Comprehension

This week we learned various comprehension strategies. One strategy that we learned about earlier this week is “Make and Adjust Predictions: Use Text to Confirm”. Students learned that it is important as a reader to stop and think about what they are reading. When readers stop and think about what they have read they can also think about what they believe is going to happen next in the book.

Readers make predictions while they are reading based on their knowledge of how the book might go. We also make predictions based on what makes sense in the book and if something is possible or not possible. Good readers make predictions based on the clues in the text. When we read and we predict things that will happen our minds are really tuned into the story. We can’t make a prediction if we are not thinking about what is going on in the book.

As a class we read the book Two Bad Ants. After every page or two students would turn and talk to their partner and make a prediction.  Predictions were then shared with the class. Some of our predictions were: “I think the ants might have fallen into a cup of coffee because my dad puts sugar in his coffee and we know the crystals are sugar” and “I think the shovel is a spoon because spoons are silver and long”.

During Reading Workshop students were encouraged to stop and write post-it notes about their predictions. We have a new bulletin board in our classroom (pictures to come) where on Monday students began placing their post-it notes containing their thinking.