Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension References: http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/stratText.html (Florida Online Reading Professional Development) http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategies for September & October: Activating Prior Knowledge and Making Connections What is Activating Prior Knowledge? Readers activate what they know or don’t know about a topic and use this knowledge before, during, and after reading to understand and clarify misunderstandings about the text. STUDENT DEFINITION: I use what I already know to help me understand what I am reading. What is Making Connections? Readers relate what they read to personal experience (text to self), to information from other texts (text to text), or to information about the world (text to world) in order to enhance understanding of themselves and the text. STUDENT DEFINITION: I think about experiences I’ve had, other texts I’ve read, and the world around me to help me understand what I am reading. Activities that Support these Strategies Look at the title of the book and the picture on the cover. Ask your child what he/she knows about the subject. While reading, continue to talk about prior knowledge and connections. Discuss any new learning after reading the text. Support your child with sentence starters. You may need to model for your child first: This part reminds me of.... I felt like...(character) when I.... If that happened to me I would.... This book reminds me of...(another text) because.... I can relate to...(part of text) because one time.... Something similar happened to me when.... When I think about …(the topic) I think about…(list known facts or ideas) Draw pictures before reading to show prior knowledge and connections. After reading add to the picture or make a new picture to demonstrate new learning or thinking. Books that Encourage Activating Prior Knowledge and Making Predictions Non-fiction picture books are perfect choices as you encourage your child to activate prior knowledge. Select books about topics that are of interest to your child or books that you’re sure will peak his or her interest! Choose books that contain lots of colorful illustrations to support your child’s learning. Realistic Fiction provides many opportunities for students to make text to self, text to text, and even text to world connections. Think about those books that make you feel happy, sad, angry, or nostalgic. Think about books that describe common childhood experiences to which your child could relate. Note: As students are learning to use comprehension strategies, reading aloud or sharing the reading is more appropriate than having your child read the entire text aloud or independently. Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension References: http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/stratText.html (Florida Online Reading Professional Development) http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategy for November & December: Visualizing What is Visualizing? Readers continually create and revise images in their minds that reflect or represent the ideas in the text. These images come from the five senses, as well as the emotions, and are linked to prior knowledge and experience. STUDENT DEFINITION: I make a movie in my mind while I’m reading to help me understand what I read. Activities that Support this Strategy Have your child act out a portion of the text you have just read. Read a very short piece of text (such as a descriptive sentence, paragraph, or poem) and ask your student to describe what they visualize. Ask questions about the details of that image. Encourage your child to ask questions to clarify details. Have your child draw pictures as you read and/or after you read. Encourage your child to make changes to the picture or create new pictures to reflect the changing images in his or her mind. Support your child with sentence starters. You may need to model for your child first: When I read this part, I see…(describe images) in my mind… After reading more, my mind movie has changed. Now I picture… I visualized…(describe images) in my mind because the text says… Books that Encourage Visualizing Look for books that have detailed description or strong emotion. These can be picture books or portions of easy chapter books that contain lots of vivid images. Children’s poetry anthologies are full of short texts that are perfect for visualizing. Wordless picture books may be a less obvious choice, since the story is told in all pictures. But these books are great for challenging your child to think of images that are missing from the story. (What happened between page 2 and page 3? What happened after the book ended? How would a different character in the story describe what happened? How would you describe this picture in words?) Remember: Keep reading aloud to your developing reader! This allows your child to focus on thinking about the text and using comprehension strategies. Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension References: http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/stratText.html (Florida Online Reading Professional Development) http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategy for January: Asking Questions What is “Asking Questions”? Readers ask questions about the text and the author’s purpose and look for information to clarify and extend their thinking before, during, and after reading. STUDENT DEFINITION: I ask questions to look for new information and to understand what I am reading. Activities that Support this Strategy Encourage your child to ask questions about the world around them, even questions that you can’t answer! (Why is the sky blue? Do fish sleep?) Share your questions. Look at the title of the book and the picture on the cover. Talk about or list questions that you have about the text (fiction or non-fiction) and encourage your child to do the same. As you read, try to find the answers to those questions. Support your child with sentence starters. Model what it means to be curious and question the text: I wonder.... Hmmm…I don’t get that. What does…mean? I want to know who/what/where/when/why/how… Why did the author…? Make a web of questions. Write the topic in a circle and draw lines off of the circle. At the end of each line write a question about that topic. Books that Encourage Asking Questions Both fiction and non-fiction texts can be used to encourage questioning. You can even read familiar favorites and ask questions that lead to new ideas, more questions, and discovery! The pictures and the text in nonfiction books can be the basis for great “I wonders.” (I wonder what sharks eat? I wonder how far away the moon is?) Fiction books offer opportunities to ask questions about characters, setting, events, and author’s purpose. (Why did that character do that? I wonder what…(character) will do next? I wonder what it is like to live there? Why did the author write this book?) Remember: Keep reading aloud to your developing reader! This allows your child to focus on thinking about the text and using comprehension strategies. Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /343 (Tips for building comprehension) Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension References: http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategies for February: Making Predictions Making Inferences What is “Making Predictions”? Readers use clues in the text and their own prior knowledge to think about what the text will be about or what will happen next. Predictions are confirmed or disproved during and after reading. STUDENT DEFINITION: I use what I know and clues in the text to think about what it will be about. Then I think about what I will learn or what will happen in the story. What is “Making Inferences”? Readers use their prior knowledge and clues from the text to draw conclusions and form interpretations about the text. These conclusions may not be confirmed during or after reading. STUDENT DEFINITION: I use what I know and clues from the text to think about what it really means. Activities that Support this Strategy Tell jokes and riddles that require your child to use prior knowledge to find the answer. Read aloud a non-fiction book. Ask your child “how” and “why” questions that challenge him or her to make inferences. Support your child with sentence starters and questions. Model what it means to make predictions and inferences: I predict that… I infer that….because… I wonder.... Why did that happen? What is really going on? What clues did the author give us? How do you think the character feels? Help your child make connections between the text and the illustrations. The author often leaves clues in the pictures! Use everyday events or books to talk about cause and effect. Ask questions like “What caused this to happen?” and “What if…?” Books that Encourage Making Predictions & Making Inferences Both fiction and non-fiction texts can be used to encourage making predictions and making inferences. Encourage your child to use the cover, illustrations, and table of contents to predict what a nonfiction book will be about. Confirm predictions during and after reading. Choosing books about familiar topics will give your child the opportunity to make inferences using text clues and their own knowledge. Fiction books offer opportunities to make predictions that can be confirmed upon further reading and to make inferences that deepen understanding. Books with a strong beginning/ middle/end structure are great for practicing these strategies. Look for books with picture clues! Keep reading aloud to your developing reader! This allows your child to focus on thinking about the text. Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /343 (Tips for building comprehension) Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension References: http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategy for March: Determining Importance What is “Determining Importance”? Readers identify key elements, information, or events in the text. Readers distinguish important information from unimportant information to identify key ideas or themes. STUDENT DEFINITION: I think about what is most important in the text. Main Ideas & Details Important Ideas Interesting Details Activities that Support this Strategy Books that Encourage Determining Importance Encourage your child to look at the Both fiction and non-fiction texts can illustrations to foster understanding of the text. When reading non-fiction, be sure to point out conventions such as graphics, charts, and bold, italicized, or underlined words. These are often clues to the main ideas. Support your child with sentence starters and questions. Model what it means to determine importance while reading FICTION texts: What is the author’s message? What is the problem in the story? How would you solve the problem? The big idea is… Support your child with sentence starters and questions. Model what it means to determine importance while reading NON-FICTION texts: What is important to remember? What is the author’s message? What is important to the author? So far I’ve learned… Have your child draw a picture to show the main idea (or one of several main ideas or events) of a non-fiction or fiction text. be used to practice determining importance. When choosing fiction books to practice this strategy, choose books with a clear sequence of events or key themes and ideas that are easily identified. For example, “Arthur” books often have a clear beginning, middle, and end and often have a “lesson.” When choosing non-fiction books, use books with clear structures. Point out how books are organized: sequentially, alphabetically, question/answer format, etc. Non-fiction books that have many conventions such as table of contents, bold print and headings support readers in finding important facts. Remember: Keep reading aloud to your developing reader! This allows your child to focus on thinking about the text and using comprehension strategies. Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /343 (Tips for building comprehension) Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension References: http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategy for April: Synthesizing What is “Synthesizing”? Readers monitor overall meaning, important concepts, and themes as they read and create original insights, interpretations, and perspectives. Understanding changes as the reader gains more information from the text and applies background knowledge. Debbie Miller compares synthesizing to ripples in a pond. You throw a rock into a pond and first there is a splash. Then the water ripples out, making little waves that get bigger and bigger. Our thinking gets bigger and bigger as we read. STUDENT DEFINITION: I put the pieces together to understand what I read in a new way. Activities that Support this Strategy Have your child act out a portion of the text. Ask him or her to consider how characters would act, what props could be used, and the setting of the story. Challenge your child to explain his or her unique interpretation of the text. As you read with your child, encourage him or her to think about words, pictures, and ideas in the text and combine them with background knowledge. When reading non-fiction, help your child identify the 5-10 most important words in the book, or in a section. Talk about why you chose those words. Support your child with sentence starters and model synthesizing: After reading more, now I am thinking… I began to think of… I noticed… I was wrong to think… I learned… Have your child draw a picture before reading the book and one after to show the changes in his/her thinking. Books that Encourage Synthesizing Books that are good for inferring are often good for synthesizing as well. Synthesizing is like “super-sized” inferring. Fiction books that have a strong theme or message are great for synthesizing. Think about picture books that have really “wowed” you with their message or caused a strong emotional reaction. Fables and fairy tales are good choices because they often have a clear lesson that is uncovered during reading. Non-fiction texts can also be used, especially books having to do with social or environmental issues. Authors often have a message that they want to deliver to readers through the information they provide. Remember: Keep reading aloud to your developing reader! This allows your child to focus on thinking about the text and using comprehension strategies. Comprehension Instruction within the Literacy Block Skill Building Guided Reading Shared & Modeled Reading Writing Teacher Read Aloud Comprehension instruction takes place primarily during the Modeled and Shared Reading block. During Guided Reading, students are supported as they use the strategies while reading texts at their instructional level. It is during independent reading that students have the opportunity to practice these strategies on their own while reading texts at their independent level. Comprehension Strategies that Support Understanding: Activating Prior Knowledge/ Making Connections Visualizing Asking Questions Making Predictions/ Making Inferences Determining Importance Synthesizing Information Monitoring Comprehension Resources for Parents http://www.readingrockets.org/books (Find books that will capture your child’s imagination! Note the themed book lists and award winners.) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /3479 (More information for you about comprehension strategies) http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.ms px?View=11 (Tips for Reading Aloud) http://www.readingrockets.org/article /343 (Tips for building comprehension) References: http://reading.ecb.org (Into the Book, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board) Miller, D. (2002). Reading with Meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Elish-Piper, L. (2009). What Can I Do to Help My Child with Reading at Home? Simple, Effective Ideas to Share with Parents. Illinois Reading Council Journal. 37 (4). 50-54. Reading Comprehension Instruction at Oakwood School Grades K-2 Focus Strategy for May: Monitoring Comprehension What is “Monitoring Comprehension”? Readers combine strategies as needed to develop a more complete understanding of the text. Strategies interact with each other, overlap, and are used multiple times during reading. Readers stop to check their understanding as they read and reread difficult parts. STUDENT DEFINITION: I use strategies together to understand what I read. Activities that Support this Strategy Books that Encourage Monitoring Comprehension “Think aloud” as you read, pointing out how you are using a combination of reading strategies to understand the text. Demonstrate how the strategies interact and overlap with each other. Support your child with sentence starters and questions. When I read this part, I was thinking… Hmmm…did that make sense? Oh, now I get it! (after talking, rereading, or reading on) Read a text in short sections and stop to discuss information or events. When you partner read, have one person read a page and the other person retell and then switch roles. Another idea is to have your child only read as much as he/she can cover with his/her hand and then stop to retell, connect, and/or reflect in some way. The 3-2-1 strategy is a great way to get your child thinking about and remembering what he/she reads. Ask your child to tell you 3 things discovered, 2 interesting things, and 1 question. Any text can be used! We always want to encourage students to monitor their comprehension, whether they are reading a chapter book, a kid’s magazine, or even a wordless picture book. The level of comprehension necessary to understand the text may differ, but readers are always thinking! Your child has learned many reading strategies this year and is on his or her way to becoming a fluent, “thinking” reader. Read to and with your child often. Set up reading routines in your house and model a love for reading and talking about books. Encourage your child’s interests in books, magazines, and kid’s internet sites. Your child is in for more wonderful adventures in the world of books!