Interactive Website: ReadWorks
What it is: A free website offering leveled reading comprehension passages, questions, and assessments for students of all grade levels.
When you would use it: Ideal for guided reading sessions, or as a homework assignment to reinforce comprehension. It’s effective for differentiating instruction, as you can assign texts based on varying reading levels.
How it works: Teachers can assign texts based on a student's reading level, with related comprehension questions and activities that focus on main ideas, details, and inferential thinking. ReadWorks also provides vocabulary support and assessment options for teachers.
Why it is instructionally valuable: ReadWorks offers texts tailored to a range of reading abilities and helps build both literal and inferential comprehension skills. The site fosters critical thinking by encouraging students to engage with content on multiple levels.
Lesson Plan: Comprehension Strategy: Making Inferences
What it is: A lesson plan focused on teaching students how to make inferences while reading, which is vital for developing higher-order thinking skills.
When you would use it: Useful for teaching students to go beyond the text to understand implied meaning. It's great for intermediate and upper-grade students who need practice in reading between the lines.
How it works: Students read short passages and are encouraged to use clues from the text (along with their background knowledge) to make logical inferences.
Why it is instructionally valuable: Making inferences is a key skill for deepening comprehension, particularly for understanding subtleties and nuance in more complex texts.
Making Inferences Worksheets First Grade Second Grade Reading No Prep
Skill Worksheet: Comprehension Practice: Main Idea and Details
What it is: A worksheet where students identify the main idea and supporting details in a short reading passage. Identifying the main idea and details is foundational to reading comprehension.
When you would use it: After teaching a lesson on identifying main ideas, to reinforce this concept through independent practice.
How it works: Students read a passage and then answer questions that help them identify the main idea and relevant details. The questions prompt students to think about which details directly support the main idea.
Why it is instructionally valuable: This worksheet targets an essential comprehension skill, reinforcing students' ability to extract key information from a text.
Professional Book Resource: "The Comprehension Toolkit" by Stephanie Harvey
What it is: A practical guide for teaching reading comprehension strategies, offering tools and frameworks for educators.
When you would use it: Ideal for teachers seeking comprehensive strategies to boost students' comprehension skills across all levels.
How it works: The book provides step-by-step lessons on strategies like questioning, visualizing, summarizing, and making connections to improve comprehension. Specific strategies like the "think-aloud" method can be used to model comprehension skills.
Why it is instructionally valuable: It offers a range of proven, research-based strategies for developing deep comprehension skills, which are essential for understanding increasingly complex texts.
Graphic Organizer: Story Map
What it is: A graphic organizer that helps students break down a story by identifying key components like characters, setting, plot, problem, and resolution.
When you would use it: After reading a narrative text, to help students organize their understanding of the story. It’s helpful for analyzing story structure and identifying plot arcs.
How it works: Students fill in the organizer with information from the story, allowing them to visualize the story’s structure and key components. The visual nature of the organizer supports students in organizing their thoughts.
Why it is instructionally valuable: It helps students clearly understand the elements of a story, enhancing their overall comprehension and ability to retell or analyze a text. It also supports students’ recall and their ability to summarize key components.
12 Free Story Map Templates PDFs (Story Elements)