Comprehension+Strategies

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__**Strategies versus Skills**__

 * 1) Comprehension **//strategies//** are procedures that students learn to support independent critical reading of text.
 * 2) **//Skills//** are underlying processes that often support the strategies.
 * 3) [[file:Strategies That Work Posters.pdf]]
 * 4) [[file:Teacher's Guide.pdf]]

__**Resources for teaching Schema (Making Connections)**__ **I use what I know to help me understand the text. (t/s, t/t, t/w)**
 *  [|Reading With Meaning] by Debbie Miller, Chapter 5: "Schema"
 *  [|Mosaic of Thought,] Second Edition by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 4: "The Presence of the Past: Using Schema to Understand and Remember"
 *  [|7 Keys to Comprehension] by Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 3: "Making Connections"
 * Overview of using schema, [|blog post]

__**Resources for teaching Visualizing**__ **I paint a picture or make a movie in my mind using all my senses.**
 *  [|Reading with Meaning] by Debbie Miller, Chapter 6: "Creating Mental Images"
 *  [|Mosaic of Thought,] Second Edition by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 7: "Bringing Text to Life: Using Sensory and Emotional Images to Enhance Comprehension"
 *  [|7 Keys to Comprehension] by Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 2, "Motion Pictures of the Mind" [|Houghton Mifflin Comprehension Alignment.doc] Houghton Mifflin Alignment, "Sensory Images"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overview of teaching Sensory Images, [|blog post.]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|A worksheet for drawing visual images] and writing great words for each chapter of a read-aloud book.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ruark-Timmons [|standard-based bulletin board], //It's All in Their Heads//, that includes two activities for teaching visualizing

<span style="color: #ff0076; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__**Resources for teaching Making Inferences**__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**I predict and question to draw conclusions and reflect thinking.**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Reading with Meaning] by Debbie Miller, Chapter 8: "Inferring"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Mosaic of Thought], Second Edition by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 6: "Creating Meaning: Inference"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|7 Keys to Comprehension] by Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 5: "Weaving Sense into Words"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An overview of teaching inferring, [|blog post.]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|A blog] that describes the 4-part mini-lesson used in a live video conference about inferring what words mean when they are unknown, "Live Video Conference."
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A blog about an inferring lesson of putting a [| word on the back of the studen] t and having the students infer the meaning.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|A blog] that describes a mini-lesson using //No, David// to infer character traits.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Saw a lesson delivered by Reading Recovery-trained Alice Smith of Kite Elementary. She used a purse filled with items to teach the skill of inference. As she took one thing out of the purse at a time, the students inferred what the item said about the person who owned the purse. She charted the student's reponses in two columns: //Inference/ Evidence.// For instance: I //infer// that the person likes to go to the beach and that she needs sun block to prevent her skin from burning. My //evidence// is that she had sunscreen in her purse. Great lesson!
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Inference = Clue + You// is one way to teach inferring which means that you take the "clue" or the informaion from the text and you add the "you" which is what you know about the content and you add them together to come up with new meaning which is the inference.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Inferring nonfiction. [|five finger strategy.]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Inference Task Cards] that can be used for mini-lessons or small group active involvement.

<span style="color: #ff0076; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__**Resources for teaching Asking Questions**__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**I ask questions and look for answers--before I read, as I read, after I read.**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Reading With Meaning] by Debbie Miller, Chapter 9: "Asking Questions"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Mosaic of Thought], Second Edition by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 5: "The Art of Discovery: Questioning"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|7 Keys to Comprehension] by Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 4: "Why, What, Where, Who and How"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An overview of Asking Questions that talks about questioning like unwrapping a gift on this [|blog post].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is a blog post by Angela Meirs that is an overview on [|teaching first graders to categorize types of questions].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|25 mini-lesson] on teaching the questioning strategy
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For some suggestions on asking "thick and thin" questions including a video, visit this [|web site].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This blog post by Angela Meirs includes video of a mini-lesson teaching children a [|strategy for figuring out the main idea of a non-fiction piece] by asking the author questions (What is the writing about? What do you have to say? What's your point? Does this make sense?)

<span style="color: #ff0076; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__**Resources for teaching Finding Out Important Ideas**__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**I find the main idea, author's purpose, details, topic, etc. as I read.**

<span style="color: #ff0076; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">__**Resources for teaching Retelling/Summarizing**__
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**I can restate the meaning of the text in my own words.**

<span style="color: #ff0076; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__**Resources for teaching Text Structures in Nonfiction:**__ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**I use this strategy with non-fiction texts; problem/solution, cause/effect, descriptive, compare/contrast, sequence**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Reading With Meaning] by Debbie Miller, Chapter 10, "Determining Importance in Nonfiction"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Mosaic of Thought], Second Edition by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 8: "The Heart of the Matter: Determining Importance"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|7 Keys to Comprehension] by Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 6: "What's Important and Why"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An overview of Determining Importance, [|blog post.]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is a [|first grade unit] on Determining Importance.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the ways that we teach first graders about reading non-fiction and how it is different from fiction is to teach them to recognize non-fiction conventions such as index, glossary, page of contents, photographs, captions, cut-aways... this resource gives an example of a template for a conventions [|booklet].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|A blog entry] that actually describes a standard-based bulletin board that demonstrates student examples of non-fiction booklets/ notebooks.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Nonfiction Author Studies in the Elementary Classroom] suggests Gail Gibbons as a first grade nonfiction author to study, Chapter 2: "Growing with Gail Gibbons-Grade 1". Great examples of non-fiction conventions can be found in Gail Gibbons' books.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Non fiction books] This website includes non fiction books that can be read aloud to your students. These books also have great examples of nonfiction conventions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the artifacts that we make as we investigate each of the nonfiction conventions is a Nonfiction Conventions Chart. We usually laminate this chart and keep it up all year for the students to use as a reference, This is one examples of a [|Nonfiction_Conventions_Chart.JPG]. Another example is included in this [|Macarado blog.]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[image:http://www.wikispaces.com/i/mime/32/application/msword.png width="32" height="32" link="http://firstgradecce.wikispaces.com/file/view/Nonfiction+conventions.doc"]] [|Nonfiction conventions.doc] is a chart that lists nonfiction conventions and gives a definition.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[image:http://firstgradecce.wikispaces.com/i/mime/32/application/msword.png caption="external image msword.png" link="http://firstgradecce.wikispaces.com/file/view/Nonfiction+conventions.doc"]][|Nonfiction conventions.doc] Using the Nonfiction Conventions Chart above, this is a worksheet that you can give to individual students or partners to use during the work session of the Readers' Workshop. They use the worksheet by writing the title of a book and the page that shows each of the nonfiction conventions listed. This is a worksheet that can be used after all of the nonfiction conventions have been introduced. This could also be used as an assessment.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[image:http://firstgradecce.wikispaces.com/i/mime/32/application/msword.png caption="external image msword.png" link="http://firstgradecce.wikispaces.com/file/view/nonfiction+book+tags.doc"]][|nonfiction book tags.doc] These are examples of basket labels for nonfiction books in a classroom library.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Main Idea Task cards] that can be used for group discussion of determining the main idea.

<span style="color: #ff0076; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">__**Resources for teaching Synthesizing**__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**What I know + What I read = understanding or new idea.**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Reading With Meaning] by Debbie Miller, Chapter 11, "Synthesizing Information"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|Mosaic of Thought,] Second Edition by Ellin Keene and Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 9: "Synthesis"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> [|7 Keys to Comprehension] by Susan Zimmermann, Chapter 6: What's Important and Why"
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In first grade synthesis includes retelling and then summary before synthesizing, getting the gist of a story.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This [|blog] does a nice job of describing how to use the beginning/ middle/ end and story elements to tell a 6-8 sentence summary.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This [|blog post] explains synthesis with a packet of seeds with the "synthesis - aha moment" coming as the plant blooms.