An essential component of the reading process is the “getting ready to read" portion. We are calling this pre-reading. Students use pre-reading strategies to become acquainted with texts. First, they read the titles of the texts. Next, they look for picture clues throughout the texts to provide them with visual information from which they can make assessments. Using the titles and the information collected from the “picture walks,” they then determine what they think the authors' purposes are for writing the texts and whether the texts are fiction or non-fiction. Finally, before beginning reading, they make predictions about what they believe will occur in the texts or what the texts are about. Pre-reading texts allow the students to get their minds ready for the journey they are about to embark on… through the text.