Literacy - Reading

General Reading Skills and Strategies:

-determining the author's purpose (is as easy as PIE!)

                   *Persuade - convince someone to think a certain way

                   *Inform - teach someone something

                   *Entertain - entertain somebody

-providing text evidence to answer questions

         -Good readers PROVE IT with text evidence! 

         -Always look back and highlight words and phrases to support your answer

         -Remember to RACE! Begin beatboxing :)

                   R: Restate the question

                   A: Answer the question

                   C: Cite the source 

  E: Explain!

-comparing and contrasting (5 fingers + palm) - finding similarities and differences

                   *Opening sentence (pinky)

                   *Similarity with details (ring finger)

                   *Similarity with details (middle finger)

                   *Difference with details (pointer finger)

                   *Difference with details (thumb)

                   *Closing sentence (close your hand!)

-stop and jot or "think marks"

         -Good readers pause while reading to think about what was just read

         -Good readers stop to think about what was read and jot down some ideas

                    *important information we learned (nonfiction - stop and jots)

                    *what just happened in the story (fiction - "think marks")

                    *inferences about characters or the story (fiction - "think marks")

                    *reactions to the text

                    *connections to the text

                    *thoughts about the text

Fiction Comprehension Skills and Strategies:

-"think marks": stopping while reading to record our thoughts/ideas/questions

-visualizing

-using context clues for unfamiliar words

-making connections 

                   *text to self - making a connection with our own lives

                   *text to text - making a connection with another book

                   *text to world - making a connection with the world around us

-noticing character traits 

                   I can tell ____ is ____ because...actions/dialogue/thoughts

-noticing character feelings 

                   I can tell ____ feels ____ because...actions/dialogue/thoughts

-making inferences 

                   I can tell ____ because...story details

-making predictions 

                   I predict ____ because...story details

-retelling a story with a Beginning, Middle, and End (BME)

                   B: characters, setting, problem

                   M: ways to solve the problem

                   E: solution to the problem

        Ex. (Title) is about (characters) and it takes place (setting). The story starts when (problem). The characters (try to solve the problem). Finally, the problem is solved when (solution). 

-summarizing a story with "Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then"

                   Somebody: who is the main character?

                   Wanted: what did he/she want?

                   But: what was the problem?

                   So: what did he/she do to try to solve the problem?

                   Then: what was the solution to the problem?

         Ex. (Main character) wanted (something) but (problem). So he/she (tries to solve the problem). Then (solution to the problem).

Nonfiction Comprehension Skills and Strategies:

-identifying and understanding the purpose of text features: 

        table of contents, headings, photographs, captions, bold/underlined/italic words, diagrams, labels, maps, timelines, graphs, hyperlinks, glossary, index, etc.

-before reading: thinking about what you already know and what you wonder about

-during reading: stopping to check for understanding (making stop and jots)

-after reading: thinking about what you learned and if you still have questions

-using context clues for unfamiliar words

-identifying text structures (the way the author organizes the information)

                    *Problem and Solution

                    *Sequence

                    *Cause and Effect

                    *Compare and Contrast

                    *Description

-identifying the main idea with supporting details

        -the main idea can usually be found at the beginning of the paragraph

        -sometimes the main idea is in the first sentence (the topic sentence)

        -key words in a text can give clues about the main idea

        -the details should support and be about the main idea, or main topic

-summarizing nonfiction text

                    1. Tell the title and author 

                    2. Tell the main idea

                    3. Choose 3-4 important details that support the main idea

Traditional Literature Comprehension Skills and Strategies:

-understanding characteristics of traditional literature: passed down stories that teach a lesson

                    *Fairy tales: "once upon a time", royalty, animals, magical creatures, castles, 

forests, good vs. evil, hero and villain, happy ending

                    *Fables: very short, animals personified, 3 or less characters, outside, trickery

                    *Folktales: very short, passed down through generations, teaches a lesson

                    *Legends: explain how or why something in nature came to be, magic

       *Myths: gods and goddesses, explains something that happens in nature,

good is rewarded, bad is punished, magic, unusual creatures

-noticing story events and character traits that make a hero or a villain (behaviors)

-noticing how characters' actions affect the story 

-identify or interpret the lesson learned (moral of the story)

        *pay attention to what each character thinks, says, and does

-comparing and contrasting different versions of the same traditional literature story

-comparing and contrasting different pieces of traditional literature

-comparing and contrasting characters in traditional literature