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This slide discusses how to teach students Vocabulary words. I believe that this slide is helpful because it talks about different ways to introduce Vocabulary.

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Discusses giving students a visual image to invoke Prior Knowledge. Some students learn better through seeing a visual image.

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Frayer Model- The Teacher Toolkit (used in class)

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Frayer Model- The Teacher Toolkit (used in class)

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The Frayer Model is a tool that is used to teach students new vocabulary words. The word students need to know is placed in the middle of the model. Students then constructs meaning of the word in four ways. The student is expect to give a definition of the word, draws what the word means, uses the word in a sentence, and make connections to different subject areas. The Frayer model is a great way to enhance students understanding of new concepts.

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Vocabulary Development with ELLS By Colorin Colorado (used in class)

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Vocabulary Development with ELLS By Colorin Colorado (used in class)

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This article discusses how to teach vocabulary words to English Language Learners. Also, the article highlights which strategy are most helpful in teaching ELL new concepts. The article highlights teaching student's vocabulary before the activity is known, teaching cognates, scaffolding instruction, using audio books, computers/television, encourage oral language and modeling correct language for student's.

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Knowing vocabulary words is key to reading comprehension. The more words a child knows, the better he or she will understand the text. Using a variety of effective teaching methods will increase the student’s ability to learn new words.

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The Crowd Strategy is used to enhance students Reading comprehension skills on text they have read. This strategy is designed for parents to help them understand how questions spark students' understanding of texts. The strategy proposes when children are reading unfamiliar text that C, R and Wh questions be used. C questions focus on complete questions by having children fill in the blanks. R questions focus on having the child recall important events from the text. WH questions focus on teaching the child new vocabulary words to enhance their understanding of the text. Also, The strategy mentions that when children have background knowledge on a text that parents should ask them O and D questions. O questions focus on open ended questions that are relevant to what the child reads from the text. D questions focus on distancing questions which children make text to self connections.

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Now that you know how to use the P.E.E.R. strategy to get conversations about books started, you can also use the C.R.O.W.D strategy to facilitate the shared reading experience you have with your child. Each letter provides a suggestion of a type of prompt you could give your child to begin a conversation when reading the story together.

When reading with young children or looking at an unfamiliar book for the first time, you may want to ask questions that are easier for your child to respond to (like C, R, and Wh- questions). When reading with older children or looking over familiar books, you can begin to focus on more sophisticated
(like O and D questions).

You might say, "Papa Bear was mad because Goldilocks did not ask..." and wait for you child to say "permission!."

In which you ask your child to share details from the book to demonstrate that she understood the plot and kept track of the sequence of events.

You might ask your child,
"Can you tell me what happened when Papa Bear walked into his bedroom? And then what happened?"

O - OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

That allow your child more
freedom in discussing any aspect of the book that piqued his interest.

Asking questions that your child can't answer with a single word will lead to richer conversations and may give your child the opportunity to ask you a question, too.

You might ask, "How do you think Goldilocks felt when she walked home?"

That distance your discussion from the book itself and help your child make connections between the story that you read and his own life. D - DISTANCING QUESTIONS

You might ask, "Is there ever a time that you have wanted to use something that wasn't yours?"

Reference

Lonigan, C. J., & Whitehurst, G. J. (1998). Relative efficacy of parent and teacher involvement in a shared reading intervention for preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 263-290

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Now that you know how to use the P.E.E.R. strategy to get conversations about books started, you can also use the C.R.O.W.D strategy to facilitate the shared reading experience you have with your child. Each letter provides a suggestion of a type of prompt you could give your child to begin a conversation when reading the story together.

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How Props Can Enhance the Reading Experience. By Kristin Guay

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How Props Can Enhance the Reading Experience. By Kristin Guay

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This article discusses using props to build students understanding of text. Props can be toys, stuffed animals or anything that the child plays with. Incorporating items that are familiar to the child is a fun way to engage them into text. When props are used, it can help build students language skills because they will be more open to learning. The most important part of using props is that parents can create a positive learning opportunity with their child.

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BY KRISTIN GUAY
When it comes to story time with you children, try thinking beyond books. When a beloved stuffed animal is transformed into a character in the story, a long woolen scarf becomes a river, or a sofa cushion becomes a mountain to climb, the story comes to life for your child, creating a wonderfully interactive reading experience.

Oral expression engages children in the story, gives them a better understanding of the characters, helps them hone comprehension skills, and develop creativity and language skills. Puppets, plush characters, and everyday household items can be used to enhance the reading experience with your child. An article in Reading Rockets , "Repeated Interactive Read-Alouds in Preschool and Kindergarten," shows the importance of this enhanced reading with children: "Research has demonstrated that the most effective read-alouds are those in which children are actively involved asking and answering questions and making predictions rather than passively listening. These read-alouds are called interactive or dialogic and result in gains in vocabulary, comprehension strategies and story schema, and concept development."
Start By Gathering Some Props
Look at your child's collection of stuffed animals, dolls, action characters, plush toys, cars, trucks, and other small objects that can be used as props in a story. A stuffed teddy bear can be used while reading Winnie The Pooh, for instance (you do not need to have an actual Pooh plush toy). A plastic car or truck can be used as a fire truck, a boot can be a bird's nest or a bear's cave, a blanket rolled up is now a tall mountain, a stack of books can be a building, and Legos can be rocks, sand or snow. You do not need to look any further than what is already in the room - anything can become a part of the story when you use your imagination. Many popular children's stories do have accompanying plush characters and this is a fun option if you find yourself reading these stories over and over with your child.

Props Allow a Child To Be Engaged In All Aspects of the Story

Elements of a story such as characterization, setting, sequence of events, and foreshadowing can be introduced to children at a young age. Before beginning the story, take a minute with your child to create the setting by using a few props. This might require the parent to look through the story before reading to the child to have an idea of what props might be needed. If the story takes place in the woods, set up some objects to represent the trees, a pond, or even a bear's cave. If the setting is a city street, stack some books or even wooden blocks as the city buildings and maybe even use a few toy cars for the busy city streets. This allows the child to become fully engaged in creating and understanding the setting of a story. For example, if the story took place deep in the forest, creating trees, ponds, and mountains would be appropriate but stacks of blocks as buildings would not. The conversation that occurs while creating the setting helps the child understand what is appropriate for the woods and what is appropriate for the city.

The next step would be to gather any stuffed animals, dolls, or action figures to be used as the characters in the story. (Again, this is where it is important for the parents or caregiver to have read the story ahead of time so some of the characters can be readily accessible as the story progresses. Sometimes just a quick look at the cover or a reading of the synopsis is enough to determine the characters in the story.) As the story develops, these characters can come to life through their actions and voices. This is a great opportunity to talk with a child about how a particular character would talk or move if they were gloomy (such as Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh) or very excited (like Tigger). A parent and child can have conversation about how a character would move - a frog would hop, a bear would lumber, and a butterfly would flutter in the sky. This is also a good time to play around with different voices of the characters - a young child, a grumpy troll, and a silly fairy would all have very different voices to represent their characters. The child can better understand all the dimensions of a character by making them come alive with plush characters.

Props can also be used to allow children to predict what might happen next in a story. Think about the story We're Going On A Bear Hunt where a family spends an entire day traipsing through various terrains in hopes of finding a bear. While the story progresses, you can have a stuffed bear in a boot representing the bear sleeping in his cave. As the family gets closer to the cave, you can stop and ask your child what they think might happen next. Here we have a bear peacefully sleeping in his den and a family creeping closer and closer. The child can visually see this happening with the props and can make a prediction as to what might happen as the family gets closer to the den.

Comprehension skills can also be developed through the use of characters and props. Your child can use a plush character to retell the story and the sequence of events to a parent or caregiver. For example, in the story We're Going On A Bear Hunt , a child can retrace the steps of the family by using the props as a guide - a brown towel is the squishy mud, a blue scarf is the river, scattered pencils are the branches in the forest, and a green shirt is the tall grass. This helps develops a child's comprehension skills as they recall and retell the events in the story.
Development Of Oral Language Skills and Self Expression
Using props during story time enriches the reading process by creating a ripe environment to delve deeper into the stories. This is a perfect time to introduce some skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and comparison and contrast. For example, while reading the book Dragons Love Tacos , there are many opportunities a parent or caregiver can develop these skills. In the beginning of the story the reader is told how much dragons love tacos but how much the equally dislike spicy, hot salsa. This is a good time to "ask" the plush character representing the dinosaur why they do not like salsa and if there any other spicy foods they do not like. The story explains how the dragons like mild seasonings so a parent can ask their child what else could go inside a taco that would not upset the dragons. The story further explains that dragons do love parties - parties of all kinds. Brainstorm with your child to come up with some party themes that dragons would probably enjoy. Use the plush characters to act out the dragons at the various parties talking with their friends, dancing, and enjoying the tacos. When the dragons do eat the spicy salsa and emit fire from their mouths, a red napkin or scarf would be a perfect prop to represent the fire. When the dragons help rebuild the house at the end of the story, this creates a perfect opportunity to talk about how to rebuild the house. While using the plush characters to mimic rebuilding the house, ask your child what the dragons could do to prevent another fire in the future - maybe build the house out of bricks or put water fire hydrants and hoses in each room. This is an opportunity to have your child articulate their thoughts about the story and the characters.
Develop Creativity and Imagination By Going Beyond the Printed Page
Using tangible objects such as dolls, action figures and stuffed animals helps brings the characters off the printed page and creates more of a real presence for the story. In going back to the story Dragons Love Tacos , use a plush character to verbalize the thoughts of the young boy when the dragons have eaten the hot sauce and are destroying his home with their flames. Ask your child what he might be thinking or how he might be reacting to the situation. Maybe the plush character can run into another room to call the fire department, or get the garden hose, or simply seek some shelter. These are not actual situations in the story but they are all possibilities that can be created by you and your child during story time.
Connection Between Written Word and Spoken Word
Puppets and plush characters can not only enrich any reading experience but also help develop early literacy skills. An article in Scholastic , "Building Language and Literacy Through Play," outlines the importance of learning through symbolic representation. "By using objects that represent other objects (such as colored play dough representing food), children learn symbolic representation. This ability to separate the function of an object from the object itself (using a pencil to stir, pretending you stir with a spoon) is the foundation for more advanced symbolic representations, such as the written word as a representation of a spoken word." Not only is this an enjoyable experience for an adult and child, it is helping the child to learn and develop key literacy skills. Some of these skills include developing oral language, fostering a creative imagination, learning about the order of events in a story, helping the child with comprehension and recall of the events in the story, developing self expression while interacting with the story, and helping to extend the story beyond what is printed on the page.

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How Props Can Enhance the Reading Experience

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BY KRISTIN GUAY When it comes to story time with you children, try thinking beyond books. When a beloved stuffed animal is transformed into a character in the story, a long woolen scarf becomes a river, or a sofa cushion becomes a mountain to climb, the story comes to life for your child, creating a wonderfully interactive reading experience.

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Classroom Strategies Questions- Answer Relationships (QAR)

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Classroom Strategies Questions- Answer Relationships (QAR)

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The Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) is used when students finish reading a selected text. QAR questions are designed to build student conceptual understanding of text. These questions are developed and given to students to invoke higher level of thinking.

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Do your students have trouble answering questions? Are inferential and critical level questions particularly difficult for them to answer? If so, the QAR strategy may help them to identify the types of questions being asked and where to find the answers.

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Teaching Comprehension by Early Literacy Center for South Carolina (Clemson University)

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Teaching Comprehension by Early Literacy Center for South Carolina (Clemson University)

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The Reading Comprehension module was created to help teachers support children in learning. This module helps teachers to support children in thinking and making connections as they read. This website incorporates what research has mentioned is effective Reading comprehension strategies. Research postulates providing children with explicit instruction and not teaching strategies in isolation would help them to understand texts.

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"As an adult reader, I think all the time while I read. And I have found, even with kindergarten children, if I'm very explicit in explaining to them the types of thinking I do as an adult reader, and that that's the same type of thinking they should do as a little reader - I've found that when you expose them to that kind of terminology, that kind of thinking, then they get it. And when they get it, it really boosts their comprehension immensely." -Irby DuBose, Kindergarten Teacher, Darlington, SC

How to Use This Module

The Reading Comprehension module is designed to support teaching children in the primary grades to think and understand as they read, listen to, and view texts. In the 1970s and 1980s, many educators and researchers recognized that reading comprehension was not a set of discreet skills that could be taught sequentially through workbooks and worksheets. They studied what proficient readers actually do in order to read effectively, and found that they exhibit specific kinds of thinking as they read. (See image below.) This module features video clips of effective ways to teach children to use these research-based comprehension strategies as they interact with text.

Before studying the Sample Comprehension Lessons, we recommend viewing and discussing Engagement and Independence: Creating Classroom Environment, Lesson Structure, and Assessment. (For teachers new to this type of instruction, Assessment may be more beneficial after the first strategy has been studied.) Return to any of these introductory sections over time as questions arise from classroom practice. You may have studied Engagement and Independence in the Guided Reading Module. If so, it will be helpful to review parts of it, especially Part 6: Peer Interactions, in which teachers present their perspectives on Turn and Talk, a critical element in comprehension lessons.

Each Sample Comprehension Lesson in this module, one per comprehension strategy, is taught in a kindergarten, first, or second grade classroom in South Carolina.

Children need explicit instruction in what the strategies are and how to use them. However, strategies should not be taught in isolation, or as ends in themselves. Usually this instruction works best in the context of a unit of study around a topic or genre. For example, in the sample lessons you will see children studying Determining Importance to help them understand what's important to remember in a unit on Famous Americans. Learning to infer is embedded in a poetry unit. We always keep in mind that proficient readers use a combination of strategies as they need them to support their understanding.

The introduction to each strategy includes: what the strategy is, why we teach children to use it, how we teach various aspects of the strategy, and information about the sample lesson. We suggest reading and discussing the Introduction before viewing the video clips of the sample lesson, and returning to it during the Final Reflections.

To build expertise in teaching strategic thinking to beginning readers, we need to notice and appreciate the small shifts in children's behaviors that signal growth in becoming thinkers. We also need to learn to respond with teaching moves and language that encourage their development. The questions posed before each video clip are constructed to support this reflective teaching, as are the Facilitator Notes for leading Professional Learning Community discussions. A segment in each sample lesson also includes examples of the students' work, and ideas for analyzing them. (See the Assessment Section for more background on how to support students in their comprehension journey.)

The sample lessons are based, some more directly than others, on lessons described in The Primary Comprehension Toolkit by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, or Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller. We highly recommend using the works of these educators as guides to comprehension instruction.

We are greatly indebted to Irby DuBose, Melody Blackwell, and Apryl Whitman for opening their classrooms to this project. They represent the tremendous opportunity, despite all the hurdles to teaching in our time, for teachers to fully engage young children in becoming literate.

To learn more about the research, history, and context of teaching strategic thinking, see overall Suggested Readings.

References:

Harvey, S. and Goudvis, A. (2008). The Primary Comprehension Toolkit, Heinemann First Hand.
Miller, D. (2012). Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades, 2nd ed., Stenhouse.
Pearson, P.D., & Gallagher, M.C. (1983). The Instruction of Reading Comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology 8.
Pearson, P.D., Roehler, L.R., Dole, J.A., Duffy, G.G. (1992). Developing Expertise in Reading Comprehension. In Samuels, S.J. and Farstrup, A.E. (Eds.), What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 2nd Ed., International Reading Association.

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"As an adult reader, I think all the time while I read. And I have found, even with kindergarten children, if I'm very explicit in explaining to them the types of thinking I do as an adult reader, and that that's the same type of thinking they should do as a little reader - I've found that when you expose them to that kind of terminology, that kind of thinking, then they get it.

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Building and Activating Schema Strategy Grade 2

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Building and Activating Schema Strategy Grade 2

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This lesson plan is designed to help educators understand how to enhance students' prior knowledge. This lesson plan provided a clear format on how to create a lesson plan that focuses on prior knowledge and what materials to use. The lesson plan will focus on writing new information or drawing it, stopping and thinking about the text, and making connections to text. This lesson plan focuses on enhance Reading comprehension skills by activating prior knowledge.

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Purposes of the Lesson: Teach students to:

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Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension By C.R. ADLER

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Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension By C.R. ADLER

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This article discusses comprehension strategies that help students become proficient readers. The seven strategies that are discussed in this article are the following monitoring comprehension, metacognition, graphic and semantic organizers, answering questions, generating questions, recognizing story structure and summarizing. A good way to teach students comprehension strategies is through cooperative learning. According to research, these seven strategies have been proven to positively affect student's text comprehension.

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Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension

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Comprehension strategies are conscious plans — sets of steps that good readers use to make sense of text. Comprehension strategy instruction helps students become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension. These seven strategies have research-based evidence for…

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Key Comprehension Strategies to Teach By Texas Education Agency 

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Key Comprehension Strategies to Teach By Texas Education Agency 

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This article mentioned that students need to learn the following Reading Comprehension strategies to be successful. The following reading comprehension strategies need to be explicitly taught to students activating prior knowledge, generating and asking questions, making inferences, predicting, summarizing, visualizing and comprehension monitoring. Each comprehension strategy must be taught to students so they can build their comprehension skills.

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1. Dole, J. A., Duffy, G. G., Roehler, L. R., & Pearson, P. D. (1991). Moving from the old to the new: Research on reading comprehension instruction. Review of Educational Research, 61, 239-264.

2. Anderson, R. C., & Pearson, P. D. (1984). A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading. In P. D. Pearson, R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (pp. 255-292). New York: Longman.

3. Anderson & Pearson, 1984; Anderson, R. C., Reynolds, R. E., Schallert, D. L., & Goetz, E. T. (1977). Frameworks for comprehending discourse. American Educational Research Journal, 14, 367-382.

4. Pichert, J. W., & Anderson, R. C. (1977). Taking different perspectives on a story. Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 309-315.

5. Armbruster, B. B., Anderson, T. H., & Ostertag, J. (1987). Does text structure/summarization instruction facilitate learning from expository text? Reading Research Quarterly, 22, 331-346.

6. Wood, E., Woloshyn, V. E., & Willoughby, T. (1995). Cognitive strategy instruction for middle and high schools. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

7. Pressley, M., Symons, S., McGoldrick, J. A., & Snyder, B. L. (1995). Reading comprehension strategies. In M. Pressley & V. E. Woloshyn (eds.), Cognitive strategy instruction that really improves children's academic performance. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

8. Anderson & Pearson, 1984; Hansen, J., & Pearson, P.D. (1983). An instructional study: Improving the inferential comprehension of fourth grade good and poor readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 821-829.

9. Gillet, J. W., & Temple, C. (1994). Understanding reading problems: Assessment and instruction (4th ed.). New York: Harper Collins.

10. Honig, W., Diamond, L, & Gutlohn, L. (Eds.). (2000). Teaching reading sourcebook for kindergarten through eighth grade. Novato, CA: Arena Press; National Reading Panel, 2000.

11. Pressley, G. M. (1976). Mental imagery helps eight-year-olds remember what they read. Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 355-359.

12. Gambrell, L. B., & Bales, R. J. (1986). Mental imagery and the comprehension-monitoring performance of fourth and fifth-grade poor readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 454-464.

13. National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

14. Dole et al., 1991; Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension monitoring activities. Cognition & Instruction, 2, 117-175.15. Paris, S. C., Wasik, B. A., & Turner, J. C. (1991). The development of strategic readers. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 609-640). New York: Longman.

16. National Reading Panel, 2000.

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How can classroom reading instruction help poor readers - indeed, all students - become more like good readers? Research suggests that the answer may lie in providing students with instruction that both teaches them the comprehension strategies that work so well for good readers and helps them to develop the necessary metacognitive awareness of how and when to use these strategies.

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The Reading Rocket Article does a good job explaining what Reading Comprehension consists of.  Reading comprehension is a vital part of reading. If students do not understand what they are reading they will have difficulty conceptualizing texts.  This article highly emphasizes one component of reading comprehension that is necessary to build students' understanding of text is Vocabulary. The main component of Comprehension is for students to understand written words, be able to decode, activate background knowledge by making connections and thinking beyond the text. This article explains different frustrations children may have when it comes to reading comprehension. Also, this article includes how children can help themselves, how teachers can help students, and how parents can help their children. According to this text, Children need numerous opportunities to build their Reading Comprehension skills.

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Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read.

One big part of comprehension is having a sufficient vocabulary, or knowing the meanings of enough words. Readers who have strong comprehension are able to draw conclusions about what they read - what is important, what is a fact, what caused an event to happen, which characters are funny. Thus comprehension involves combining reading with thinking and reasoning.

Target the Problem: Comprehension

What the problem looks like

A kid's perspective: What this feels like to me

Children will usually express their frustration and difficulties in a general way, with statements like "I hate reading!" or "This is stupid!". But if they could, this is how kids might describe how comprehension difficulties in particular affect their reading:

It takes me so long to read something. It's hard to follow along with everything going on.

I didn't really get what that book was about.

Why did that character do that? I just don't get it!

I'm not sure what the most important parts of the book were.

I couldn't really create an image in my head of what was going on.

A parent's perspective: What I see at home

Here are some clues for parents that a child may have problems with comprehension:

She's not able to summarize a passage or a book.

He might be able to tell you what happened in a story, but can't explain why events went the way they did.

She can't explain what a character's thoughts or feelings might have been.

He doesn't link events in a book to similar events from another book or from real life.

A teacher's perspective: What I see in the classroom

Here are some clues for teachers that a student may have problems with comprehension:

He seems to focus on the "wrong" aspect of a passage; for example, he concentrates so much on the details that the main idea is lost.

She can tell the outcome of a story, but cannot explain why things turned out that way.

He does not go behind what is presented in a book to think about what might happen next or why characters took the action they did.

She brings up irrelevant information when trying to relate a passage to something in her own life.

He seems to have a weak vocabulary.

She cannot tell the clear, logical sequence of events in a story.

He does not pick out the key facts from informational text.

He cannot give you a "picture" of what's going on in a written passage; for example, what the characters look like or details of where the story takes place.

How to help

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn strategies to cope with comprehension problems that affect his or her reading. Below are some tips and specific things to do.

What kids can do to help themselves

Use outlines, maps, and notes when you read.

Make flash cards of key terms you might want to remember.

Read stories or passages in short sections and make sure you know what happened before you continue reading.

Ask yourself, "Does this make sense?" If it doesn't, reread the part that didn't make sense.

Read with a buddy. Stop every page or so and take turns summarizing what you've read.

Ask a parent or teacher to preview a book with you before you read it on your own.

As you read, try to form mental pictures or images that match the story.

What parents can do to help at home

Hold a conversation and discuss what your child has read. Ask your child probing questions about the book and connect the events to his or her own life. For example, say "I wonder why that girl did that?" or "How do you think he felt? Why?" and "So, what lesson can we learn here?".

Help your child make connections between what he or she reads and similar experiences he has felt, saw in a movie, or read in another book.

Help your child monitor his or her understanding. Teach her to continually ask herself whether she understands what she's reading.

Help your child go back to the text to support his or her answers.

Discuss the meanings of unknown words, both those he reads and those he hears.

Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.

Discuss what your child has learned from reading informational text such as a science or social studies book.

What teachers can do to help at school

As students read, ask them open-ended questions such as "Why did things happen that way?" or "What is the author trying to do here?" and "Why is this somewhat confusing?".

Teach students the structure of different types of reading material. For instance, narrative texts usually have a problem, a highpoint of action, and a resolution to the problem. Informational texts may describe, compare and contrast, or present a sequence of events.

Discuss the meaning of words as you go through the text. Target a few words for deeper teaching, really probing what those words mean and how they can be used.

Teach note-taking skills and summarizing strategies.

Use graphic organizers that help students break information down and keep tack of what they read.

Encourage students to use and revisit targeted vocabulary words.

Teach students to monitor their own understanding. Show them how, for example, to ask themselves "What's unclear here?" or "What information am I missing?" and "What else should the author be telling me?".

Teach children how to make predictions and how to summarize.

More information

Find out more about comprehension issues with these resources from Reading Rockets, The Access Center, and LD OnLine:

Other recommended links:

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Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read.

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Using Graphic Organizers to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills for the Middle School ESL Students By Praveen Sam D and Premalatha Rejan

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Using Graphic Organizers to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills for the Middle School ESL Students By Praveen Sam D and Premalatha Rejan

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This study highlights that Graphic Organizers helps students to reflect on what they are reading. Students through using Graphic Organizers will be able to organize their thoughts in a concise manner. The students will be able to construct meaning from unfamiliar words. Students will be able to have a visual representation of their learning through using a Graphic Organizer. Graphic organizers according to research is one of the most effective strategies to enhance reading comprehension skills.

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Graphic Organizers as  Research Strategy: Research Findings and Issues By Polyxeni Manoli and Maria Papadopoulou

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Graphic Organizers as  Research Strategy: Research Findings and Issues By Polyxeni Manoli and Maria Papadopoulou

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This research article discusses using Graphic Organizers across different subject areas. The article highlights incorporating Graphic Organizers in instruction can help enhance students Reading Comprehension skills. Both Special and General Educators support using Graphic Organizers in instruction. Graphic Organizers enhances students understanding of new concepts and unfamiliar material. The article highlights the purposes of using different Graphic Organizers in instruction which are story map, concept maps, knowledge maps, semantic maps, tree diagrams, and Venn diagrams. All these different types of Graphic Organizers are helpful in building students understanding of texts.

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Teaching Reading Using Graphic Organizers

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Teaching Reading Using Graphic Organizers

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This YouTube video teach students to use a graphic organizer to help students organize their thoughts. The Graphic Organizer in this video focuses on the before reading, during reading, and after reading phases. Before reading helps students to think about text prior. The during reading phase helps students to decode words and make connection. After reading phase helps students to visualize what they read.

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Teaching Reading using Graphic Organizers

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Before, During and After Questions Promoting Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking 

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Before, During and After Questions Promoting Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking 

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This YouTube video focuses on teaching students during the three phases reading. The three phases of reading is before, during, and after. Students will be able to poses questions about the book before they read. The during reading phase questions requires students to pose questions as they are reading. The After questions phase require students to write down questions after the text is read. All responses are recorded by post it notes on a chart paper and the responses is discussed in a whole group instruction.

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Before, During and After Questions: Promoting Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking

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How to Teach Children to use their Schema for Reading Comprehension

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How to Teach Children to use their Schema for Reading Comprehension

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Good readers use personal schema. This article teaches students how to activate their schema through personal experiences. Educators can show students how to make connections using their personal schema to what they have read. Students can be given personal stems to activate their thinking. Thinking stems that sparks students thinking are the following: that reminds me of, I'm remembering, I can relate to and I have a connection to.

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How to Teach Children to Use Their Schema for Reading Comprehension!

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Good Readers Activate Prior Knowledge- Parents Help Kids Learn

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Good Readers Activate Prior Knowledge- Parents Help Kids Learn

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This article talks about students practicing the Reading Comprehension skill of Activating Prior Knowledge at home. When parents work with children on their reading it encourages students to read and think deeply. Through parents asking students questions can encourage them to activate their prior knowledge skills. If students work on their reading comprehension at home and in school it will enhance their understanding of text. By students practicing this strategy will help them become an effective reader.

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Activating Background Knowledge- Reading Comprehensions Strategy & Skill Educational Video for Kids (Source used in class)

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Activating Background Knowledge- Reading Comprehensions Strategy & Skill Educational Video for Kids (Source used in class)

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This YouTube video explains what Activating Prior knowledge consist of. This article encourages the readers to use their 5 senses.  The video encourages the readers to make connections to other text, their self, and the world. This video also encourages readers to think about text before reading. Also, this video gives Prior knowledge questions readers might ask themselves during the process of thinking about a text. Overall, this video does a good job explaining how to activate Prior knowledge while reading a text.

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Activating Background Knowledge - Reading Comprehension Strategy & Skill Educational Video for Kids

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Teaching Reading and Comprehension to English Language Learners K-5

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Teaching Reading and Comprehension to English Language Learners K-5

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This YouTube video is a workshop video for Educators on how to teach Reading comprehension skills to English Language learners. This video shows teachers how to effectively teach Reading comprehensions skills to students. Teacher poses questions and then give students the opportunity to work with their partners on reading. For Students who are English Language Learners the video encourages having students work with a peer on building communication skills and providing them with shadow reading.

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Teaching Reading and Comprehension to English Learners, Grades K-5

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This PowerPoint introduces the reader to what Reading comprehension looks like. It included all the necessary components of Reading comprehension and how it works. The direction of each component is clear to the reader. The PowerPoint gives numerous examples of how to test students Reading Comprehension skills.

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Prior Knowledge Improves Reading Comprehension.

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Prior Knowledge Improves Reading Comprehension.

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This article reflected on how Prior knowledge improves reading comprehension. Prior Knowledge helps students to build connections from what they already know to new concepts that they are learning about. The article also elaborates different ways that prior knowledge can be activated within learning. The different ways that prior knowledge can be activated is pre-teaching vocabulary to students, providing background knowledge and creating opportunities for students to build prior knowledge skills.

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Using prior knowledge is an important part of reading comprehension for children with dyslexia. Students relate the written word to their previous experiences to make reading more personal, helping them to both understand and remember what they have read. Some experts believe that activating prior knowledge is the most important aspect of the reading experience.

What is Prior Knowledge?

When we talk about prior or previous knowledge, we refer to all of the experiences readers have had throughout their lives, including information they have learned elsewhere. This knowledge is used to bring the written word to life and to make it more relevant in the reader's mind. Just as our understanding about the subject can lead to further understanding, misconceptions that we accept also add to our understanding, or misunderstanding as we read.

Teaching Prior Knowledge

A number of teaching interventions can be implemented in the classroom to help students effectively activate prior knowledge when reading: preteaching vocabulary, providing background knowledge and creating opportunities and a framework for students to continue building background knowledge.

Pre-teaching Vocabulary

In another article, we discussed the challenge of teaching students with dyslexia new vocabulary words. These students may have a larger oral vocabulary than their reading vocabulary and they may have a difficult time both sounding out new words and recognizing these words when reading. It is often helpful for teachers to introduce and review new vocabulary before beginning new reading assignments. As students become more familiar with the vocabulary and continue to build their vocabulary skills, not only does their reading fluency increase but so does their reading comprehension. In addition, as students learn and understand new vocabulary word, and relate these words to their personal knowledge of a subject, they can invoke that same knowledge as they read. Learning the vocabulary, therefore, helps students to use their personal experiences to relate to stories and information they read.

Providing Background Knowledge

When teaching math, teachers accept that a student continues to build upon previous knowledge and without this knowledge, they will have a much more difficult time understanding new mathematical concepts. In other subjects, such as social studies, this concept is not readily discussed, however, it is just as important. In order for a student to understand written material, no matter what the subject, a certain level of prior knowledge is needed.

When students are first introduced to a new topic, they will have some level of prior knowledge. They may have a great deal of knowledge, some knowledge or very little knowledge. Before providing background knowledge, teachers must measure the level of prior knowledge in a specific topic. This can be accomplished by:

Asking questions, beginning with general questions and slowly increasing the specificity of questions

Write statements on the board based on what students have shared about the topic

Have students complete a worksheet, without grading, to determine knowledge

Once a teacher has gathered information on how much the students know, she can plan lessons to students further background knowledge. For example, when beginning a lesson on the Aztecs, questions on prior knowledge might revolve around types of homes, food, geography, beliefs, and accomplishments. Based on the information the teacher gathers, she can create a lesson to fill in the blanks, showing slides or pictures of homes, describing what types of food were available, what major accomplishments the Aztecs had. Any new vocabulary words in the lesson should be introduced to the students. This information should be given as an overview and as a precursor to the actual lesson. Once the review is completed, students can read the lesson, bringing in the background knowledge to give them a greater understanding of what they have read.

Creating Opportunities and a Framework for Students to Continue Building Background Knowledge

Guided reviews and introductions to new material, such as the previous example of the teacher providing an overview, before reading are extremely helpful in providing students with background information. But students must learn to find this type of information on their own. Teachers can help by giving students specific strategies for increasing background knowledge about a new topic:

Reading summaries and conclusions of chapters in a textbook

Reading the end-of-chapter questions before reading the chapter

Reading the headings and subheadings

For books, reading the back of the book for information on what the book is about

Older students can review cliff notes before reading the book

Skimming the book, reading the first line of each paragraph or reading the first paragraph of each chapter

Skimming for unfamiliar words and learning definitions before reading

Reading short articles on the same topic

As students learn how to find background information on a previously unknown topic, their confidence in their ability to understand this information increases and they can use this new knowledge to build and learn about additional topics.
References:

"Increasing Comprehension by Activating Prior Knowledge," 1991, William L. Christen, Thomas J. Murphy, ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills

"Prereading Strategies," Date Unknown, Karla Porter, M.Ed. Weber State University

"The Use of Prior Knowledge in Reading," 2006, Jason Rosenblatt, New York University

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Prior Knowledge Improves Reading Comprehension

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Using prior knowledge is an important part of reading comprehension for children with dyslexia. Students relate the written word to their previous experiences to make reading more personal, helping them to both understand and remember what they have read. Some experts believe that activating prior knowledge is the most important aspect of the reading experience.

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How to Use Graphic Organizers to Improve Students Reading Comprehension. By Differentiated Learning 

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How to Use Graphic Organizers to Improve Students Reading Comprehension. By Differentiated Learning 

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This website does a great job explaining why Graphic organizers are useful in building students reading comprehension skills. Giving students graphic organizers helps them to reflect on the text they are reading and helps them to break down information in a sequential manner. Graphic Organizers is a tool that is used to help students understand the purpose of texts by focusing on the. Through the process of reflect on the reading helps students to make connections and enhance comprehension skills. The article talks about how Graphic Organizers improve students' learning by helping them to visualize what
is occurring in a text.

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How to use graphic organizers to improve reading comprehension

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While many struggling readers have difficulties decoding text, others struggle with understanding what they’ve read. Reading comprehension, or the ability to understand text, is a critical skill

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This Padlet was designed to build educators understand of what reading comprehension is. Reading is a complex process that all students must master in order to be successful readers. There are many different components of reading, but this Padlet focuses on Reading Comprehension Strategies.  I designed this Padlet with the intent to focus on Reading Comprehension to expand awareness of what it is and how it should be taught to students. I looked at how reading comprehension is taught to students by teachers in the classroom. Also, I looked at how educators are encouraged to teach Comprehension skills. I looked at research articles to see if it supports these strategies that are used. The two strategies within reading comprehension that I chose to focus on are activating students' prior knowledge and the use of graphic organizers in reading instruction.

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Teaching Reading Comprehension: A guide for Parents and EducatorsBy Pride Reading Program.

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Teaching Reading Comprehension: A guide for Parents and EducatorsBy Pride Reading Program.

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This youtube video was designed to teach parents and educators how to teach reading comprehension strategies to students. This webinar on reading comprehension was designed to help struggling students learn how to read effectively. The video focuses on educators explicitly teaching struggling readers comprehension instruction, high order comprehension, Literal comprehension, and how to activate their prior Knowledge. This video was designed to help parents and educators learn what reading comprehension skills are and how to build students skills. This video is effective because it thoroughly explains what reading comprehension is and how to teach it. I believe that this video can help parents understand why children struggle and how to help them.

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Teaching Reading Comprehension: A Guide for Parents and Educators

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Sing those Strategies! Engaging Students in Reading comprehension Strategies.

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Sing those Strategies! Engaging Students in Reading comprehension Strategies.

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The teacher was teaching students how to recall reading comprehension strategies. The teacher states the comprehension strategy ask students what they think and provides them with an example to build their understanding of the concept. The teacher sings a comprehension song to help students remember reading comprehension strategies. The students are actively engaged in the lesson.

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Sing Those Strategies!: Engaging Students in Reading Comprehension Strategies