Activating prior knowledge about the topic is a very important piece in understanding what you read. Comprehension is the product of prior knowledge and the ability to integrate new information. Some students will need directed instruction in organizing and reflecting on new information and relating that information to prior knowledge. K stands for what students already know about a topic. W stands for what they want to or expect to learn about a topic in the reading assignment.
L stands for what they learned about the topic.
Children should be taught how to make predictions before and during reading and to change those predictions as necessary with each new piece of evidence uncovered. You will probably have to teach this strategy to your students. As the students construct conclusions and make predictions, have them explain how they decided - what is their supporting evidence. They also need to explain the evidence for main idea, sequence, cause and effect and inferences made by them. Again, the teacher can model these strategies by reading outloud and giving evidence for the conclusions and predictions that she makes.