Reading Comprehension Strategies

READING IS THINKING!

While we read, we are constantly thinking about what we are reading, but with kids, we have to teach them to think about the reading.  Through explicit teaching, they learn how to make connections, infer, question, synthesize, determine importance, and visualize.  In the next 6 months, I will be teaching you how to support your child as they learn how to use these comprehension strategies at school and home. 

Making Connections
Children make personal connections with the text by using their schema. Schema is their background knowledge.
There are three main types of connections we can make during reading:

• Text-to-Self: Refers to connections made between the text and the reader's personal experience.
• Text-to-Text: Refers to connections made between a text being read to a text that was previously read.
• Text-to-World: Refers to connections made between a text being read and something that occurs in the world.

Inferring
Authors do not always provide descriptions about a topic, setting, character, or event. However, they often provide clues that readers can use to “read between the lines”—by making inferences that combine information in the text with their schema.

Questioning
This strategy involves readers asking themselves questions throughout the reading of text.

Synthesizing
Synthesizing is creating something new by gathering together information from the text.

Determining Importance
Determining importance has to do with knowing why you’re reading and then making decisions about what information or ideas are most critical to understanding the overall meaning of the piece.
Visualizing
Visualizing is creating pictures in your head while you read using the text as a support.