1. Reading Comprehension Strategies Developed by Katy Hoops Goldrick Elementary

2. Good readers can understand and think about what they read. That is called COMPREHENSION. Good readers use many STRATEGIES while they read to help their COMPREHENSION. Background knowledge Making Connections PredictingVisualizing MAIN IDEAInferring Summarizing/RetellingAsking Questions

3. Get yourself ready to read before you start reading. Turn on your brain, start thinking about what you already know. You need to “warm up” before you read, just like an athlete before a game. WHAT TO DO Read the title and look at the pictures. Think about what those things remind you of. Think about what you already know about those things. STRATEGY: BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

4. By the end of this unit you will be able to: Use what you know to help you understand what you are reading before, during, and after you read. Build your background knowledge with new information. Add to you background knowledge as you learn new things.

5. STRATEGY: PREDICTING A prediction is a smart guess about what will happen in a story or situation based on your background knowledge. You can always change your prediction as you gather more information while you read. Reading allows you to verify your prediction. What to do: Think about what you know before reading. Make a smart guess about what you think will happen.

6. STRATEGY: MAIN IDEA Good readers ask themselves, “What is this story mostly about?” Think about what the author is trying to tell you, the HEART of his or her message. What lesson did the main character learn? What to do: Read the book then ask yourself, “What is this story mostly about?” Don’t focus on the details, just the BIG idea. Think about what the main character learned in the story.

7. An example of MAIN IDEA It was Sandy’s birthday. She was very excited about her party. She had invited all of her friends. Her mother decorated her cake with unicorns and rainbows. Purple and pink balloons were hung throughout the house. The doorbell rang and her friends came in singing Happy Birthday. Sandy could tell it was going to be a terrific party. What is the main idea of this story? What is it mostly about?

8. STRATEGY: MAIN IDEA At the end of this unit you will be able to: Understand the difference between the main idea and the details of a story. Answer the question, “What is this story mostly about?”

9. STRATEGY: SUMMARIZING Good readers can remember the characters, setting, and important events of a story. They can retell the story in order of events. DO NOT tell the whole story, just the IMPORTANT events. What to do: As you read think about the characters, the setting, and the important events. Use a graphic organizer, like a 5 finger summary or a story map, to retell the story.

10. STRATEGY: SUMMARIZING/RETELLING By the end of this unit you will be able to: Retell a story in order (sequence) Identify story elements like: settingproblem characterssolution Separate important events from unimportant events.

11. STRATEGY: MAKING CONNECTIONS Good readers are always making connections to text. Text is anything written like a book, a newspaper, a poem, or a magazine article. If connections are meaningful they can help us understand what we are reading better. What to do: As you read be aware of what the text reminds you of.

12. STRATEGY: MAKING CONNECTIONS There are three types of connections: Text-to-self (T-S) Text to text (T-T) Text to world (T-W)

13. STRATEGY: PREDICTING

14. By the end of this unit you will be able to: Make a smart guess about the story before and during reading. Learn to change your predictions if necessary as you gather more information. After reading confirm, change or add to your prediction.