Reading Comprehension

How to Teach Reading Lesson Plans: Uses comprehension strategies to get information from a wide range of materials.

1) Utilizes prior knowledge

Provide students an opportunity to tell things they know about a topic of a book prior to reading a story by “story webbing” or “story spike-it” activities.

Have the students create a KWL chart
Use brainstorming/mapping tool to create a KWL chart.

2) Identifies analogies
Discuss the rule for analogies which is to determine the relationship in the first part and extend to the second part. Present one list at a time to teach similar relationships.

Example:

The teacher will have students give opposites for a list of words on the board. As a group, the students will give an example for each word, and then do an analogy.

Opposites: friend: enemy

hot:

Part and Whole: finger: hand

toe:

3) Locates, summarizes, and combines information from different sources (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, atlas, computer)
Provide students with questions to answer from different sources. Students answer each question and list the source used to answer each question.
Provide a list of topics. The students will gather information from three (3) sources and compile the information on a topic of their (e.g., library, electronic/online resources). and electronic/online resources.

4) Utilizes visual aids to completely understand the passage (e.g., picture, list, table, chart, graph)
Have the students create a “Character Profile”.

Example:

Facts about(a character) What the facts could mean

Have the students create a ‘”Character Evaluation Form”.

Example:

Name: Date:

Novel or Short Story:

Character:

What the character values

5) Utilizes parts of a book (e.g., table of contents, index, glossary, title page, headings, and captions)
Refer to the table of contents of a textbook. Ask the students questions that apply to the table of contents.
Refer to the index. Have the students determine the page number for a subject.
Refer to the glossary. Have the students determine the meaning for a given word.

6) Identifies and applies knowledge of organizational patterns (e.g., sequence, cause and effect, comparison/contrast)
Have the students use visual organizers to compare and contrast.

Examples:

T-Chart Venn Diagram Y-Chart

T Y

Have the students read a book that has been made into a movie. Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the movie and the book.
Have the students read a story or book. Ask students to create a different story ending. Compare and contrast the book ending with the endings written by students.
Read a short story to the students. Have the students complete a flow chart with the main idea in sequential order.
Have the students read a story. Small groups will act out a story to demonstrate cause and effect.

7) Summarizes main idea and supporting details
Have the students read a newspaper article without a title and write an appropriate title for the article.
Have the students read a book and make a list of ten important facts found in the book.
Have the students create a Bubble Map.

Use a brainstorming/mapping tool to create the bubble map.

8) Makes predictions, draws conclusions, and infers meaning
Have the students make predictions about a story and confirm their predictions after reading the story.
Stop the story before the story ends, and have the students write the ending. Tape record a story for students to predict the ending in their own words.
Have the students infer how a character felt when an event occurred in a story.

9) Skims and scans to locate key information
Have students skim/scan reading selection to determine the characters and setting.

10) Rereads to determine meaning
Give the students an article to read silently. Reread the article in small groups. Orally assess the students’ comprehension of the passage through retelling and responding to questioning concerning story elements.
Have pairs of students reread character conversation and have a class discussion on their interpretation of the dialogue.

11) Retells a story
Have the students draw ten pictures on one sheet of paper to retell a story. Cut the pictures apart. Have students trade their pictures, and put them in sequential order to retell the story.

Example:

Divide the class into groups. Assign each group a portion of the book to illustrate. Place illustrations at the front of the room. Have students put them in sequential order to retell the story.

Use a presentation tool to retell the story by illustration. .
Have students listen to oral reading of story and then retell story (oral/written intervention for whole group). Retelling should include the following concepts:

Concepts of Comprehension include:

Specific details

Relevant content

General details

Concepts of Metacognitive Awareness include:

Connects background knowledge

Summarizes text and connects to real life

Concepts of Language Development include:

Controls use of mechanics of speaking and writing (vocabulary, sentence structure, language conventions)

Organizes details and structures composition

Use writing/publishing or presentation tool to retell the fairy tale in a present day setting. and activity.

12) Identifies the story elements (e.g., character, setting, plot, theme, mood, conflict, and solution)
Construct a “Story Map” for the students.

Read a story aloud and have the students fill in the handy map as you read.

 

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