Help in Reading!
Strategies to Help Your Child in Reading
Story Elements!
SETTING
•Student can tell where and when the story takes place.
CHARACTERS AND PROBLEMS
•Names main character and problems he/she
faced.
•Names other characters and shows how these connect to main character.
PLOT
•Recalls tne important events.
•Sequences the events.
•Includes rich details.
•Includes beginning/middle/end of story.
•Demonstrates an understanding of concepts and information.
SOLUTION
•Shows how problems were solved.
PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
•Offers feelings and reactions.
•Makes
connections between characters and events and own life.
PRESENTATION
•Speaks fluently.
•Uses vocabulary from
text.
How Rereading Can Help You
•Understand hard words.
•Find things you did not find before.
•Help the story make sense.
•Make it more interesting.
•Help you memorize
if you need to for a contest.
•Make you a better reader.
•Find words and
sentences you skipped.
•Keep reading a part over and you'll get it.
•Make
reading more fun because you go over the best
parts.
STRATEGY-IN-ACTION:
Pause-Think-Retell
Encourage children to pause after each chapter; once or twice during a
picture book; and after each section of a textbook. Show them how you stop,
think, and then retell in order to monitor how much you recall. Point out that
thinking and retelling reinforces remembering the text. If there is little
recall, then reread and try to retell again.
Many students read and have little or no recall. This can be due to an
inability to concentrate, to a lack of prior knowledge, or because the
vocabulary is too difficult. If after two rereadings the passage still confuses,
then students should seek assistance from a peer or the teacher.
Other ways that readers monitor comprehension during reading are
to:
§
make connections
§
make predictions
§
make inferences
§
use context clues
§
use text features
§
identify text structures
§
use graphic organizers to pinpoint particular types of text
information
§
write comments or questions on self-stick notes or in the
margins
Readers become confused during reading for a variety of reasons (Tovani
2000):
§
The voice inside the reader’s head is not talking to him any longer
about the text. It may simply be reciting the
text.
§
The reader’s mind begins to wander; he is no longer reminding himself
to “pay attention.”
§
The reader can’t remember what has been
read.
§
The reader can’t answer his own
questions.
§
The reader re-encounters a character but does not remember how or when
the character was introduced in the story.
How to use
summarizing
- Begin by reading OR have students listen to the text
selection.
- Ask students the following framework
questions:
- What are the main
ideas?
- What are the crucial details necessary for
supporting the ideas?
- What information is irrelevant or
unnecessary?
- Have them use key words or phrases to identify the
main points from the text.
Why use Think-Alouds?
- It helps students learn to monitor their thinking as
they read and improves their comprehension.
- It teaches students to re-read a sentence, read
ahead to clarify, and/or look for context clues to make sense of what they
read.
- It slows down the reading process and allows
students to monitor their understanding of a
text.
How to use
think-alouds
- Begin by modeling this strategy. Model your thinking
as you read. Do this at points in the text that may be confusing for
students (new vocabulary, unusual sentence
construction).
- Introduce the assigned text and discuss the purpose
of the Think-Aloud strategy. Develop the set of questions to support
thinking aloud (see examples below).
- What do I know about this
topic?
- What do I think I will learn about this
topic?
- Do I understand what I just
read?
- Do I have a clear picture in my head about this
information?
- What more can I do to understand
this?
- What were the most important points in this
reading?
- What new information did I
learn?
- How does it fit in with what I already
know?
- Give students opportunities to practice the
technique, and offer structured feedback to
students.
- Read the selected passage aloud as the students read
the same text silently. At certain points stop and "think aloud" the
answers to some of the pre-selected
questions.
- Demonstrate how good readers monitor their
understanding by rereading a sentence, reading ahead to clarify, and/or
looking for context clues. Students then learn to offer answers to the
questions as the teacher leads the Think
Aloud.
**Have your child retell you the story! (Without
looking back in the story that way we know they can comprehend what they are
reading)
Retelling Checklist:
Told what the story is mostly about.
Summarized what was learned.
Told what new was learned.
Told the main ideas in order.
Told what features of text the author
used.
Explained the author's purpose for writing the
selection.
Told the most important idea learned.
Told how the reading changed what the teller
believes.
Told how the reading changed how the teller will
act.
Other Resources:
http://www.paec.org/david/reading/general.pdf
http://www.mrscowan.com/readingstrategies.htm
http://jc-schools.net/read6-12/ReadingCompStrategies.pdf
http://polsellikindergarten.tripod.com/Comprehension%20Strategies/Strategies.htm
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/3479/
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/summarizing/
http://www.peterpappas.com/blogs/read-blog/non-reader-complete.pdf
http://www.liketoread.com/read_strats_retell.php
Christmas Project!
selection.
questions:
- What are the main
ideas? - What are the crucial details necessary for
supporting the ideas? - What information is irrelevant or
unnecessary?
main points from the text.
they read and improves their comprehension.
ahead to clarify, and/or look for context clues to make sense of what they
read.
students to monitor their understanding of a
text.
as you read. Do this at points in the text that may be confusing for
students (new vocabulary, unusual sentence
construction).
of the Think-Aloud strategy. Develop the set of questions to support
thinking aloud (see examples below).
- What do I know about this
topic? - What do I think I will learn about this
topic? - Do I understand what I just
read? - Do I have a clear picture in my head about this
information? - What more can I do to understand
this? - What were the most important points in this
reading? - What new information did I
learn? - How does it fit in with what I already
know?
technique, and offer structured feedback to
students.
the same text silently. At certain points stop and "think aloud" the
answers to some of the pre-selected
questions.
understanding by rereading a sentence, reading ahead to clarify, and/or
looking for context clues. Students then learn to offer answers to the
questions as the teacher leads the Think
Aloud.
**Have your child retell you the story! (Without
looking back in the story that way we know they can comprehend what they are
reading)
Retelling Checklist:
Told what the story is mostly about.
Summarized what was learned.
Told what new was learned.
Told the main ideas in order.
Told what features of text the author
used.
Explained the author's purpose for writing the
selection.
Told the most important idea learned.
Told how the reading changed what the teller
believes.
Told how the reading changed how the teller will
act.
Other Resources:
http://www.paec.org/david/reading/general.pdf
http://www.mrscowan.com/readingstrategies.htm
http://jc-schools.net/read6-12/ReadingCompStrategies.pdf
http://polsellikindergarten.tripod.com/Comprehension%20Strategies/Strategies.htm
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/3479/
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/summarizing/
http://www.peterpappas.com/blogs/read-blog/non-reader-complete.pdf
http://www.liketoread.com/read_strats_retell.php
Christmas Project!
Group 1: Kwanzaa
http://ly.glenview34.org/teachers/wilson/webquest/holiday-webquest.html
http://www.rats2u.com/christmas/kwanzaa_index.htm
http://www.vineland.org/suggest/Kwanzaa.htm
Group 2: Hanukkah
http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=97323
http://ly.glenview34.org/teachers/wilson/webquest/holiday-webquest.html
http://www.elcivics.com/hanukkah-lesson-1.html
Group 3:Luciadagen
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/holidayfun/sweden.html
http://www.santas.net/swedishchristmas.htm
http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml
http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/sweden.html
Group 4: Christmas in Italy
http://www.santas.net/italianchristmas.htm
http://ly.glenview34.org/teachers/wilson/webquest/holiday-webquest.html
http://www.rats2u.com/christmas/kwanzaa_index.htm
http://www.vineland.org/suggest/Kwanzaa.htm
Group 2: Hanukkah
http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=97323
http://ly.glenview34.org/teachers/wilson/webquest/holiday-webquest.html
http://www.elcivics.com/hanukkah-lesson-1.html
Group 3:Luciadagen
http://www.bry-backmanor.org/holidayfun/sweden.html
http://www.santas.net/swedishchristmas.htm
http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml
http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/sweden.html
Group 4: Christmas in Italy
http://www.santas.net/italianchristmas.htm