Adventures in Literacy Land: Comprehension Skills

Showing posts with label Comprehension Skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comprehension Skills. Show all posts

Comprehension Strategies for Active Learning


It's Monday, and if your Monday's are like mine, you are probably trying to get everything off in the right direction for the week.  You've spent most of yesterday planning and preparing for your students, and tonight, you'll be checking through your plans to make sure each T is crossed and each I is dotted.   This is the typical routine for me and the majority of my teacher friends, and I hope today's post will provide you with a few ideas/freebies you can work into your plans next week.
Looking for a few fun comprehension strategies you can use with any text? Check out this post for 3 great FREEBIES you can print and use.

In this post, we'll be looking at a few of my favorite comprehension strategies. I'll share with you why I enjoy using them and how they help my kiddos. From my experience, how you structure your reading plan makes a difference. Many of our kiddos struggle with comprehension because they focus on figuring out the words instead of meaning. So let's take a look at how these strategies might keep your kiddos engaged and connected to the text.

So, I am Carla from Comprehension Connection,  Over the past few months, several of us have participated in a few of the Facebook Frenzy collaborative events. We've all chatted and I got to thinking that joining together with other literacy coaches and specialists would be a great way to learn and share our experiences with other reading specialists.  I reached out and we formed our group, The Reading Crew.  It has been so wonderful trading ideas and growing professionally together, and as a group, we decided to explore blogging collaboratively and that's how Adventures in Literacy Land got started.

Now for a little background on my experience teaching...  
I am a reading specialist from Virginia in my 23rd year of teaching.  I have worked in grades 1, 4, and 5 (regular classroom), as a technology specialist, and most recently as a reading specialist/literacy coach (since 1998).  When I began as a reading specialist, I decided early on that one of my goals was to reach out to other teachers, encourage and support them in the area of reading like my reading specialist did for me when I first began (and because of her, I returned for a Masters in Reading). I enjoy working to build and organize resources to make planning more efficient and effective, and make my classroom the home for struggling readers. They need nurturing, print-rich environments and yet, they need high expectations.  I still work very hard at this as collaboration makes us all better, and I hope that each of you will not be afraid to ask for help (even if you've taught 35 years). We can all learn new ways to do things.

Today, I thought I'd respond to the need for comprehension strategies.  Comprehension is thinking about reading, correct? Many students do not see this though. They focus heavily on how they sound (fluency), but do not think as they read.  In my experience, word callers develop because during reading strategies are not utilized.  Each book I teach is done in the before, during, after model. Before reading, I build schema, introduce Tier 2 vocabulary, and model the focus skill. (I do).  During reading, students read and record information to practice the focus skill (usually with a graphic organizer, foldable, selective highlighting/notetaking in the margins, or on sticky notes (We do it together with gradual release of responsibility). After reading is independent work time where students complete a written response, summarizer, or respond to questions. (You do)

The first strategy I thought I'd share works well for making predictions and is used before reading and after reading with fiction. Students are actively involved throughout the strategy process and find it "fun". It hits the higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy because students analyze the clues they're given.
1.  To begin, students are given a list of preselected words from the story. Prior to the lesson time, carefully choose key words from the text and list them in the order they occur within the text.  This can be done using [THIS ORGANIZER] but can also be placed on a Smartboard or chalkboard to stimulate group discussion.  
2. Students read the list of words and write a prediction statement using the words in the order presented.  (Again, this can be done individually or collaboratively in pairs or small groups.)  
3.  After the prediction statement is complete, students read the assigned materials, checking their prediction statement as they read. (I have mine cross through incorrect events.)  
4.  After the reading is completed, students write a summary telling what really happened (which can be done in the same manner as you did before reading).

Another strategy I find effective to building schema for both reading and writing lessons are Word Splashes. Students can work individually, in pairs, or small groups to brainstorm words related to the topic to be studied.  Word Splashes work well with nonfiction topics and fictional themes before, during, and after reading as new vocabulary is acquired.  The beauty of the Word Splash is that the word list developed can be utilized with post reading writing assignments.  Students can adjust the size of words to indicate their level of importance to the topic too.  The Word Splash form I am sharing today can be used with any book.  All you have to do is have your students add the topic to the middle of the box. [HERE] is the link to the freebie.

In addition to these two strategies, another favorite of mine is SQ3R.  This one has been around a long time, but I am not sure how many teachers use it.  The process follows the abbreviation, so students can quickly pick up on what to do.  First, the student surveys the text and takes notice of headings and subheadings, pictures and captions, sidebars and diagrams, and any other text features included in the reading material. Next, the student creates questions utilizing the information observed in the survey. It is advised that students turn headings/subheadings into questions for the sections that follow.  The third and fourth steps are to read the material and respond (I have revised the second R to be *respond* instead of what I originally learned *recite*).  If you'd like to give this one a try, [HERE] is an organizer you can use to step your students through the process.



Classroom Freebies Manic Monday
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Pictures are Worth a Thousand Inferences

Wow!  What a fun launch week!  I hope that everyone had fun!  We really love all of the comments, which helped us work on ideas for posts.  We noticed a lot of our royal followers felt like comprehension was a hard are to teach, so we have been working on some ideas to post about comprehension and vocabulary, as well as other areas of literacy.  Stay tuned throughout the month as we focus on different literacy skills.

Prize packs were emailed out last night.  If you do not see it in the email you entered with, check your spam folder.  If it is not there, please let us know by leaving your email here.  We had some emails bounce back.  Thank you so much for your patience!

This past week I was working on making inferences with my second graders.  This is always a tough concept for students to grasp, and it definitely takes more than one lesson.  Every year I reread and use my favorite professional book Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading by Tanny McGregor.
This book is full of great ideas to give students real-life strategies to grasp comprehension concepts.  One of my favorite chapters to review is the chapter on inferring.  Tanny makes this concept much more fun through real-life examples like people's trash and shoes.  I wrote an entire post about it, if you go {here} you can read it.

One of the other real-life examples she gives after the concrete examples is to use advertisements to help make an inference.  I couldn't find any advertisements that I liked, but I did have some wonderful pictures from a calendar I had gotten for free.  Do you have any of these hanging around?  This calendar was one of Norman Rockwell paintings.  They are FULL of clues for making inferences!  If you don't have any on hand, Wikipaintings is a perfect place to find some to project onto a whiteboard.

I let the students look at the pictures and tell me what they think might be happening and why.  The key is to get them to talk about why they say those things.  As they told me their thoughts, they changed their minds to make a clearer story.  Here are the pictures and their thoughts.


Here is the first picture with my kids' thoughts:
{Sorry about the glare, crazy lights!}  I love this picture, especially for this time of year!  I asked the kids what they thought was going on.  They went way beyond the literal.  Their thoughts:

The boy is scared because he might be in the man's yard.
The man might be his grandpa.
The boy wants the man's picnic basket because he is hungry.
The man is telling him he did a good job.
The boy may not know who the man is.

When I asked them about their thinking (super important), they told me things like that is how their faces look when they feel that way or that picnic baskets usually have food. Wow!  And I said almost nothing other than, "Hold on, let me write that down!"

Now for the second picture:

And their thoughts:
She is an artist because she has art stuff.
She is running from someone who wants to take her stuff.  (Love this one!)
It is raining, and she does not want her stuff to get wet.
Her art supplies are in the case because I have a case like that with my art stuff in it.

Again, I said very little!  Oh the power of their words!  I love when they teach me to stop and listen, and studies show that kids learn more when THEY do the talking.  We all have to remember that sometimes!

After looking at the pictures, we talked about how they drew the conclusions about the pictures.  We made this anchor chart to help them remember how we make an inference.  

Once we did that, we started looking at various passages and finding key words that helped us draw a conclusion.  I thought this would be mundane, but they loved doing it.  They really enjoyed talking about the why.  And that is the important part, the why.  Kids learn so much better when they can explain their thought processes.

What are some strategies you use to help students grasp the concept of making an inference?  How do you get students to explain the "why"?  What else could help you teach your children about making inferences?

Come back tomorrow when Carla talks more comprehension!





http://readerstars.blogspot.com

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EVERYONE'S A WINNER WEEK! {Day 3}

All 20 authors are excited to find out who the 
4 Grand Prize Winners will be.
Each Grand Prize Winner gets a $25 Gift Certificate to TpT!!

My goodness we're overwhelmed by all the new followers and wonderful comments!
We're listening and planning our blog posts according to your requests.

You asked for Comprehension Skills and now here are 4 great ideas.
 
Hi, I am Kylie and I live in Brisbane, Australia. 

The freebie I am sharing uses the 4H reading strategy - Here, Hidden, Head and Heart - is the answer literal, i.e. right here in the text?  Is the answer hidden; do I need to think and search?  Is the answer my own opinion or based on my past experience; i.e. is it in my head or is the answer how I feel, therefore in my heart?  This is an innovation on three level guides and Question, Answer, Relationships (QAR), by Taffy Raphael. 

I have chosen a fairy tale theme for my 4H freebie.  Included in the freebie, you will find posters, bookmarks and stars to support the 4H strategy. 

"The Three Bears (Sort Of)"  is a new picture book that is great for critical literacy.  I have included questions for sorting according to the 4H strategy to support students to clarify the purpose of different questioning types.  You can read more about this picture book on my blog post here or find other resources for the 4H strategy in my TPT store.  I hope you have a lot of success with this strategy with your students :)
Welcome Everyone! I'm Emily from The Reading Tutor/OG and I'm thrilled to be blogging in Literacy Land. Currently, I am a SAHM of twin boys, with our third on the way in March, a private Orton-Gillingham instructor (an instructional approach used to teach dyslexic learners how to read), and wrapping up my Reading Specialist certification too! My 13 years of classroom experience, training in working with dyslexia learners, and helping struggling readers in a 1:1 setting have all given me a deep understanding of what children need to become successful readers.
Sustaining and motivating reading interest in reluctant/struggling readers has always been a goal of mine. One way is to find high interest topics that have manageable readability. Here is a freebie that will do just that. Each "Read Around The Room" card shares interesting facts about castles. Providing some active movement, while reading and answering questions that review important skills and strategies will really engage these readers.  You can even hide the cards around the room for children to find. Enjoy this new freebie with your students. I'm looking forward to sharing more with all of you!
Hi, friends! I'm thrilled to be part of this collaborative blog with so many other talented ladies. I currently teach reading for grades 6-8. I love using interactive notebooks and technology because they get my students involved in whatever we are learning. I do my best to find high-interest things for us to read and learn about. I'm definitely not a use-the-basal kind of reading teacher!


The freebie I've included in the prize pack you'll be receiving is my Literary Analysis for Any Movie. It includes a guide with explanations for your students so that this activity can be completed independently. It's great to leave for a sub or to use on one of those ODD days (pep rallies, before holidays, etc.) when you're dreading the lesson more than the kids are. Thanks so much for visiting.

As a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and literacy coach, I have worked with students and teachers from preschool to grade 12.  Back in the early 1990’s, I began my research and application of what we called active reading strategies:  summarizing, predicting, evaluating, reviewing, connecting, inferring, questioning, visualizing, determining main idea, and synthesizing.  At present, these are often called reading comprehension strategies or cognitive strategies.
My resource, Fairy Tale Reading Comprehension Posters was created when I needed a visual reminder for students in  my reading intervention groups and when I was modeling lessons in teachers’ classes. Created specifically for grades K-2, you can use them with older students as well.  I used them on my Focus Wall, bulletin board, and magnetic white board. I suggest printing on cardstock, laminating, and placing magnetic strips on the back.  Use during instruction to help students anchor their learning of a simple, kid-friendly definition for each strategy /reading comprehension skill.  Hopefully most students are familiar with fairy tales and the pictures can help as a concrete example and reminder.  Included in this sample pack are mini-posters for a few reading strategies and skills.


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follow our blog and leave your email in the rafflecopter below!
Drop by tomorrow to learn 3 new vocabulary strategies.
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