Reading Strategies

How to help your child’s reading comprehension and help him/her become a life-long reader.

Rule Number 1

Read, read,read, read, and read some more with your children.Every day.

Why?

• According to the National Center for Education Statistics, reading aloud to your child improves their listening skills and memory functions, as well as fosters creativity.

• Reading aloud to children is the single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success in reading. National Academy of Education's Commission on Reading (1985)

• Reading aloud to children is one of the most effective and inexpensive activities parents, caregivers and educators can do to promote literacy. Children who are introduced to books early and read to on a regular basis do better in school. --Herb, S. (1997) Building Blocks for literacy: What current research shows. School Library Journal, 43(7), 23.

• In addition, according to Science Daily, letting children describe the pictures in books, explain the meanings of stories, ask questions, and talk about the story will improve not only their social skills, but also their understanding of the world.

• Reading aloud also gives children a time to bond with parents.

More evidence

The last 30 years of reading research confirms this simple formula:

• Regardless of sex, race, nationality, or socioeconomic background,

• Students who read the most, read the best, achieve the most, and stay in school the longest.

• Conversely, those who don’t read much, cannot get better at it.

• --Jim Trelease, read-aloud guru and researcher www.trelease-on-reading.com

Reading Strategies

Determine Importance,

Synthesize, and Evaluate

Self-Monitor

Self-Monitor

• Self-Monitor: Does this make sense?

If it doesn’t make sense, use fix-up strategies like these:– Go back and reread.– Read ahead to clarify meaning.– Look at the pictures for clues.– Summarize what’s happened up until now.

http://doctorgoodreader.edublogs.org

Background Knowledge

Is everything your child brings to a book: • Their personal history, • All they’ve read or seen, • Their adventures, • The experiences of their day-to-day life, • Their relationships, and• Their passions.

Connections: Use what you know

That reminds me of . . . because . . .

Visualize—Make Sensory Images

Make the movie in your mind when you read….smell the bread baking….hear the birds singing.

Visualizing is closely connected to background knowledge. (You can’t visualize what you don’t know.)

Readers who do not visualize

Generally do not enjoy reading and do not comprehend what they are reading either.

Infer

• Super-important life skill– Infer at the relational level,– Make predictions, – Make inferences “on the line” (Infer at the word level

using context clues and word substitution), – Read “between the lines” (Make inferences about

what the author has implied), and – Read “beyond the lines” (Create a unique meaning

that combines background knowledge, the text, and personal response).

Context clues

• Look for a synonym. Sally and Susie often get into little skirmishes, but they don’t let these little arguments spoil their friendship.

• Look for an antonym. (Compare and Contrast) Nicho tried to conceal his actions, but his face showed that he was reading another book at his desk.

• Look for the definition. Babushka lived in a dacha, a small house in the Russian countryside.

• Look for words that appear in a series. The dulcimer, banjo, and the fiddle are popular instruments in the Appalachian Mountains.

• Look at cause and effect. My husband infuriates me when he throws away papers that are important to me.

• Look at general context. He reminded me of Yin. Yin was a king in China during the 1500’s whom I had studied about in school.)

Text + Background Knowledge = Successful Inference.

This is reading “between the lines.” Reading between the lines can help us: – Predict what will happen, – Know what the character is feeling, – Determine the character’s character, – Know when a character is acting in and out of

character, – Understand the character’s motivation, – Reason out the “must haves”, and – Follow jumps in time.

Question

Thin and thick questions.The answer to a thin question is right there in the

book. These questions are important to our understanding. Who hit Sammy?

The answer to a thick question is not in the book. These questions open the door to deep thinking. Why was that boy so mean?

Question

Two types of thin questions:• Right There questions are formulated with words taken exactly from the

text. Answers can be found in the same sentence.

• Think and Search questions ask students to think about the information they read and to search through the entire passage to find information that applies.

Two types of thick questions:• Author and You questions require students to have read the text to

understand the questions; however, the answers are not found in the text.

• On My Own questions can be answered by students based on their background knowledge; they do not require reading the text.

Question

Questions lead readers deeper into a piece, sparking in readers’ minds what they care about. If you ask questions as you read you are awake.

Determine Importance

• Is the word I don’t know important enough for me to look up?

• What was important in that conversation?

• What sentence is most important in the paragraph?

• What was important in the chapter?

Determine Importance

When we determine importance:• We separate out what’s important from what’s interesting.• We sort out less important details from more important ones.• We notice how supporting details come together to help us

get bigger, more important ideas.• We use the text features and visuals to get important

information.• We put our thinking into our own words.• We remember that the author and the reader may have

different ideas about what is important.

-Stephanie Harvey Complete Toolkit p. 66

Synthesize

• To synthesize is the ability to determine the overall meaning and significance.

• It is closely related to determining importance. Have you ever heard someone tell you about a movie who didn’t know how to synthesize?

• Help your child learn how to tell a summary of a story in a few sentences. This book is about . . .

Evaluate

• Evaluation is when a reader decides what they like or do not like about what they have read.

• Evaluation is the reader’s chance to assess the book or text.

• You can also have students evaluate if this could really happen or if it’s pretend.

Evaluate

• Decide if the author was able to make the story come to life. Why?

• Decide if the story was informative, entertaining or useful. Why do you think so?

• Think about how well you understood the text. What was difficult/easy?

• Decide if you enjoyed the text. Why?

Read with your children