Miss Gonzalez’s third-grade class is exploring how animal structures and functions allow them to survive in a particular environment. During literacy time, the children will be independently reading texts about animals that live in the arctic regions of the earth. She knows that her students have limited knowledge about life in the Arctic, especially lesser-known animals such as the narwhal. Before starting this exploration of arctic animals, Miss Gonzalez shows several short video clips about the Arctic. She also presents an explicit vocabulary lesson over several words that students will find in the texts. Finally, she directs students to a “kid-friendly” website that includes an encyclopedia of animals in different areas of the world, including the Arctic, to use as a reference tool while reading. According to convergent research, pre-reading activities such as these are effective for supporting readers’ comprehension because they–