We have been learning about Reading Strategies and building our Reading "Tool Belt" to help us with those tricky words. We would suggest printing out these book marks at home. When your child is reading at home they should have the bookmark beside their story. When they get to an unknown word you can prompt them to use a strategy and eventually they will become more independent in choosing a strategy to help them with a tricky word. You may need to remind them to use more than one strategy to help them decode. We've found these videos helpful in explaining how to use these reading strategies at home with your First Grader. Happy Reading!
Reading with children and helping them practice specific reading strategies can dramatically improve their ability to comprehend. Here are a few important reading strategies aimed at improving comprehension:
Reread-Good readers will reread a piece several times until they are satisfied they understand it. Rereading is simple, but effective.
Make Connections-Text-to-Text: Does this story relate to another story you have read? What characters from other stories remind you of X? Text-to-Self: How can you relate to this story? Have you ever felt the way X does? Text-to-World: How does this story relate to ‘a current event’?
Summarize-What were the main ideas in this story/chapter? Can you describe what happened in this story/chapter using only three sentences? Predict What do you think will happen next? What do think X will do next? How do you think this problem will be resolved? Why do you think so? What did you read in the story that lead you to this prediction?
Visualize-Close your eyes. Describe the setting. What does X look like? Try sketching a highly descriptive reading passage.
Clarify/Ask Questions Encourage your child to ask questions when confused about a character or the plot. What just happened? Why did X behave that way?
Listen- to your child read aloud everyday. Strong fluency helps to foster strong comprehension. Talk to your child about book characters, what happened in the book, and what he/she liked best about the book.
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