Things Good Readers Do

Teaching students what a good reader does is important. These are items they are good strategies to teach to students.

Preview:
*Look at the cover and title.
*Look at the pictures and read some of the text.

Question
*Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how.
*Decide if what you've read makes sense.

Predict
*Wonder about what will happen next.
*Make guesses and read ahead to see if your predictions are correct.

Infer
*Imagine the details.
*Use what you've read to understand what the author means.

Connect
*Relate what you've read to what you know, and to your thoughts and feelings.
*Compare what you've read to other texts and to the world around you.

Summarize
*Organize and connect the details.
*Draw your own conclusions.

Evaluate
*Think about what you've read.
*What did you learn?
*Was it important to you? Why or why not?
*Did you like it? Why or why not?

Reading Strategies: Read a Picture

There are many different reading strategies that can be used with students.  An activity that is good to use with pre-emergent readers is called Read a Picture.  

Materials:

You will need a  nonfiction picture book, dry erase board, and dry erase marker. 

Strategies: 

This activity will use prior knowledge to add meaning to text.  It will also have the student look at picture clues to predict story content.

Directions:

1. Write on the dry erase board 2-3 vocabulary words from a nonfiction story.  Select words that connect to illustrations in the book.
2. Show students each page of the book and have them use picture clues to predict information.
3. Ask how and why questions.
4. Read aloud and define the words on the board.
5. Have students use the listed words to describe the book illustrations.
6. Then read the story aloud.
7. Have students compare their predictions to the facts in the story.