Building Comprehension:
Strategies for enhancing interaction with text
Making Connections
The reader relates prior knowledge and experience to what is being read. Connections are
made to lived experience, other texts, and the world.
Look it Over – Strategies p. 152
KWL – Strategies p.89
Follow-up activities:
 Completion of KWL
 Written response – What connections did you make as you were reading this book?
What did this book remind you of from your own life? What other books or movies
did it remind you of? What current events in the world did it make you think of?
Predictions
The reader makes predictions at various stages of reading in order to confirm, adjust, and
make new predictions based on textual preferences.
Before, During, After – Strategies p. 146
Prediction Chart – F.I. 48
Follow-up activities:
 Completion of BDA
 Completion of prediction chart
 Written response – What do you think will happen next in the story? Support your
prediction by telling why you think that.
 Create a short play based on what you think will happen next in the story.
 Create a play which has a different ending which would still make sense in the story.
 Compose or write a song based on this story and what you think will happen.
Forming Sensory Images
The reader uses textual references to construct sensory images from the text.
Follow-up activities:
 Listen-Sketch-Draft - Strategies p. 205
 Find a passage in the text which helps you form a picture in your head. Read it over
twice. Draw the picture that you see. Remember to add as much detail as you can
from what the author has told you.
 Find a passage in the text which helps you form a picture in your head. Read it over
at least twice. Add two additional sentences to the passage which the author could
have used to add detail to the picture.
Questioning
The reader develops questions during the reading, which lead to reading for deeper
understanding.
Follow-up activities:
 Question the Author – Strategies p. 162
 Reciprocal Teaching – Strategies p. 166
 Re-read the story stopping at the end of each page and using a sticky note to record
a question that you have as a reader. If you are stuck try beginning each sentence
with “I wonder……”
Self-Monitoring and Adjusting
The reader self-monitors and adjusts strategies when the meaning of text is unclear. For
example, the reader rereads when the text doesn’t make sense.
(SMART Self-Monitoring Approach to Reading and Thinking – Strategies – p.174)
Follow-up activities:
 Written response – When something doesn’t make sense a good reader tries a new
strategy. List some strategies you can try when something you read is not making
sense? (activating prior knowledge, re-reading, underlining difficult vocabulary,
chunking text and summarizing, making a story or concept map, etc.)
Paraphrasing and Summarizing Content
The reader retells and summarizes the content of the text using personal language to
confirm understanding.
Before, During, After - Strategies p. 146
Follow-up activities:
 Completion of BDA
 Information Pyramids – Strategies p.59
 Reciprocal Teaching – Strategies p. 166
 Retelling – Strategies p. 162
 Create a play which tells what happens in the story.
 Retell the story to a friend.
Using Story Structure
The reader uses understanding of structures, techniques and elements of a narrative story
including: identifying main characters, the feelings of characters through their actions, and
supporting characters, recognizing key events and beginning, middle and end of the story.
Follow-up activities:
 Story Maps - Strategies p. 53
 Fill in a story or character map or web
 Choose a character from the story you would like to be and tell a partner how you
feel at the end of the story
Locating and Recalling Relevant Information
The reader, through question and answer relationships, locates and recalls relevant
information in the text to confirm understanding.
Follow-up activities:
 Written response: Pretend you are the author of the book. Make up three
questions the author might ask someone to see if they read the book. Share your
questions with a partner and see if your partner can answer them.
Recognizing Distinguishing Features
The reader recognizes distinguishing forms of text and genres of literature and uses these
known patterns to construct and enhance understanding.
Follow-up activities:
 Informational Text Frames - Strategies p. 58
 Written response – What genre would this book fit into? (Give a list if necessary)
Why do you think the author chose this genre to write in? What makes this genre
different than ….? What genres do you most like to read. Tell why.
Inferences
The reader makes viable inferences based on specific textual references and support. This
connects thinking to reading by requiring the reader to synthesize the information to form
opinions and exchange ideas.
Follow-up activities:
 Reciprocal Teaching – Strategies p. 166
 Written response – Direct the student to a specific passage in the text. Reread the
passage at least twice. What clues is the author giving you that … has happened in
the past? … will try to help others in the story?
Drawing conclusions
The reader clearly and accurately explains opinions and reasoning.
Follow-up activities:
 Reciprocal Teaching – Strategies p. 166
 Think of something you would have done differently if you were the author. Tell a
partner and explain why you would have done that. Have your partner use a rubric to
indicate how well you supported your choice. Switch roles.
Developing Vocabulary
The reader uses knowledge of word patterns, and uses context to determine meaning for
new words.
Follow-up activities:
 Cloze activities – Strategies p. 54
 Choose four new words from the text. Re-read the paragraph the word is from and
guess what it means. Look it up in the dictionary to see if you were right.
 Give a specific reference and have the student use a link to a word they know –
prefer to understand preference, hard to understand hardship, etc.
 With a partner see how many interesting words you can find in chapter …
Textual Cues
The reader uses cues such as titles, covers, headings, illustrations and paragraphs to
construct and confirm meaning
Follow-up activities:
 With a partner talk about how headings can help you as a reader. Make a combined
list of your thoughts
 Written response - Tell why you think the author chose the title for this text.
What title would you have chosen? Why?
 Read the … paragraph over at least twice and create an illustration that the author
could have used instead of writing the text.
 Use the title and headings of the text to create a rap.