what we're reading to something we know. As a matter of fact when we read we really have to think about those connections. Sometimes students don’t access their background knowledge because they never think that it's important or if they don’t have the background knowledge the teacher doesn’t have an opportunity to really build that background knowledge.

The following links provide strategies for activating prior knowledge.
Think-pair-share 
Anticipation Guide
K-W-L Chart