I always (always!) start my year off with teaching reading strategies. This will help your students in everything they do throughout the rest of the year. Not only does it work miracles for their reading, but they can use these strategies across all subjects. Here is an overview on how to teach reading strategies:
First things first:
Download this super helpful reading strategies bookmark. This fun bookmark is the perfect tool for students doing independent reading! It directs them to use strategies when they are having difficulty with a text. When they’re done reading, it gives them post-reading strategy ideas! Choose from 5 different bookmark designs for students to decorate.
Create Schema Connections:
Students need to be able to relate what they are reading to something they already know. This helps them to better retain information, relate to stories, and expand their horizons overall. Here are just some ways to foster creating schema connections as a reading strategy:
Recommended books for schema lessons:
These two books are great for text to text connections:
Visualize (Create Mental Images):
Now, close your eyes and imagine a class filled with competent readers…it’s a pretty amazing sight, am I right?! Visualizing, or creating mental images, is such a great way to get your students feeling along with their reading. It helps to create emotions, detailed images and overall comprehension. Here are some ideas:
Books to try:
Inferring:
Some students can find inference difficult at first. It takes practice to be able to pull out relevant evidence from a text in order to support an opinion or prediction. So, the more practice and examples you give your students, the better they will be able to infer. Give these ideas a try:
Teach your students how to infer and draw conclusion about this video:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7arGFUT0uU&noredirect=1]
Some books to try out:
Asking Questions:
Asking questions, isn’t as easy as it sounds. Students need to be able to ask relevant questions, that go to further their comprehension. It is meant to be used as a strategy to go beyond the text and extend their knowledge. Here are some ideas to try:
Some books to try:
Teach these strategies to your students, and develop super readers!
My post was inspired by the wonderful suggestions in this book by Debbie Miller:
