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Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

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English Language Arts Standards " Reading: Literature " Grade 1 " 3

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Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

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Helping our students with the major events of the story.

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Teacher Background Knowledge and Preparation

I have big plans for my students this year. We are going to be diving into stories, retelling key details and major events, and sequencing stories. I have to put certain things in place first, in order for my students to be successful. This lesson sets the foundation for future successes. Today we are going to be learning the flow map. A flow map is another Thinking Map that is always used for sequencing events or putting steps of a process in order.

Like this other lessons in this unit, my students would get lost if they needed to use this map for the first time alongside learning how to sequence a rigorous text for the first time. It's early in the year, and they need time to learn the tools before applying them to content. So, today, we are going to be sequencing what the students did that morning in order to get ready for the day. Even though we aren't actually reading a text today, we are building towards standards RL1.2 and RL1.3. Students will have to retell how they got ready for school today and describe the characters, settings, and major events.

This lesson is also setting the foundation for W1.3. In later writing lessons we will be sequencing events by using our flow map and even adding temporal words such as first, next, and last. Today those words are provided on the map and as students read their map to a partner they will need to read their map using those temporal words. So you can see, I have to make sure my students' understanding of a flow map is in place before I can move on to future lessons.

For today's lesson you'll need either your Smartboard Introducing Thinking Maps or Activboard Introducing Thinking Maps lesson. You'll also need to make enough student copies of the flow map Student Copy Flow Map for each student in your classroom.

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Teacher Background Knowledge and Preparation I have big plans for my students this year. We are going to be diving into stories, retelling key details and major events, and sequencing stories. I have to put certain things in place first, in order for my students to be successful.

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Reading Comprehension Sequence Chain

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After reading a story, students draw a picture of the setting on one side of the kite and the characters on the other side. They can write events from the story on the bows that will be attached to the string of the kite.

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Students have 4 sections to record their ideas about a character from a story.

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Having the students follow the story

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1st grade Summarizing Fiction Worksheet

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Tell Me Everything | Worksheet | Education.com

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Who doesn't love sharing about a good book? Your students will love writing and drawing about their books in this reading comprehension activity. After students read independently, have them share about what they read using this fun worksheet. Grade Subject View aligned standards

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Students will be able to identify and describe several story elements after reading a story.

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A sentence frames is a method of scaffolding that utilizes fill-in-the-blank charts to support English Language Learners (ELL) who struggle with vocabulary, thus making it very difficult to answer comprehension questions related to a story they read.

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main character question and sentence frame | Reading anchor charts, Sentence frames, 2nd grade writing

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Mar 21, 2012 - main character question and sentence frame

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An anchor chart is a visual tool used during instruction. Teachers model skills and write the important points onto a large piece of paper that is then placed where students can access it to use as a resource when describing story elements.

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Story Element Anchor Chart First grade | Anchor charts first grade, Story elements anchor chart, Ela anchor charts

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Apr 11, 2018 - 47 Likes, 2 Comments - @theteacherwiththeowltattoo on Instagram: “Going through pictures while avoiding the stack of laminated centers I have to cut out, because I'm…”

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Exit tickets are great tools to use to regularly check for reading comprehension understanding. These are formative assessments used to provide immediate feedback to students. Exit tickets can be given digitally (e.g., Kahoot) or on a piece of paper, as shown below.

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2nd Grade Reading Exit Tickets with Google Forms for Distance Learning in 2020 | 2nd grade reading, Reading informational texts, 3rd grade reading

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May 13, 2020 - These 2nd grade reading exit tickets in PDF and Google Forms include 34 short passages for each second grade reading standards.

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This activity is great to use for ELLs who require additional support with understanding story elements. It is a visual and interactive worksheet that tests whether or not students under reading comprehension by having them read a short story and provide details on characters, the setting, and the main idea.

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FREE Reading Comprehension Read and Match | Reading comprehension, Reading comprehension kindergarten, Kindergarten reading

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Apr 13, 2018 - These reading comprehension packets include the following activities: -Read 3 times for fluency -Match the story with the pictures -Multiple choices These reading passages are perfect for both beginning readers, struggling readers, and ESL students in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. These r...

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Students cut out parts of the story and place them onto another piece of paper in the correct sequence. Then, teachers/aides can ask students to label characters, setting, and key ideas.

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Little Red Riding Hood Fairy Tale Activities - United Teaching in 2020 | Fairy tale activities, Red riding hood story, Kindergarten activities

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Jun 13, 2020 - The Little Red Riding Hood Fairy Tales packet draws upon the story elements found in the fairy tale to provide an assortment of literacy and math activities

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This activity provide ELLs with four options to choose from in order to correctly match the picture with the story. Pictures are labeled as A, B, C, and D and students must choose the correct letter that matches the story's main characters, setting, key ideas, etc.

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Story Elements Match Up FREE | Story elements, Free stories, Fun activities

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Jul 30, 2019 - Included in this FREE Story Elements Match Up Set are TWO sets of Story Elements Match Up Cards! The first set includes eight familiar fairytales with a Character, Setting, problem, and Solution card for each. The second set includes other characters from pop culture and the problems and solutions...

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Introducing what "Characters" and "Settings" are in steps and different formats for students to understand the meanings of those words. Reading stories to children and discussing different settings and characters each time will help them to start brainstorm.

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We've been spending some time on basic story elements the past two weeks. We began with character and then moved on to setting. Currently, we're working on beginning, middle, and end.

To introduce character, I showed an anchor chart that I made. I found this chart on Pinterest but it was a dead pin, so I can't credit the person who made it. If you made it, let me know!

We read Caps for Sale {one of my favorite books!} and worked on a graphic organizer about the peddler. I used my Differentiated Graphic Organizers for the first time this year and was so excited about having them! I could quickly give the easy version to my struggling students and the on-level version to the rest of the class.

The next day, we reviewed characters and moved onto setting. Again, I began with another anchor chart. This one was half-filled in because I wanted kids to give me examples of the when and where. We read A Chair for my Mother and discussed the setting. Then I displayed the first page photo{Blue Tile Diner} on my doc camera for the kids to see while they worked on their setting graphic organizers.

The next day the kids got to create their own settings. They had the choice of farm, ocean, or zoo. They chose the time of day and the amount of characters they wanted to add to their settings. This was a lot of fun! You can snag this for FREE at the end of the post. We also watched a Brain Pop Jr. to wrap things up with setting.

As the week went on, we continued to review characters and setting prior to each read-aloud {I do 1-2 read alouds per day along with a chapter in Junie B. Jones}.

As a final wrap-up, of character/setting, the kids completed a character and setting sort.

To snag the above items, click HERE for a couple of freebies! To check out my Differentiated Graphic Organizers, click the cover below. You can see how I organize my organizers in THIS POST.

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We've been spending some time on basic story elements the past two weeks. We began with character and then moved on to setting. Currently, we're working on beginning, middle, and end. To introduce character, I showed an anchor chart that I made.

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Modeling first what is to be expected, then letting the children work with you as you practice, then pairing them off to work with their peers, helps starts the repetitive pattern of learning characters, settings, and events.

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You are going to start off the lesson by reading the story. As the Common Core standards quickly approach, my district is moving towards training teachers in accountable talk, so I am really trying to implement this in my classroom. If you've never heard of accountable talk, don't worry. The University of Pittsburg has a fabulous resource on it and I've posted it as a resource for you here.

When I taught this lesson, I partnered my students up beforehand and had them sit next to each other on the carpet. They are also wearing their accountable talk necklaces where each student has a job. I have the template for the necklace posted in the resource section here.

I would stop throughout the story and ask questions. After the first several pages I stopped and said, " How could we describe Max? Person 1 -you are the speaker. Tell your partner how you can describe Max. Person 2- you are the listener. Ask them why they think that and what their evidence is." Then we discussed what partners had come up with as a class.

I also stopped at the point where the forest started growing in Max's room. I stopped and asked, " Did a forest really start growing in Max's room? Person 2 - you are now the speaker. Tell your partner what you think might be happening. Person 1 - you are the listener. Ask your partner why they think that and what their evidence is." Then we discussed what partners had come up with as a class.

We also stopped after we had read about the Wild Things. I asked "How can we describe the Wild Things. Person 1 - you are the speaker again. Tell your partner how you can describe the Wild Things. Person 2 - you are the listener. Ask your partner why they think that and what their evidence is." Then we discussed what partners had come up with as a class.

Another thing I have implemented with my class during read alouds is to clarify the meaning of words. I told them that if I ever read a word that they don't understand, to raise their hand and ask, "Can you please clarify the word ________." This has been enormously successful in my class. They are really comprehending the story better because they are learning new vocabulary.

In this story some asked "Can you clarify the word gnashed?" If there are context clues in the story, I try to get the students to try and figure out the meaning of the word. There were no context clues in this instance so I just told the students what the word meant. I explained it was like grinding your teeth together and I did that for my class.

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Characters and Setting With "Where The Wild Things Are"

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Beginning readers not only need to learn to decode, but also to understand what they read.

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Practice describing details of characters. Students learn adjectives, vocabulary, and how they can identify characters.

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Graphic organizers and posters/anchor charts about characters, settings … | Graphic organizers, Reading graphic organizers, Reading comprehension graphic organizers

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Aug 27, 2018 - Printable graphic organizers can help student practice and demonstrate reading comprehension. This set of 24 differentiated graphic organizers can be used with any fiction book. Use them to help students identify basic story elements and plot elements: characters, settings, and sequencing key events...

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Discussing "Character, Settings, and Major Events"

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Discussing "Character, Settings, and Major Events"

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Introducing the terms with the class, what constitutes as a "major" event, and discussing the meaning first to help students understand the meaning. Also, having open discussion after storytime if they could point out the characters, setting, and major events.

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Tell Me More: Characters, Settings, and Events | Lesson Plan | Education.com

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Students will dig deeper into each of these components and learn to provide specific details from their texts.

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Providing clear, explicit instruction that defines setting. Use Anchor charts and graphic organizers to help with repetition.

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In this Story Elements Study, we are going to take a look at teaching setting. Keep reading for lesson ideas, activities, mentor texts, and more!

When teaching setting, your focus will build at each grade level. Starting in the younger grades, students are going to be identifying the setting and its components. Later, students will be describing and even analyzing the setting. Specifically, students will need to be able to figure out how the setting affects the story.

Common Core Standards:

Kinder RL.K.3: With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

1st Grade RL.1.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

2nd Grade RL.2.3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

3rd Grade RL.3.3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

4th Grade RL.4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

As you can see in the standards, there is not explicit verbiage in the 2nd and 3rd grade for setting skills. However, understanding a story will require a strong focus on all of the story elements. Keeping setting in your instruction will greatly benefit your students' story comprehension skills.

Stock Up On Mentor Texts With Strong Settings

First, when teaching setting, a mentor text is going to be your best tool. Choose mentor texts that have clear, strong setting details. Settings should span a variety of places in the world, periods of time, climates, historic or current social issues, etc. You will want to introduce students to settings that truly affect the story.

Here are a collection of affiliate links to Amazon that I think would help your students while learning about settings!

Start With Simply Identifying Setting

Another thing to remember when teaching setting: provide clear, explicit instruction that defines setting. Start with an anchor chart and examples. Students will need to start thinking about when and where their story is happening. This will be especially helpful for students in the younger grades. Simple when and where practice is going to be your best place to start!

When teaching setting in Kindergarten, teachers will need to provide prompting and support. Use simple activities that show clear setting details. For example, you can use a picture or story card that shows where a story might be set, while delivering details out loud. This will allow students to "see" what is being described. Simple picture books will be good for this, too. Just, be sure that the setting is clear.

Shift Into Describing The Setting

Once students have had ample opportunity with identifying the setting of a story, they will need to start describing the setting. Again, provide your students with examples and prompting questions. The anchor chart above shows "where, when and environment" examples.

Each time you read a new story or revisit a previous story, describe the setting. Students will develop a habit of thinking about the setting if you are continuously describing these elements. For example, when you are reading a story in whole group or small group, stop and ask prompting questions. "Where is this story taking place? When is this happening? What is happening around the characters? What is the weather like?"...etc. Keep your prompting questions on display in your classroom so that students can practice this skill when they are reading n their own or with a partner.

Graphic organizers are also going to be helpful when teaching setting. Students will be able to describe settings both orally and in written form, strengthening the skill. Provide your students with graphic organizers to use during independent and buddy reading. They can keep these in a folder or you can keep them in a central location in your classroom. As long as they have access to the graphic organizers for use while reading on their own.

Dive Deeper Into How the Setting Affects the Story

When teaching setting in upper grades, students will need to dive deeper. Now, the focus will be on how that setting affects the story. Of course, students will still need to identify and describe the setting. But, the analysis of that setting will be more important at this stage.

So, your question prompts will need additions. "What if the events were to happen somewhere else? What if it were another time in history? How does this place/time/these surroundings affect the events? How would the events/outcomes be affected if..." You will want your students to start really thinking about the surroundings in your story.

A simple anchor chart, like the one above, is a good way to start your practice. It will allow students to separate identification from the analysis. First, identify/describe the setting. Then, think about how it affects the story.

Graphic organizers and task cards will be strong supports at this level, too. They will need to be more focused, though. Make sure any supporting elements include explicit prompting or direction for how the setting is affecting the story.

Suggested Resources to Help Teach Character Study

If you are looking for COMPLETE resources for teaching setting (and all story elements) in your classroom, look no further. Each of the Story Elements CCSS units below includes: Lessons and materials, graphic organizers, comprehension passages and questions, interactive notebook elements, task cards and an assessment! Click your grade level to get a closer look.

Thank you so much for reading! Hope you found some helpful tips for teaching setting in your elementary classroom!

Want more ELA blog posts?

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All About SETTING- Story Elements Study - Elementary Nest

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In this Story Elements Study, we are going to take a look at teaching setting. Keep reading for lesson ideas, activities, mentor texts, and more! When teaching setting, your focus will build at each grade level. Starting in the younger grades, students are going to be identifying the setting and its components.

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Walking the path of a fairy tale. This lesson would work for any story read to 1st graders to help them in learning visually seeing sequencing and comprehension.

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This is a great way to help children with retelling a story. It builds comprehension, sequencing and it is fun! It is simple - on a long piece of bulletin board paper - draw a winding path. At the beginning of the path, draw a visual clue of the first event. I did this Storytelling Pathway in August when we were learning the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." I had the children tell me what happened first, second, etc and I drew the visual clues. After I drew the story, I let the children color it in and add any missing details. When we finished, children were given the opportunity to walk the Storytelling Pathway and retell the story to us!

On one side of the path I drew the three bowls of porridge. On the other side - the three bears.

Next I drew the table with the three bowls and a girl.

I then added the three chairs and the three beds.

To signal that the bears return, I drew the three bears and repeated the sequence of events. The last image I added was the window that Goldilocks jumped out of and ran away.

Give it a try! At this time of year, the student could draw it themselves!

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Storytelling Pathways: Walking the Fairy Tale - Fairy Dust Teaching

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This is a great way to help children with retelling a story. It builds comprehension, sequencing and it is fun! It is simple - on a long piece of bulletin board paper - draw a winding path. At the beginning of the path, draw a visual clue of the first event.

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Sequencing the story will help students comprehend key details and events happening in the story. Model by putting up visual cues on a board or story chains to help students demonstrate the retelling of a story.

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Scaffolding instruction by providing prompts for each section of the story map you are using. For example, in the "Beginning" box of your map, write in prompts such as: Who is the story about? Where does the story happen?

Varying the complexity of story maps and sequencing words used. Some students may benefit from the very simple beginning-middle-end format. More complex sequences, such as first-next-then-last, can be used with students who are ready.

Using wordless books. There are many wordless books that can be used for sequencing with younger students and with English language learners or students with limited English proficiency. For younger students, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, which humorously details a woman making pancakes from scratch, or the wordless adventures by Mark Newgarden about a small dog named Bow-Wow (e.g., Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug) are good options. Books by Barbara Lehmann and David Weisner are helpful for older or more sophisticated students practicing sequencing.

Using books in translation for picture sequencing activities. Providing English-learners with a copy of the text in their first language allows them to participate in sequencing and demonstrate their understanding of the concept and the content.

Modeling sequencing with a smaller group of students using a familiar book with a very clear narrative structure to help students understand each story component.

Extend the learning

Writing

Students can use sequencing words and charts to help them write summaries of texts they have read or heard. They can also use sequencing as a pre-writing technique for planning their own writing or use a sequencing word anchor chart as a writing tool.

Math

Most math curricula include worksheets on ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc). You can support students' sequencing ability by encouraging the use of vocabulary words such as "What bead goes first? Then which bead? Which bead is third?" Encouraging students to write out the steps for solving addition and subtraction problems that include regrouping is an excellent way to have them think through the steps in a logical order.

Science

Scientific inquiry also develops sequencing skills. In order to study or observe changes in something, students must follow along and record, in sequential order, what they notice. Students can document their observations by writing or drawing.

Social Studies

Timelines are a great way to teach sequence in social studies. Students may enjoy making a timeline of their own lives, including important milestones such as when they learned to walk or talk or when they first wrote their name or rode a bike. Once students understand the process of charting important milestones on a timeline, topics from the social studies curricula can be used. Try this printable timeline template.

Other ideas for sequencing

Arts and crafts activities. Quilt-making and other arts and craft activities may reinforce the idea of sequencing and also introduce math concepts (measurement, addition & subtraction and basic computation, etc). Alex Henderson's Kids Start Quilting with Alex Anderson: 7 Fun & Easy Projects Quilts for Kids by Kids, Tips for Quilting with Children provides easy instructions for adults quilting with children.

Cookbooks for children can reinforce math concepts (measurement, etc) and sequencing while making connections to students' reading. The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories by Barbara Walker presents recipes for foods mentioned in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Everyday activities. Create a sequence page for a simple activity around the house or at school. Fold a blank piece of paper into squares. Start with 4 large squares. For older students, create more squares. Ask kids to draw the steps they know in the order in which the steps occur. For example, draw each step it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or to brush their teeth.

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Story Sequence | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Sequencing refers to the identification of the components of a story - the beginning, middle, and end - and also to the ability to retell the events within a given text in the order in which they occurred. The ability to sequence events in a text is a key comprehension strategy, especially for narrative texts.

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Graphic organizers help the students self assess if they have described all of the details about the character and what they could be missing.

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Hi all! The big day is Tuesday! That's my first day back with my little sweeties. I'm getting excited and nervous. Yeah, can you believe after all these years of teaching I still get excited and nervous! I'm starting again this year with 30 firsties and I'm sure it will increase. I guess I should be used to it but I don't think I ever will.
I thought I'd share with everyone some little tools I print to have on hand when I'm working in guided reading with my kiddos. I print several copies and have a stack of each of these by my reading table so I can quickly grab some for my lessons. Let me start by telling you that I tell my firsties they are ' smart readers under construction'. We talk about what that means and I tell them I am going to help them in every way become a smart reader. I love the word 'smart' more than 'better'. It seems more positive to me. When I think of 'better', I think well maybe I'm not very good to start with and I want my kiddos the think of themselves as good reader and I'm just going to help them be smarter reader.
The first is sorting pages. I have 2, 3, 4, and 5 way sort pages.

I use these a ton of ways. I might have them list short vowel words, long & short vowels, word families, inflectional endings, root word and ending, suffixes, prefixes, characters and describing words, who & what, hard & soft c or g words, the list can go on and on. Sometimes I give the words, sometimes they find the words in their reading. You can use it with the low, middle and high kids. It's open to whatever you can think of to use it with. It's a fun, quick easy practice or assessment for your kiddos. I don't make them into a booklet because I want the kids to take them home so parents can see what we are doing.

The next one is the character sheet. I use this one a lot especially after I've taught describing words. I can generally use this one at the beginning of the year with my high students too.

Another one I use is Did You Know. This one is great for non-fiction books.

These sheets don't have to be used only in guided reading. Sometimes I'll use them with the whole class like when I read Boxcar Children. We fill out a 4-way sort on the four characters and what we know about them. There are so many possibilities, just use your creativity.

If you'd like a FREE download just click HERE.

Oh and some super GOOD NEWS- I have a new grandson!!

This is Elijah Ray Robison. Born August 15th. He was 10 lbs. 5 ounces. My daughter has BIG boys! I just LOVE all the dark soft hair!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a terrific week!

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Hi all! The big day is Tuesday! That's my first day back with my little sweeties. I'm getting excited and nervous. Yeah, can you believe after all these years of teaching I still get excited and nervous! I'm starting again this year with 30 firsties and I'm sure it will increase.

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This is a great prompt for students to look at during their exercises for reminders to help them figure out all of the key details of the story. This is also a great lesson/activity for them to help be independent thinkers.

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This is a fun game to play with students when reading a book that has been read a few times. During the reading, have a student spin the wheel and answer the question that it lands on. This is a fun learning activity that helps comprehension, memory, and social-emotional learning to have peers help if a student gets stuck too!

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Questions, Anyone? Ask Your Way to Reading Comprehension | Activity | Education.com

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Help your child gain reading comprehension skills, as well as listening and memory skills with this fun activity that uses his favorite book!

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Reading aloud is a good class activity or individual accommodation for ELLs because it allows them to better understand text when they hear it vs. read it. ELLs often understand oral language better than written words, so having a story read out loud to them improves text comprehension.

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A great UDL strategy to implement for ELLs is to assign students to read stories together in groups. Pairing this with chunking, where students stop after a certain part of a story to reflect, allows them to ask/answer specific questions related to the comprehension of the story as a group (e.g., Where did the story take place?)

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After splitting the class into 3-4 groups, provide each group with a reading comprehension beach ball (pictured below). This is a fun and interactive game to test student knowledge on key story elements, as well as improve recall. Each group begins by throwing the beach ball to a peer. Whatever part your pointer finger lands on, that will be the question you must answer.

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This comprehension activity requires students to work in pairs or small groups. Students take turns rolling the dice and then retell based on which number the dice lands on. For example, if you roll a 1 you would need to look at your paper and answer the question pertaining to the dice with 1 dot. This is a great way to practice comprehension, as well as teach other group members/partners who may not know the answer to your question.

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A different version of a classic game!

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I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but truthfully, it's not.

When the well of inspiration ran dry, I turned to my Pinterest boards.

Battleship is his favorite "board" game right now. Since Jill's game board was a little smaller than I wanted, I made my own.

All you need is to print two and make sure you have a folder to stand up between players. Oh, and spelling words. You're going to need a handful of those too.

Now I picked five of the most challenging words from my son's spelling list; I specifically picked words that varied in length.

Now we both added the words, one letter per box, to the grid on the left side of the game board. Note: words should not be written diagonally.

Now Player 1 calls out a coordinate (e.g. D2) with the hope that the opponent has written one of the words' letters in that box. Each time Player 1 calls a coordinate, he/she marks an "X" in that space on the right side of their game board.

If a letter is in the space called, Player 2 says so (and can even indicate the word that was hit or the letter), and instead of an X, Player 1 writes an O in the box called. Player 2 puts an X through the box that was called as well, covering the letter, on the left side of their game board. Coordinates that don't hit letters can also be recorded by Player 2 if they so desire.

Play alternates between two players. When the coordinates for an entire word are hit, the player must announce it. The aim is to call coordinates that successfully locate all the spelling words.

This is SUCH a fun way to reinforce spelling! Thanks, Jill, for sharing your genius!

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I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but truthfully, it's not. When the well of inspiration ran dry, I turned to my Pinterest boards. Battleship is his favorite "board" game right now. Since Jill's game board was a little smaller than I wanted, I made my own.

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Mind Maps Made Easy

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Story mapping with a small group of students will benefit students with special needs. As the teacher is reading the students they can use pictures create a visuals for students to help them understand what is being asked.

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3 Ways to Target Reading Comprehension In Special Education · Mrs. P's Specialties | Special education reading, Special education, Special education schools

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May 16, 2019 - Comprehension of language in general can be very challenging for students in special education. Most of my students have been diagnosed with autism or another language based disability. As a result, understanding what others say to them, vocabulary and text comprehension is difficult. Here are 3 activities we do to hel…

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Including pictures and visuals into the story and the questions be asked will help support students with special needs. This can be applied to any book that is being read in the class.

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Picture Comprehension Spring for Special Education | Life skills classroom, Comprehension, Asd classroom

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Dec 10, 2016 - Leveled Picture Comprehension Spring for Special EducationPicture comprehension is perfect for students with autism or other developmental disabilities, who need symbol supports.WHAT LEVELS ARE INCLUDED?This unit offers students visual supports for multiple choice answers and is differentiated (fiel...

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Sometimes it is easier for students with special needs to relate to more functional stories. Stories about things they like or that they do at school. It makes the reading more relatable and help the student comprehend what is being read.

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Do your students struggle to show that they are able to comprehend what they have read? Being able to demonstrate comprehension is a vital life skill. Here is how we target reading comprehension in my self-contained special education classroom.

Many of my students have language based disabilities. The more words (spoken or written), the more my students struggle. To help, I systematically add more and more words. I have some students that will shut down if they see too many words at once. Slowly building upon skills and adding words boosts my students' confidence and reading skills.

To do this, I use the Read & Do Reading Comprehension materials. The set is already leveled to take my students from one word directives with a picture cue to following multiple step worksheets. We start out with words and pictures paired together. This helps students learn to use picture cues which will help with reading books later on. Here is an example of one of the cards we start with:

When shown this card, students read the word and then show they understand what it means by picking up a nearby crayon and coloring. Once the student has demonstrated this skill three consecutive time with 100% accuracy, we add more words in and begin fading the picture cue. Here is what a whole sequence looks like:

Once students get to the worksheet step, we add them into work task boxes to make sure that students are generalizing the skills. We also use these Read & Do materials during work centers. Read more about work centers: Direct Instruction Work Centers.

Another option is to write out directives on index cards. While this allowed me to customize the directives more for each student, it wasn't enough support for all of my students.

We also work on comprehension as we teach beginning reading by having students read a single word and select the matching picture. This Sound Blending Center can be used as errorless teaching if there is only one picture to select. To make it more difficult, I increase the number of choices the student selects from.

The materials from this Blending Sounds Center can also be added to work task boxes.

Other ways to work on functional reading comprehension is through following a recipe, or directions to complete a work task. Do you have other ways you work on it? Leave us a comment!

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Functional Reading Comprehension · Mrs. P's Specialties

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Do your students struggle to show that they are able to comprehend what they have read? Being able to demonstrate comprehension is a vital life skill. Here is how we target reading comprehension in my self-contained special education classroom. Many of my students have language based disabilities.

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Adapted Interactive Books are adapted to the students to the student needs. Any book can be adapted to meet the needs of the students. Interactive is creating symbols or pictures to go a long with the book so the student is interacting by matching, answering questions, or lifting flaps. This engages the student more while working on comprehension.

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Using adapted interactive books in your special education classroom can have huge benefits for your students. They can create the essential foundation skills for future literacy skills. Adapted interactive books will help your address literacy IEP goals and objectives and those that address behavior.

In this blog post we will explore 10 reasons why you need to be using adapted interactive books in your classroom.

Increasing Stamina For Books

Reading stamina is the amount of time the student can maintain focus on reading or interacting with text. As you know, this can be very challenging for the students in our classrooms. Interactive books allow for many opportunities to engage or interact with the text. When students are continuously pointing, labeling, moving pictures, etc. they get distracted less. That leads to more on task behavior and attention.

Once students are enjoying the adapted interactive books, slowly begin adding in longer books or more than one book. You might also begin using visuals to have students actively working towards the goal of increased stamina. For example, you could use a stopwatch to time how long the student was able to maintain attention with the book and then graph that number. Encourage students to try and "beat" their last time.

Build Fluency With Common Sight Words

Fluency in reading needs to be practiced. That means our students need to be be practicing more and more. Through this repetition, students will begin identifying common sight words quicker and quicker. This automatic identification will also help students feel more confident and successful in reading... which leads to better stamina!

Build Vocabulary & Language Skills

Weak vocabulary and language skills can often be a barrier between students and higher academics and life skills. We need to constantly be working to build up our students vocabulary and flexibility with language. Adapted and interactive books are perfect for doing that.

Interactive books pair the words with visuals and capture students' attention. Interactive books can also be used to introduce new reading skills. For example, the interactive book below is the one we use to introduce our lesson on verbs.

Preparing For Events & Holidays

Adapted interactive books arewonderful for preparing students for fire drills, holidays, going out into the community, etc. Using these books prior to the event or holiday will help prepare your students for what they will hear, see, feel as well as give the vocabulary they will need for the event or holiday. Here is an example of a Halloween interactive book that helps prepare students for trick or treating.

Here is an example from the book we use to prepare students for going to a restaurant.

Sequencing is an important math and life skill. We need to be able to sequence and follow sequential steps for many life skills such as cooking.

Addition & Subtraction

Addition and Subtraction interactive books are not only good for practicing and reinforcing math skills, they are also good to use in task boxes. Here is an example from our Everyday Math Books Set.

Counting is one of those skills that students need to do over and over to learn and generalize the skill. Counting should be practiced across counting items, counting people, counting in books, etc. Here is an example of one of the Thanksgiving math books we use.

Here is another example from our Everyday Math Interactive Books set.

Build Life Skills

Adapted interactive books are great at building background knowledge about life skills and the community. Here is an example from our community skills interactive books.

Answering WH Questions

Answering WH questions can be very challenging for our students. They often need many opportunities to practice them and to generalize the skill. Students can become resistant to this practice... basic concepts adapted interactive books are the perfect solution! The supports and hands on components of the books often lead to success for students.

Categories

Use commenting interactive and adapted books to expand basic concepts including categories.... what is included in a category and which one doesn't belong. Teaching about categories helps students with word retrieval and descriptive language.

Want to make sure you are getting the most benefit out of your interactive books? Click the links below for ideas on how to use them.

Click HERE to check out some of my favorite things to prep our interactive books.

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10 Reasons To Use Adapted Interactive Books In Special Education Classrooms · Mrs. P's Specialties

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Using adapted interactive books in your special education classroom can have huge benefits for your students. They can create the essential foundation skills for future literacy skills. Adapted interactive books will help your address literacy IEP goals and objectives and those that address behavior. In this blog post we will explore 10 reasons why you ...

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Teaching the difference between what a character is in a book and what a setting is in a book can help students better comprehend what they are reading in a book. Using this activity will help differentiate two of the three things the student should be look for in a book.

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Character or Setting? {A freebie!  YAY!} | Character and setting, Kindergarten reading, Kindergarten literacy

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Nov 22, 2015 - We started the year with a new idea for our Language Arts.  We are doing themes this year, which I just LOVE!   We started out the year with...

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Creating a lapbook for a book makes reading so much more fun and engaging. A lapbook provides can provide visuals for students along with characters and ideas to help students follow along. With the lap book students can also fill in the areas that describe the characters, setting and major events in a story with words or pictures.

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How to Make a Lap Book: with FREE Template - Appletastic Learning in 2020 | Book report templates, Book report ideas elementary, Lap book templates

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Mar 8, 2020 - Are you wondering how to make a lap book? Then you're going to love the ideas, tips, and resources presented at this blog post. Plus a FREEBIE!

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Comprehension checks are created by breaking down the book page by page. On each page the teacher will highlight the characters with one color, the setting with one color, and the main events with one color. This will create a visual for students to differentiate the different details being asked. As the students start grasping what is being asked, they can then start highlighting on their own.

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Back To School Packets! in 2020 | Reading comprehension, Reading comprehension worksheets, Reading comprehension activities

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Apr 22, 2020 - Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The

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Graphic organizers are a great tool to use while reading a book but also great to use as an activity. Students can use graphic organizers as a visual and fill out the organizer as the read. So that when it comes to answering the questions they can refer back to their graphic organizer.

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Thinking within the text graphic organizer. - Interactive worksheet in 2020 | Story elements graphic organizer, Graphic organizers, Story elements

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Oct 20, 2020 - Story elements interactive and downloadable worksheet. You can do the exercises online or download the worksheet as pdf.

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The reading strategy sphere is great activity to practice reading comprehension skills. Students can use it to refer back while reading their books individually or in a group.

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Reading Strategies Sphere Craft: Reading Comprehension Strategies Activity | Reading comprehension, Reading strategies, Reading comprehension strategies

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Sep 6, 2019 - Teaching students reading strategies, as well as allowing them to interact with them, is crucial to their reading comprehension of both nonfiction and fiction texts. This reading comprehension strategies sphere is a fresh, hands on and unique way students can visually see each reading strategy broke...

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Boom cards are engaging and very interactive. Students can use a tablet or computer to read short passages and answer comprehension questions. Students can use boom cards to practice reading they are not understanding.

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Reading Passages and Literal Comprehension Boom Cards [Video] in 2020 | Guided reading kindergarten, Early elementary resources, First grade resources

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Jun 22, 2020 - These Boom Cards are exactly what you need for distance/at home learning. These digital task cards are great for students who need practise reading short passages and answering literal comprehension questions! This product is an engaging, interactive, and self-checking digital game! Your little ones...