Hi there! This post has a new home. I've moved it to my own blog, where you can read the full post. Read the full post: Improve Reading Comprehension with Summary Sentences Thanks so much for stopping by! Kristin, One Stop Teacher Shop...

In upper grade classrooms, students spend a great deal of time responding to the texts they read. Over the years I have found that no matter what grade level I teach, students have a difficult time writing thorough and meaningful reading responses. At the start of every year my students need quite a bit of guidance when writing their responses. One of the best ways that I have found to teach students to write meaningful responses is by providing them with sentence frames. I like to encourage students to follow three simple steps when writing reading responses, each with sentence frames and prompts to use: Step 1: What did you read? While reading... In chapter __ of... On page __ of... During today's reading of... Step 2: What happened in the text? Tell what a character said. Tell what a character did. Tell what a character thought, felt, or learned. Describe the setting.  Describe an important event that occurred. Explain a problem that was encountered. ......

Hi there! This post has a new home. I've moved it to my own blog, where you can read the full post. Read the full post: Guided Reading: Reading Strategy Groups Thanks so much for stopping by! Kristin, One Stop Teacher Shop...

        One strategy which all good readers have in common is the ability to use context clues effectively. When students encounter words they haven't seen before or words which they don't fully understand, context clues can help them problem-solve to determine what a word might mean in that particular context. By directly teaching your students these five main context clues, they will have some of the tools they need to greatly increase their reading comprehension.   Here's my anchor chart for Context Clues Types. I think anchor charts are great to help document learning and for kids to be able to reference concepts when needed. The five types of context clues I like to teach can be remembered  by the mnemonic  LEADS. These include Logic, Examples, Antonyms, Definition, and Synonyms. I also introduce Word Parts (base words, prefixes, and suffixes) later on in the year, after we have had plenty of practice with Latin and Greek Roots . ......

        Teachers know that having a rich vocabulary is an asset to students as readers and as writers. We know that students who are avid readers, tend to have more advanced vocabularies than those who don't and that vocabulary acquisition is a wonderful side effect of reading quality books.          One of our jobs as teachers is to not only encourage our students to love reading but to provide instruction and activities which promote vocabulary development.          Since students need repeated exposure (experts say 8 - 12 times!) for words to be able to be understood and used successfully, students need lots and lots of practice interacting with words. Variety is key, as the more fresh and the more fun we can make it, the greater the engagement.         Here are 23 vocabulary activities you can use with your students to help reinforce vocabulary. Most activities may be played as a who......

                         Finding the main idea is one of the most challenging reading strategies to teach. On the surface, it doesn't seem that hard... I mean, we're just asking students to find what the passage is mostly about.          But when faced with the task, kids not only have to comprehend the passage, but they have to figure out which information is the most important, without getting sidetracked in the details.         Main idea is one of those concepts which needs to be revisited over and over. Even though upper grade students have been introduced to the main idea, they still need so much practice, especially as the text complexity is increased.           I've found that for the main idea (as with any difficult concept really) it's always good to use a variety of tools and activities in order to reach as many kids i......

Looking closely at the Common Core Standards, there is a big emphasis on text evidence.  For example, fourth grade Common Core State Standard- CCSS RI 4.1 states, "Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text."  To take a step further, the standards require students to dig deeper to analyze the text.   In fourth grade CCSS RI.4.8, it states, "Explain how the author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text." Digging deeper into the text, finding evidence, and analyzing the author's intentions, can be quite challenging for elementary students.  Here are a few strategies to help your students analyze text effectively: 1.  TEXT DEPENDENT ANALYSIS QUESTIONS Use a list of Text Dependent Analysis Questions not only when you are creating prompts for your students, but also for student reference.  Review the questions with your students to get them fa......

Whether you are teaching guided reading, shared reading, or having students read independently, this post will show you how to build reading comprehension strategies into your instruction.  You will also find a FREE Reading Strategies Questions sheet to use with your instruction! It is important to teach the reading strategies according to the following method.  It has been proven to be an effective approach.  Teach one per week and focus on that one strategy throughout the variety of readings that week.  I found the best method is to: Explain:  Whether you are using an anchor chart, writing on a board, or oral teaching, explain each strategy. Model:  Always model so students can see how it is applied. Apply:  Students should apply the strategy in their reading. What reading strategies should you build into your lessons?  See below for the 10 Reading Strategies that will help your students effectively compr......