Comprehension Skills, Strategies, Activities & Exercises
Comprehension Skills, Strategies, Activities & Exercises
Comprehension Skills, Strategies, Activities & Exercises
3. 5. K8 Comprehension Skills, Strategies, Activities & Exercises Benchmark Education Storefront
Introduction/Overview
Types of Comprehension Strategies
Teaching Strategies
Sample Shared Reading Lesson
Sample Small-Group Reading Lesson
Introduction/Overview
This module explores comprehension strategies and their benefits. Examine descriptions of each type of comprehension strategy, instructional implications for teaching
comprehension, and sample lessons.
Although word recognition, decoding, and fluency are building blocks of effective reading, the ability to comprehend text is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. Comprehension is a
prerequisite for acquiring content knowledge and expressing ideas and opinions through discussion and writing.
Comprehension strategies work together like a finely tuned machine. The reader begins to construct meaning by selecting and previewing the text. During reading, comprehension
builds through predicting, inferring, synthesizing, and seeking answers to questions that arise. After reading, deeper meaning is constructed through reviewing, rereading portions of
the text, discussion, and thoughtful reflection. During each of these phases, the reader relates the text to his own life experiences.
Comprehension is powerful because the ability to construct meaning comes from the mind of the reader. Therefore, specific comprehension instruction—modeling during read-alouds
and shared reading, targeted mini-lessons, and varied opportunities for practice during small-group and independent reading—is crucial to the development of strategic, effective
readers.
1. Make Connections—Readers connect the topic or information to what they already know about themselves, about other texts, and about the world.
2. Ask Questions—Readers ask themselves questions about the text, their reactions to it, and the author's purpose for writing it.
3. Visualize—Readers make the printed word real and concrete by creating a “movie” of the text in their minds.
4. Determine Text Importance—Readers (a) distinguish between what's essential versus what's interesting, (b) distinguish between fact and opinion, (c) determine cause-and-
effect relationships, (d) compare and contrast ideas or information, (e) discern themes, opinions, or perspectives, (f) pinpoint problems and solutions, (g) name steps in a
process, (h) locate information that answers specific questions, or (i) summarize.
5. Make Inferences—Readers merge text clues with their prior knowledge and determine answers to questions that lead to conclusions about underlying themes or ideas.
6. Synthesize—Readers combine new information with existing knowledge to form original ideas, new lines of thinking, or new creations.
Students quickly grasp how to make connections, ask questions, and visualize. However, they often struggle with the way to identify what is most important in the text, identify clues
and evidence to make inferences, and combine information into new thoughts. All these strategies should be modeled in isolation many times so that students get a firm grasp of
what the strategy is and how it helps them comprehend text.
However, students must understand that good readers use a variety of these strategies every time they read. Simply knowing the individual strategies is not enough, nor is it enough to
know them in isolation. Students must know when and how to collectively use these strategies.
Teaching Strategies
Modeling through think-alouds is the best way to teach all comprehension strategies. By thinking aloud, teachers show students what good readers do. Think-alouds can be used
during read-alouds and shared reading. They can also be used during small-group reading to review or reteach a previously modeled strategy.
The teacher models the think-aloud while she reads aloud, and the students listen.
The teacher thinks aloud during shared reading, and the students help out.
Students think aloud during shared reading, and the teacher and other students monitor and help.
The teacher or students think aloud during shared reading while writing on an overhead, on self-stick notes, or in a journal.
Students think aloud in small-group reading, and the teacher monitors and helps.
Students individually think aloud during independent reading using self-stick notes or a journal. Then students compare their thoughts with others.
(Wilhelm, 2001)
When you introduce a new comprehension strategy, model during read-aloud and shared reading:
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4. State your purpose—name the strategy and explain the focus of your think-alouds.
5. Read the text aloud to students and think aloud at the designated points.
6. If you conduct a shared reading experience, have students highlight words and phrases that show evidence of your thinking by placing self-stick notes in the book.
7. Reinforce the think-alouds with follow-up lessons in the same text or with others.
(Wilhelm, 2001)
Make Connections
Ask Questions
Visualize
1. I know these parts of the story are important because they match my purpose for reading, which was …
2. I believe the author thinks ____________ is important because …
3. I think the author's opinion about _____ is ______ because …
4. This text uses the (cause/effect, problem/solution, description, compare/contrast, sequence/steps in a process) text structure. I can use a graphic organizer to help me
understand it.
5. I see lots of information right here. I need to identify which parts are important and which parts are just interesting.
6. All these ideas are important, but I think some are more important than others. I need to determine which ideas are the most important.
7. This (chart, table, graph, time line) helps me understand that …
8. These (boldfaced words, font changes, bullets, captions) help me locate what is important.
9. Let me take the big ideas and summarize the text.
Make Inferences
Synthesize
Additional Tips
Revisit the same text to model more than one strategy. For example, on Monday, use a text to model what's important versus what's interesting. On Tuesday, use the text to model
how to identify big ideas. On Wednesday, use the big ideas to summarize and synthesize.
Extend the text as a reader-response activity. For example, on Monday, use a text as a shared reading lesson to model how cause-and-effect relationships help determine text
importance. On Tuesday, extend thinking: map the cause-and-effect relationships onto graphic organizers, synthesize big ideas, and draw conclusions.
Text: greeting card, Benchmark Education Company's Comprehension Strategy Poster “Safety Signs”
Day 1
1. Say: Sometimes when we read a piece of text, we have a hard time choosing the most important parts. This lesson will help us learn to do that. Here is a card that I received.
First I'll think of the main idea about the card, and then I'll think of some details that help to prove the main idea. This isn't a playing card or a note card—it's a greeting card.
That is the most important concept. I'll write This is a greeting card on the graphic organizer where it reads Main Idea.
2. Read the card aloud to students.
3. Use the following think-aloud to model how to determine details: Now I'll think of some details about the card. These details describe the main idea and let people know that
the main idea is true. I'll look for details that prove that this is a greeting card. First, I see that the card has a picture on the front. I'll write It has a picture in the first Supporting
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Details box. Next, I notice that the card is signed by the person who sent it. I'll write It has a signature in the next Supporting Details box. Can you think of another detail about
the greeting card? Let's add that to the graphic organizer.
Day 2
1. Say: Yesterday we looked at a greeting card and identified the main idea and supporting details. Today we're going to read a text about road signs and pay attention to what
the words tell us. Please listen to find out the main idea and supporting details of the text.
2. After reading aloud the text, draw a main idea and supporting-details graphic organizer on chart paper. Ask students to help complete it with information from the text. If they
have difficulty, guide them with the following prompts:
Main Idea: Read the title and the first sentence. Ask: Is the author telling us the main idea here? Model thinking about the strategy: The title of the selection is Signs. This is the topic,
which gives us a clue about the main idea. In the first sentence, the author states that it is easy to read road signs if you look at their colors. That sounds as though it is an important
concept the author wants us to know about signs. Now I'll keep reading to see what types of signs the author mentions to support this idea.
Supporting Details: Read the second, third, and fourth sentences. Ask: Does the author tell us supporting details here? How do you know? Model your thinking: The author describes
three different colors of signs—red stop sign, a yellow be careful sign, and an orange work sign. These examples support the main idea that colors help us read road signs.
Part 1
Say: Listen carefully to the following sentence: Even though the children wore heavy coats, they were shivering as they waited for the bus. I'm giving you a hint as to what season it
might be. I don't tell you, but you can use the clues in the sentence to infer that it is winter. Many times, authors do not directly state information in the text. To be good readers, we
have to infer as we read. We use clues and evidence to figure out what the author hints or implies.
We're going to find an implied main idea for two different parts of a book. We know that the main idea is the most important information that the writer wants us to understand. In this
case, the topic is plants. We'll need to think carefully about what the authors tell us about plants so that we can understand the implied main idea. Remember, the main idea will not be
directly stated.
To activate students' prior knowledge about plants, creating a KWL chart. Record what they already know about plants in the K column and what they would like to know in the W
column. Tell them that they will complete the L column after they read.
Topic: Plants
K W L
Plants have roots and leaves. What other plant parts are there?
Hold up the book. Ask: What do you see in the photograph on the cover? What do you think the girl is doing? What kind of plant is shown on the cover?
Look at the title page. Ask: What do you think these children are doing? How are plants involved? What things are the children using as they work with the plants?
Preview the photographs in the book, reinforcing the language used in the text. For example, say: On page 2, I see three kinds of plants. What are some ways that plants are alike?
Say: I want you to see if you can find answers to the questions on our KWL chart. Monitor students' reading and provide support as necessary.
Ask students to share answers to any questions from the KWL chart that they found during the reading. Complete the L column of the chart.
Topic: Plants
K W L
Plants have roots and leaves. What other plant parts are there? Plants have roots, leaves, stems, and flowers.
How does a plant get water? Water falls as rain. The ground soaks it up. The roots help get water from the ground.
Plants need water and light to grow.
How does a plant get food? The leaves use light from the sun to make food.
How can we grow a plant? We can put soil and a seed in a cup, water it, and give it sunlight to grow our own plant.
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Model how to determine the implied main idea utilizing a graphic organizer.
Remind students that to infer means to understand clues and evidence that the author has provided for us in the text. Implications are not directly stated.
Say: The first part of the book (pages 2–11) gives me many details about the parts of a plant. One detail is that roots help a plant stay in the ground. The book also tells me that roots
help a plant get water. I'll write these facts in the first Supporting Details box. Now I'll look for other details to add to my chart. Leaves make food for the plant. Stems take water to the
leaves and flowers. Flowers make seeds. New plants grow from seeds. All these details tell me how the parts of a plant help it grow and stay alive. Even though the author didn't
directly state this as the main idea, the clues and evidence imply it. I'll write this on the chart where it reads Main Idea #1.
Topic: Plants
Part 3
Briefly review pages 12–16. Then ask students to select the most important details and use those as clues and evidence to find the implied main idea. If students need additional
modeling and think-alouds, complete the remainder of the graphic organizer together. If they seem to understand the concept, allow them to complete the graphic organizer in small
groups, pairs, or individually. Monitor their work and provide guidance as necessary. Allow time for students to share their recorded information.
Topic: Plants
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