Don't let those hard words get you down! Find a short passage or use the book your student/child is reading and highlight the words that they don't know as they go. Use a reading strategy ring to help determine the best strategies to decode. Students love using the highlighter tape, so that makes them more invested in this activity!

Today we read leveled text and carefully monitored our thinking as we went!  With this close read, we found evidence to support our answers and opinions.  We usually do word hunts and circled key graphemes within words.  Yesterday, one of our groups reviewed r-controlled vowels and vowel digraphs (a.k.a. vowel teams), then searched for them in  our text.  Afterwards, they made a list of those graphemes/words on the back or use those highlighted words in sentences we create to help us internalize those graphemes.  Keeping the text short and on the easier side helps students cement this skill before they move on to more challenging text.  Go ahead and give it a try!

2nd graders start off making connections and talking about key details. Here are a few quick references and resources to support this skill. 

Label your highlighters for close reading activities. A great tool for identifying specific parts of the text. 

1st graders start off their year making connections in Making Meaning. Here are some resources that support this new strategy.  Another fun Making Connections  game here on WPSU Education! 

Working on predictions in your classroom? This is a fun and easy skill to teach reading comprehension and so important for young readers to grasp. Make a prediction pail and have students write down their predictions. Discuss them before and/or after reading and talk about what evidence might support or might NOT support the predictions. Come by the reading room and grab your own Prediction Pail label. We have them made for you!

The only "dumb" question is the one you don't ask? So they say?  Use sticky notes as a quick fast way to ask questions about our reading. These 1st graders went on a picture walk of a nonfiction text about Honeybees and then developed questions they might have after looking at the pictures. Quickly jot down those questions, place them in front of the text and then have the students stick them on the page where they find the answer. Not all questions get answered, that's okay. Google is always here to save the day! 

Why Teach Reading Comprehension? 
Well, because it's the MOST important thing of course. I always say to parents, it doesn't matter what level your child is reading, whether they UNDERSTAND the story is most important. Can't remember the last time I was out with colleagues or girlfriends discussing our reading levels, but I've been in a book club or two...talking about stories. 

1. Children think that reading well, means reading the words correctly:  This is obviously important, because you're not going to get much out of a story if you don't know what it says. However, reading the words in a story correctly doesn't always mean you understand what has happened. We've all been there in College. Rereading until you've finally figured out what it says. That's a skill we learned as students, because reading comprehension is the MOST important thing.  Recognizing the words accurately and quickly is only one part. Comprehension is the other piece. Readers also need to be able to understand and make connections with the text.
2. Comprehension helps readers to engage with the text. We want readers to talk to themselves. That's right. We want them wondering, making connections, telling stories about their story. It's important to encourage children to elaborate on the voices in their heads talking to them about stories. I know students are truly engaged when they interrupt their reading to share a connection, ask a question, or make a prediction.  
3. Sometimes you just don't get it. Even adults. Even advanced readers. If we don’t arm our readers with strategies they can use when the text is difficult, they may not know how to tackle the problem. 

If we can get kids excited about books, and excited about talking about books, we can unlock entire worlds for them. "Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of all teachers. - Charles William Eliot 

A quick poster with great strategies to keep in mind when working on reading comprehension with students.