Comprehension of Informational Text Strategies for Fourth Grade
1. Think-Aloud For Expository Text:
Description: Choose a passage that has new vocabulary and unfamiliar information.
Purpose: For a teacher to model to students what proficient readers do to make sense of a text.
Directions: Once you've chosen a passage that has new vocabulary and unfamiliar information, and then perform the following steps:
1. Read the title or heading of the passage and make predictions about the topic. "I think this will be about ______" or "I think I will learn _____" or "This subheading tells me I will also learn ____."
2. Describe the images that come to mind as you read the passage. For example, "I can almost feel (or hear or see or smell) _____."
3. Give analogies that relate the material to your personal life. "I (saw/heard/tasted/felt) ______ that is very similar to (topic of passage)."
4. Verbalize passages or phrases that you don't understand. This helps the student understand that proficient readers do not need to know everything to succeed.
5. Demonstrate the strategy you use to understand the passage (e.g., rereading, looking at a diagram or picture, looking up a word in the glossary, or reading ahead to see if the concept is explained).
After you model a think-aloud, have the students do a think-aloud while you observe. The think-aloud should become a regular habit for struggling readers.
2. Checklist:
Description: Allows students be aware of the information they are actively reading.
Purpose: Allows students to see reading as an active process, in which they constantly analyze what is being read.
Directions: Model the process for students using the following steps:
1. Prepare statements about a passage that are either true or false.
2. Together with students read the statements before beginning to read the passage.
3. As you read, place a (+) before each true statement.
4. At the end of the reading, go back and reword the false statements to make them true. If necessary, you and the students should reread the material.
Description: Choose a passage that has new vocabulary and unfamiliar information.
Purpose: For a teacher to model to students what proficient readers do to make sense of a text.
Directions: Once you've chosen a passage that has new vocabulary and unfamiliar information, and then perform the following steps:
1. Read the title or heading of the passage and make predictions about the topic. "I think this will be about ______" or "I think I will learn _____" or "This subheading tells me I will also learn ____."
2. Describe the images that come to mind as you read the passage. For example, "I can almost feel (or hear or see or smell) _____."
3. Give analogies that relate the material to your personal life. "I (saw/heard/tasted/felt) ______ that is very similar to (topic of passage)."
4. Verbalize passages or phrases that you don't understand. This helps the student understand that proficient readers do not need to know everything to succeed.
5. Demonstrate the strategy you use to understand the passage (e.g., rereading, looking at a diagram or picture, looking up a word in the glossary, or reading ahead to see if the concept is explained).
After you model a think-aloud, have the students do a think-aloud while you observe. The think-aloud should become a regular habit for struggling readers.
2. Checklist:
Description: Allows students be aware of the information they are actively reading.
Purpose: Allows students to see reading as an active process, in which they constantly analyze what is being read.
Directions: Model the process for students using the following steps:
1. Prepare statements about a passage that are either true or false.
2. Together with students read the statements before beginning to read the passage.
3. As you read, place a (+) before each true statement.
4. At the end of the reading, go back and reword the false statements to make them true. If necessary, you and the students should reread the material.