Wednesday 23rd july

We are learning to apply visualisation as a reading comprehension strategy.
I can:

• use descriptions in the text to help me visualise a scene

• use my senses to describe what I see, smell, taste, hear, touch

• read phrases in a text and match phrase to the appropriate sense

• find phrases in my own text and match phrase/phrases to sense

Visualising means creating an image in your mind while reading that reflects the characters, events, topics or information in the text.

Writers often use language to appeal to our senses (sight, sound, smell, touch and taste). This is called ‘sensory language’. Sensory language helps us to picture in our minds what is happening in the text.

To create these images, you need to concentrate on what you are reading. This can improve your understanding of the text.

Visualisations can keep evolving (changing) throughout a text. The more you practice this skill, the easier it will become!

Good readers use visualising techniques and visual representations in the following ways:

Before reading

• Visually organising your thinking, visualising the possible content, linking background knowledge and forming predictions.

During reading

• Visualising the content, comparing predictions with ideas, themes and information in the text. Readers begin to form a visual representation of what they are reading.

After reading

• Visually link new information with prior knowledge, visually represent what they have read in a graphic summary, and build new understandings.

Learning Intentions

• Recognise that visualising builds comprehension by creating mental images.

• Use descriptive/sensory language to create a clear mental picture.

• I can identify sensory words an phrases.

• Match the following phrases with the appropriate sense. The first one has been completed for you.

Phrase                                                                                                Matching sense    

“A soft rustle of leaves whispered secrets across the yard.”       (sound)

“Tiny dewdrops glistened on the spider’s web.”

“The rich aroma of cinnamon drifted from the kitchen.”

“The lemonade was tart enough to make my tongue pucker.”

“The old wooden floorboards creaked under her footsteps.”

“The jagged rock scratched my palm as I grabbed it.”

“The damp earth smelled of rain and fresh grass.”

“The chocolate melted on my tongue, sweet and silky.”

“The crimson sunset painted the sky in streaks of orange and pink.”

“The velvet cushion felt smooth under my fingertips.”

 Find five senetences in your own text and write what sense it is conjouring in your mind as you read.

●         How is the author appealing to the five senses?

●         How can my own knowledge help me to draw a picture in my mind?

●         How can my visualisations help me to understand the text?

Once you have answered all reflection questions, set yourself a goal for Wednesday.