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ELEVATOR PITCH (Video) Reading and Viewing: What is Comprehension?

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ELEVATOR PITCH (Video) Reading and Viewing: What is Comprehension?

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Reading and Viewing: What is Comprehension?

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Created using Powtoon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/youtube/ -- Create animated videos and animated presentations for free. PowToon is a free tool that allows you to develop cool animated clips and animated presentations for your website, office meeting, sales pitch, nonprofit fundraiser, product launch, video resume, or anything else you could use an animated explainer video.

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A well-prepared teacher brings text alive and enhances children's comprehension skills!

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A well-prepared teacher brings text alive and enhances children's comprehension skills!

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This video serves as a good reminder to all educators as it shares about the importance of intentional planning to support children's literacy development.

Lesson planning is at the heart of being an effective language and literacy teacher. It is a creative process that allows teachers to synthesize their understanding of language acquisition and teaching pedagogy with their knowledge of their students, the curriculum, and the teaching context. It is a time when they envision the learning that they want to occur and analyze how all these pieces of the learning experiences should fit together to make that vision a classroom reality.
(Davis, 2011)

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If you want to give your little ones a head start in making meaning with text, read them great picture books. 

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If you want to give your little ones a head start in making meaning with text, read them great picture books. 

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This link provides a huge library of interactive picture books with guided lessons that enhance specific comprehension skills such as story sequencing, differentiating between fact and opinion, developing word awareness (through antonyms, synonyms, and homophones), cause and effect,  and mind mapping (McGee & Johnson, 2003).

The illustrations of a picture book help children understand what they are reading and allow young readers to analyze the story (Shapiro & Hudson, 1991). Picture books also allow parents and educators to spend time talking with their children about the story, pictures and words. This interaction builds reading comprehension because it promotes dialogues about what can be seen on each page, what may happen next in the story, about the characters and the events or conflicts that took place (McGee & Johnson, 2003).

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Browse Interactive Stories | Education.com

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Browse Interactive Stories. Award winning educational materials designed to help kids succeed. Start for free now!

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Start with a Book : Read, Talk and Explore!

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Start with a Book : Read, Talk and Explore!

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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.
(Burke, 2000; Pardo, 2004)

This resource offers practical suggestions for families and educators to use leisure time to promote children's interest in reading. Through its vast collection of themed books and texts, children also gain meaning and activate prior knowledge from the activities which further enhance their comprehension skills (Burke, 2000).

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Start with a book and launch a young reader this summer

The free resources from Start with a Book build on what young children already like - dinosaurs, building, animals, sports, superheroes and music - so that parents, camp counselors, and others can have fun and interact meaningfully with children while helping to strengthen their reading skills.

What you'll find on the Start with a Book website

Twenty-four kid-friendly topics featuring specific ideas for using books and related downloadable activities to build closer relationships with children and to get them thinking, talking, creating and exploring.

Practical suggestions for using reading time to build a child's reading fluency - the ability to read a book or other text correctly, quickly, and with expression - with an opportunity to measure progress over the course of the summer.

A highlighted list of places to go and things to do in Washington DC and ideas for connecting reading with other summer activities.

Tips for parents in English, Spanish, and nine other languages to support English language learners.

A sign-up for weekly text messages - delivered right to your mobile phone - in English or Spanish.

While designed with families in mind, Start with a Book also has a place in libraries and summer camps. Local organizations working with children in kindergarten through third grade are encouraged to take advantage of these free resources and adapt activities to group use.

How to use Start with a Book

Here are some ways you can use Start with a Book for read alouds, writing, hands-on activities, and real-world explorations that stretch the imagination, build problem-solving skills, and help strengthen a child's vocabulary and knowledge of the world.

About Reading Rockets

For more than a decade, Reading Rockets, the award-winning national multimedia literacy initiative from WETA Public Broadcasting, has provided parents and educators with information and free resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help. In 2012, Reading Rockets introduced Start with a Book, a companion website that uses books as a launching pad for exploration, conversation, and real world learning adventures.

The Reading Rockets project includes PBS television programs (also available online and on DVD); online services through ReadingRockets.org and the bilingual site ColorinColorado.org; professional development opportunities; and a robust social community on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest. The project is guided by an advisory panel made up of leading researchers and experts in the field of reading. The major funder for the Reading Rockets project is the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
Learn more about Reading Rockets >
Contact us

If you have questions about Start with a Book, please contact us at: readingrockets@weta.org.

The Park Foundation, Inc.

Start with a Book is made by possible with generous support from the Park Foundation, Inc. The Foundation is dedicated to the aid and support of education, public broadcasting, environment, and other areas.

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The free resources from Start with a Book build on what young children already like - dinosaurs, building, animals, sports, superheroes and music - so that parents, camp counselors, and others can have fun and interact meaningfully with children while helping to strengthen their reading skills.

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Visualization refers to our ability to make visual representations in our minds while reading. Some people think of it as "making videos or movies in our heads". Visualization helps readers engage in text in ways that make it memorable and personable. When students create pictures in their minds, they become more involved with the text. Visualization stimulates the imagination, enhances involvement with the text, and improves mental imagery (Davis, 2011)

According to Burke (2000), visualization is a proven strategy used to improve reading comprehension and this video is a useful guide for all educators to see how visualization can be implemented in a classroom setting.

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Grade 1 Comprehension Read-Aloud for VISUALIZING  (Making Meaning®)

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Thinking aloud has been described as "eavesdropping on someone's thinking." With this strategy, teachers verbalize aloud while reading a book orally. They verbalize or ask questions to model for students how skilled readers construct meaning from a text (Wilhelm, 2001).

This video demonstrates a few "Read Aloud-Think Aloud" strategies which educators can used while telling stories in a classroom setting.

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Teaching Strategies for Early Childhood Education

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Strategies for Reading Aloud to Young Children

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In this video, the educator explains that sequencing is one of many skills that contributes to children's ability to comprehend what they read. This is a good guide for preschool teachers to implement story sequencing as a strategy to promote children's comprehension's skills.

Research shows that high comprehenders were found to produce more accurate and efficient sequences than low comprehenders in all conditions of sequencing tasks such as information recalling, time management, presentation and logistic planning, suggesting that sequencing ability may be important for facilitating comprehension (Gouldthorp, Katsipis & Mueller, 2015).

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Greedy Cat: Retelling a Story Sequence to Build Comprehension

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Retelling is not the same as recalling. Simply recalling selected events or facts from a story or informational text is not the same as retelling. Children need a lot of practice retelling text, and that practice improves the quality of their retelling and summary skills (Morrow, 1998).

This publication is a great resource that provides educators and parents with a huge arrays of retelling techniques that will not put children to sleep.

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According to Marzano (2010), "Observations refer to noting a fact or occurrence by using our five senses and inferences are explanations or interpretations of what you are observing. They are statements that explain what you are observing." He also pointed out that helping preschoolers understand when information is implied, or not directly stated, will improve their reading comprehension in drawing conclusions and making inferences.

This video highlights a simple strategy on observation cum inferential skills which educators can easily implement across all curriculum domains.

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Who Wears These Shoes?: Building Comprehension by Making Inferences (Virtual Tour)

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Learning through PLAY: Reading Comprehension Games

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Learning through PLAY: Reading Comprehension Games

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This video serves as a great reminder to all parents and educators to make reading and comprehension a fun and purposeful journey for their little ones.

Research suggests that that as children shift from "learning to read to reading to learn", incorporating play through interactive games and activities gives them a chance to practice and strengthen their reading comprehension skills (not to mention makes you the cool teacher) (Gambrell, Pfeiffer & Wilson, 1995).

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Learning Through Play: Reading Comprehension Games

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Using Anchor Charts to Scaffold Children's Reading & Comprehension Skills

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Using Anchor Charts to Scaffold Children's Reading & Comprehension Skills

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This link serves as guide for educators to create comprehension anchor charts with their class of students.

An anchor chart is created during the instruction of a lesson. As the teacher conducts a lesson or models a strategy, the lesson reinforcement or strategy tool is written on a chart paper. Once the lesson is complete, the chart is placed in a convenient student-friendly location that the students can access it independently.

Research shows that anchor charts are beneficial to students' as they serve as references for strategies, cues, processes, and/or guidelines when engaging in collaborative and/or independent work, in order to build upon and expand those tools to further their academic as well as social-behavioural success (Burke, 2000).

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Reading is both an art and a science in so many ways. Once young readers move on from word recognition to reading for meaning, a whole new world opens up. Reading comprehension activities within the ELA block help students develop skills that will deepen the meaning of literature, while also leading to an understanding of material in other subjects. As students learn to make connections within a text, lifelong reading skills are born and cultivated. Check out these ELA anchor charts to help your students analyze the many elements necessary for reading success.

1. Questions To Ask While Reading

Questions like these help students think about the purpose of reading itself. They also encourage kids to consider important basics, like setting and characters.

2. Story Elements

Going over the key components that make up a story will make your students better readers. They'll know exactly what to look out for, and searching for these pieces will make reading seem like a fun scavenger hunt.

3. Read, Cover, Remember, Retell

Stop students from skimming longer texts with this concept. This way, they'll break the text into bite-sized chunks and truly understand what they're reading.

4. Making Predictions

Making predictions is a great way for students to interact with a text. Just introduce them to these three simple steps and watch them succeed!

5. Beginning, Middle, End

Have students look for growth throughout a story by paying attention to the beginning, middle, and end. They should think about where the characters start, what happens to them, and how they're different at the end.

6. Choosing a Just-Right Book

Comprehension is deeply connected to children's current reading abilities, and knowing how to choose a just-right book can help them gain confidence in their skills.

7. Summary Sentences

Make sense of more complicated passages by writing summary sentences for each paragraph or section on sticky notes. They'll be helpful when reviewing for tests or writing a paper.

8. Monitoring for Meaning

Self-monitoring is key for success in reading comprehension at all levels. Giving students some questions to ask themselves as they read is a great first step toward understanding.

9. UNWRAP

Use the UNWRAP method to guide students through a thorough reading. This is an especially valuable technique for nonfiction passages.

10. Understanding What Reading Looks Like

Setting expectations for what reading really looks like can help lay the groundwork for comprehension, as illustrated in this reading anchor chart.

11. Literary Elements

This is like combining four anchor charts for reading comprehension into one! It's the kind of chart that kids can refer to over and over.

12. How To Mark a Text

Use an anchor chart and strategy like this one to teach your students how to properly mark up texts. Afterward, have a group discussion and ask students to utilize the sections they emphasized in their texts to support their individual points.

13. Cause and Effect

Considering cause and effect is an excellent way to improve reading comprehension. Students learn to watch for words like "because" and "so" with this anchor chart.

14. Decoding Tricky Words

Decoding strategies help students step back from a frustrating word or sentence and revisit it from another angle. Especially when they're just starting out, your class (and their parents) will appreciate having access to these tips.

15. Coding Thoughts

Shortcut symbols allow students to annotate texts without slowing down or interrupting the reading flow. Be sure to teach them how and when to use each symbol as they read.

16. Using Context Clues

This anchor chart for reading helps students use context clues, such as synonyms and word parts, to become "word detectives" when they stumble upon a word they don't know.

17. Types of Conflict

Dig deeper into characters by understanding the conflict they face during the story. Remind students that more than one of these often applies.

18. Nonfiction Text Features

If you're doing a nonfiction unit, consider creating an anchor chart as a guide. It can be difficult for some students to understand the differences between fiction and nonfiction, but a chart like this one will immediately orient them within a text.

19. Visualizing as They Read

Visualizing is an important part of achieving reading comprehension. Get kids to see the "movie in their minds" as they read.

20. Figurative Language

Figurative language can be challenging to teach. Make it easier with this anchor chart and a few pieces of text to act as examples. Then, set your students free and see how many elements of figurative language they can find in their individually chosen books.

21. Building Fluency

Fluency is another important part of reading comprehension. When students are robotic in their reading expression and pacing, they have trouble understanding meaning.

22. Overcome Distractions

Even the best readers sometimes have trouble focusing on their books! Make your students more effective readers by going over how to overcome wandering thoughts.

23. Retelling the Story

Retelling or summarizing is an important check on comprehension-can the student identify the main events and characters of the story? Reading anchor charts like this one lend a hand in explaining the concept.

24. Find the Main Idea

Understanding the main idea, or identifying what the text is mostly about, even if it's not explicitly stated, is one of the first higher-level tasks of reading comprehension.

25. Understanding Character

Ask students to distinguish between what's on a character's outside versus a character's inside to help them understand the text.

26. Setting

A story's setting is made up of more than just where it takes place. Help your students fully grasp everything the concept encompasses with a fun and simple visual.

27. Point of View

Understanding point of view in a story can be challenging for beginning readers. This chart will help them pick it up and then implement it in their own writing too.

28. Theme vs. Main Idea

It's so easy for young readers to confuse the theme of a text with its main idea, which is why comparing the two concepts side by side is sure to set up your students for success.

29. Thin and Thick Questions

Teach your students the difference between basic yes-or-no (thin) questions and more involved (thick) questions. When students can answer harder questions about the story, their level of understanding will go through the roof.

30. Making Connections

You can be sure kids comprehend what they read when they can start connecting it to themselves and to the world around them.

31. Reading Conference Guidelines

Implementing one-on-one student-teacher conferences during individual reading time can be really helpful for students, especially when you set expectations and guidelines ahead of time. This will give your students time to think about what they will focus on during their time with you and how it will help them become better readers.

32. Plot Structure

This basic plot anchor chart can help students understand the rising action, climax, and falling action that make up a plot.

33. Making Inferences

To make an inference, students have to differentiate between what's being said on the page and what's not. This anchor chart does a great job of explaining.

34. Writing a Book Review

The key to writing a successful book review is being aware of what to focus on during the reading stage. If you plan on having your students write a book review, go over what they should take notes on or pay close attention to while they are reading with an easy anchor chart like this one.

35. Inference Thinking Stems

Reading is an active endeavor; readers often make predictions based on what they already know. These thinking stems can help students put their ideas about stories into words.

36. Evidence-Based Reading

Students show they understand what they are reading by pointing to evidence within the reading. These words are the key to finding those bits of evidence.

37. Elements of Poetry

Poetry is tricky and reads a lot differently than most other texts students tend to gravitate toward. Nevertheless, it's an important art form to explore in the classroom-so why not use a pretty anchor chart as a primer? We guarantee it will take the fear out of reading poetry.

38. Author's Purpose

Why did the author write this book? Was it to persuade, inform, or entertain? The author's purpose may dictate how students read an article or story, and this chart helps students identify it.

39. Questions and Answers

If your class is struggling with how to find answers to questions while reading, this anchor chart just might help them.

40. Themes in Literature

Another great way to teach theme. Books are like a cream-filled cupcake: You never know what's hiding inside!

41. Vowel Teams

Vowel teams can be confusing for young readers. This chart color-codes each vowel team and incorporates example words with pictures to help students remember these tricky sounds.

42. Stop and Jot

It is always a good idea to have students write about their reading in a Reader's Notebook so they can look back on their thoughts. Anchor charts for reading like this one remind students of great reasons to stop, think, and jot while reading.

43. Using Think Marks to Dig Deeper

Some students are great at remembering to stop and jot as they read, while others are more reluctant. Motivate your students by incorporating these fun symbols that can be placed on sticky notes throughout a text.

44. Thinking Questions To Ask While Reading

Use this chart to help students apply higher-order reading comprehension strategies as they read independently. These also make great conversation starters for whole- and small-group activities.

45. Understanding Why Readers Close-Read

Close reading helps students dig deeper as they read to better understand the text. Give them the background knowledge on this strategy to help motivate them to take a closer look.

46. Steps to Close Reading

Your students will become expert reading detectives with these helpful close-reading tips you can put on anchor charts.

47. Tone and Mood

As students think about their feelings while reading a particular piece, they will learn to build their own opinions of literature and poetry. Help them understand how the author's tone also has an impact by using these anchor charts for reading.

48. Reading Comprehension Strategies Summed Up

This is an excellent summary of multiple reading comprehension strategies used in the classroom all year long. It works well across most grade levels too.

49. ELA Test-Taking Strategies

Help ease the pressure of test taking with these practical reminders. These great tips are well suited for ELA and beyond!

If you like this roundup of anchor charts for reading, subscribe to our free newsletters for more of the latest teaching ideas and tips.

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49 Anchor Charts That Nail Reading Comprehension

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These terrific anchor charts for reading comprehension will help students learn about characters, setting, main ideas, context, and more.

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Using Graphic Organizers to Support Comprehension Skills

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Using Graphic Organizers to Support Comprehension Skills

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Graphic organizers are learning tools that can be used not only to facilitate, but also to assess children's learning. When applied to reading comprehension, graphic organizers assist children in identifying information in the texts, systematically analyzing information, reviewing concepts and demonstrating their understanding of the text (Grambell & Koskinen, 2002)

This link is a great start for the teacher who is unfamiliar with what graphic organizers are or how they can be used. The author Anina Robb explains how graphic organizers facilitate thought processes, comprehension skills and how they can be used for assessment. It also showcases many samples of graphic organizers which educators can incorporate cross all curriculum domains.