Transcript

One thing we do know is that proficient readers have a variety of comprehension strategies that they use and that they're constantly using and thinking about. One of the resources that we found is called Reading Power. It ties in extremely well with the Daily 5 and the CAF components of our literacy program. Adrienne Gear is the author, and she has provided a series of lessons in this book that focus specifically on comprehension strategies. There are songs that we use to introduce the first strategies with, so the students learn the song, we sing it all together, and students here in first grade and second grade and third grade all share the vocabulary now because the teachers are all working form the same resource. So it's easy to go year to year for the children and it's good for us because we can build on the strategies, build on what they know about making connections starting on first grade and working all the way up. What do they know about visualization and building on that? This makes them realize and recognize that the most important part of their body that they use when they read is their brain. It also helps them to become a lot more metacognitive and think about their thinking. 

We have used her lessons when we teach daily 5 mini-lessons, then we can take the comprehension strategies that we've taught in here in mini-lessons, and put them up on the CAF board. Right now I've got students in my class working specifically on questioning. The framework has come from the Reading Power book itself, lessons have been taught, mini-lessons, during Daily 5, and their goal on the CAF board is comprehension with the strategy specifically being questioning. So it's all been tied in really well and really effectively together.

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