1. Objective for today
Using pictures and captions will help you understand and remember what you read.
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2. 3 Ways to Read A Book For Middle School
“Three ways to Read a Book” is based on a lesson found in The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser. Boushey and Moser are known as “the sisters”. They have published two books about their reading approach called The Daily 5 and The Café Book . You can find out additional information about the Sisters at TheDailyCafe. (
I have written about my adaptation of their materials at ReadingEssentialsClass. (
I have modified the materials for my middle school readers. I also tailored the lesson for use with various forms of reading such as magazines and graphic novels.
I teach Three Ways to Read before beginning Read to Self with my students. Read to Self is one of the components of a Daily 5 classroom.
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This lesson is taught in one session prior to beginning the Read to Self activity with my middle school students.
I have found that middle school readers benefit from this lesson. My students are struggling readers and they are typically functioning at a lower reading level than their peers. This lesson helps them to understand that there are different types of reading. The different types of reading call for different skills and approaches. It also encourages them to use the pictures and the text to help them understand and remember what they read.
Many people are “fake readers”. During reading time, fake readers appear to be reading but they are actually just faking it. They might be looking are the book, turning pages and being very convincing. Even if they are looking at the words on the page, it is fake reading if they are not understanding the text and making meaning out of it. Students always identify with the concept of fake reading.
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4. What are the 3 Ways to Read A Book?
WORDS
PICTURES
RETELL
The three ways a reader may approach a book are
Read and talk about the pictures
Pictures often carry much of a story’s meaning so it is important to read them
Read the words
Reading the words means more than just looking at the words. It also involves understanding what is happening in the book. If there are no pictures, we must visualize in our minds what is happening in the story.
Retell a previously read book.
We use our memories of the story and pictures to retell what we had read. The pictures can be the ones in the book or the ones in our mind that we visualized as we read the passage.
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5. Reading Words How To Read The Words…
From The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:
“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth, but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping.” (page 1)
Reading the words means more than just looking at the words. It also involves understanding what the words are saying. If there are no pictures, we must visualize in our minds what is happening in the story.
While you are reading, you should be picturing what you are reading in your mind. This is called visual imagery. Visual imagery will help you understand what is happening in the story. Visualizing will also help you remember what is happening. You will not get the end of the page and ask yourself, “What did I just read?” By visualizing you will be making pictures or a movie of the action you are reading about.
Look at the passage on this slide. What are words that you could picture in your mind?
Bed
Fingers
Prim
Mattress
Now put these pictures together with the action described in the paragraph.
Wake up
Fingers stretch out
Climbed in with our mother
Make a movie in your mind of the speaker waking up and reaching her fingers across the rough mattress for her sister and finding that she is gone.
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6. How to Retell How To Retell A Story
A “retelling” from the first paragraph of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth, but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping.” (page 1)
Retelling example: Prim is missing from the bed – I know this because I can feel the cold. I think I know why she’s gone – it’s because of her bad dreams.
Retelling a book that we have already read is a way to read a book. We remember the pictures and the visualizing we had done when we were reading the story.
We can retell the story to someone after we have finished a book. But we can also stop and retell during the book. Retelling to yourself is a great strategy to make sure you understand the story. If there are parts you cannot remember, it is good to quickly look back and see if you missed some important details.
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7. Read the Pictures
How To
Read
The
Pictures
The following 4 pictures are from National Geographic for Kids online. The article that the pictures were taken from is called “Ski Patrol: Always on Alert for Avalanche Safety”.
 When you are reading the pictures, it is important not to just look at the pictures and flip to the next page with taking time to think about what you are seeing. You must think and stop and make meaning of the pictures.
We are going to practice this skill with the following pictures. These pictures are from a story in National Geographic for Kids titled Ski Patrol: Always on Alert for Avalanche Safety.
After you have read the pictures, you can read the article to see how much meaning you were able to get just from the pictures. If you look at the pictures carefully and think about what you see, it can make the reading of the text more meaningful. Read the article after going through the pictures in the following slides. See how much more you can understand and remember after you have carefully thought about the pictures.
Ski Patrol: Always on Alert for Avalanche Safety.
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8. What can you tell from looking at this picture and reading the caption?
Season-winter
Location-Aspen, Colorado
Rocky Mountains
The man-Doug Driskell-an older adult
White Cross on his jacket so he must be a member of the ski patrol
Action: Doug Driskell is investigating an avalanche near a ski area
Read the Pictures (1)
Doug Driskell investigating the Equinox slide just outside the Aspen ski area.
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9. What can you tell from looking at this picture and reading the caption?
Location: In the snow of the mountains
Dog: The dog looks like a German Shepherd who is labeled a search dog.
Action: It looks like the dog is digging in the snow for a possible victim. The dog handler has the white cross on his jacket too so he must be a member of the ski patrol.
Read the Pictures (2)
Avalanche dog Lhotse with his handler, Michael Ferrara.
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10. What can you tell from looking at this picture and reading the caption?
Location: Still in the snow in the mountains
Action: The dog handler, Mike Ferrara, is digging in the avalanche. There might be someone trapped under the snow.
Read the Pictures (3)
Mike Ferrara just starting a snowpit at the fracture line of the Equinox slide.
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11. What can you tell from looking at this picture and reading the caption?
Action: Two adults are skiing and investigating an avalanche. It may be Doug Driskell and Mike Ferrera from the earlier pictures.
Read the Pictures
Investigating an avalanche in the backcountry just outside the ski area.
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12. Three Ways to Read a Book
Conclusion
You should be thinking about what you are reading no matter which type of reading you are doing. The purpose of reading is to make meaning from the words and pictures. Remembering what you read is also an important part of the reading process.
Whatever type of reading you are doing, it is important to understand and remember what the words are telling you.
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