Kerri Hollowood

Strategy binder
Comprehension tools
1. Lift the Flap Main Idea


Source: (Verner, 2018).


Explanation: After reading a passage or article, students write one question on a sticky note

and then arrange them in their notebooks. Questions should include (but at not limited to):

What is the topic of the passage? What details help support you idea of the topic? What is the

main idea? What vocabulary relates to the main idea? What was the authors purpose for

writing this article/passage? Why is the main idea relevant to real life/ today’s society?

Students place each sticky note in their journal and write answers under. Then, they have a

flip page where they can flip the questions up to answer them underneath after they have

completed the reading or as they complete a second or third reading of the passage. Through

using these guiding questions, students will become more comfortable with thinking about

these questions as they read and begin to do it naturally without the visual reminder of the

sticky notes in their journals. Until that occurs, students can then use this page within their

journals to review and remind themselves about main idea and finding details to support it.

2. Comprehension Cube


Source: (Verner, 2018).


Explanation: After reading a story, students will fill in a comprehension cube to discuss

common points that are considered when comprehending and thinking back on a story. For

example, on one side of the cube, students will write describe it and they can briefly fill in
 what happened in the story. In another box, students can compare it to another story or to a

past experience. Moving on to a different box, students can analyze it and consider what it

teaches them. They can associate it to their lives, argue for it (or against it) whether it is true

or not. Lastly, in the final box, students can apply the lessons they learned to possible future

scenarios.

Once students have filled out their cube for a specific text and understand how to

complete each section, they can use a blank copy of the cube template to create a universal cube

to be used with multiple texts throughout the year. Students should write the following verbs on

each face of the cube:

-Describe it
-Compare it
-Analyze it
-Associate it
-Argue for it or against it
-Apply it

Once the cube is constructed, students can pair up and use one comprehension cube by rolling it

gently and performing whichever action they land on. This can occur through conversation

within their partnership or partners can write their answers down.

Printable cube template can be found at: https://www.firstpalette.com/tool_box/printables/

cube.pdf 


3. Connection Rings


Source: (Osewalt, 2018) and (Bermingham, 2011).


Explanation: As students read and find themselves connecting to stories in certain ways, they

can complete connection rings which can be connected to a chain. Connection rings should
 contain the students name, their connection to the part of the story, and the page number

where the part they are connecting to can be found. This is beneficial for whole group

instruction to create a class connection link as a novel is read over the course of a few weeks.

This can also be implemented within small guided reading groups or independently at each

students desk. This encourages students to make connections and add to the link chain as

they continue to read. Furthermore, this keeps students connections organized and in order

and they will follow a logical sequence throughout the progression of the book. Lastly,

different colored links can be used to visually represent the different types of connections

students are making. For example, text to self connections can be completed on yellow

paper, text to text connections can be completed on red paper, and text to world connections

can be completed on blue paper. This will motivate students to fill out at least one of each

color paper for each book they are reading giving them the opportunity to make a variety of

connections to what they are reading.


4. Comprehension Notebooks


Source: (Paul, 2017).


Explanation: Comprehension notebooks can be constructed as a resource for students to rely

on as they progress through acquiring many different skills and strategies that contribute to

comprehension. The notebook can be divided into sections such as sequence, purpose,

problem, solution, setting, characters, (to name a few). This will provide students the

opportunity to work through a variety of different activities and compile them into the

corresponding section within their notebooks. Comprehension notebooks are beneficial when
introducing a new comprehension strategy. Younger students would be able to cut and paste

the details of each strategy in. Older students would be able to write the details of each

strategy. Any grade level would be able to draw a picture to go along with each strategy as

well. Comprehension notebooks can work as a resource for students to look back on when

working independently. They can revisit strategies they have not used in a wile in order to

remember how to use them. Or, if they have run out of possible comprehension strategies

they can revisit ideas from their notebook for strategies they may have forgotten about. They

can also customize their notebooks by making note of their favorite strategies, or the ones

that they find work best for them.


5. Who, What, When, How, and Why Sticky Tabs


Source: (Lou, 2015)


Explanation: Prior to students beginning a book or a novel, they assign a specific color to

each question word. For example, yellow- who, green- what, blue- when, orange- how, pink-

why. As students begin to read and find information, they can mark it with the appropriate

colored sticky tab. For example, new characters would have yellow sticky tabs, any mentions

of time period or time of day would be marked with a blue sticky tab etc. This is a great

strategy for students that need extra help to keep details and characters from a story

organized. It also allows students to think about what they’re reading as they read. As they

process details and information from the text, they need to consider what kind of detail it is

and therefore, what color sticky tab it should receive. It is also an easy way for students to

quickly locate key parts of a text such as, when a

new character is introduced. In this case, the

student would know to locate the yellow sticky

tabs, rather than searching through the entire book.


6. SQ4R


Source: (Tompkins, 2013)


Explanation: Within this strategy, students follow six steps for comprehension. They begin

by surveying the text to get a preview and to learn details from pictures, captions, chapter
titles etc. Next, students write down any questions they have asked during their survey of the

text. After that, students read the text. As students read, they should be looking for the

answers to their pre-reading questions. After reading, students should say the answers they

discovered out loud in order complete the fourth step which is reciting. After reciting,

students should relate to the text by making a connection. It is important that students are

aware of the three types of connections (text to self, text to text, and text to world). Lastly,

students review what they read by writing down the

answers to their questions. Through following these

six steps, students are able to gain a full

understanding of the text while also staying

organized in the process. In the end, students walk

away from the text with a better understanding

because they were able to formulate questions

tailored to their needs. Then, they were able to meet

their own needs through reading and finding the

answers themselves.




 


7. Reciprocal Teaching


Source: (Kahn, 2018).


Explanation: Reciprocal teaching can be used as a comprehension strategy through students

active participation in their assigned role. Within this method, students rely on each other for

the group to be successful. One student is assigned each position. The positions include:

questioner, clarifier, summarizer, and predictor. The questioner creates two questions based

on the text. These questions should be thought provoking and really allow the group the

opportunity to think and look back on the text they just read. The clarifier’s job is to identify

two unknown words from the text. The summarizer is in charge of illustrating the main idea

of the text. Lastly, the predictor is in charge of predicting what may happen next. Once the

students have had adequate time to complete their jobs, the group comes back together and

listens to the two questions the questioner created. Then, the group works together to answer

those two questions. Next, the clarifier shares the two unknown words that were discovered

and the group works together to define each word. The summarizer then shows the

illustration they created of the main idea and the group works together to write a short

summary of the text. Last, the predictor shares their prediction for the upcoming chapter or

section and the group works together to find supporting details to back up the prediction.

When the group is done working, each student will have contributed ideas and thoughts that

have lead to better comprehension for each student in the group. Also, roles should switch so

each student has an opportunity to complete each job and focus on a different comprehension
 skill. 


8. Questioning the Author


Source: (Tompkins, 2013).


Explanation: In the questioning the author strategy, or QtA, students are able to learn to ask

questions as they read in order to become an active reader. Some questions students could

consider to ask the author include: 


-What’s the author trying to tell us here?


-What’s the author talking about here?

-How does this fit with what the author told us before?

-Why is the author telling us this?

as students ask and answer these questions, they create ideas that allow them to piece

together details in order to make more sense of the story. When this strategy is used whole

group, students ideas are shared amongst everyone which allows students to develop more

elaborate thoughts from building on one another. Really considering the authors decisions

and ideas allows students to develop higher level thinking as they consider how the author’s

choices contribute to the story as a whole. As teachers lead the discussion, students should be

encouraged to look back in the text at

specific parts that are being

referenced. Teachers should also

recap key ideas or details within the

text so the discussion can move

forward. Within this strategy, both

teachers and students are contributing

 to the overall understanding of the text for all students.


9. Somebody Wanted… But… So… Then.


Source: (Serravallo, 2015).


Explanation: Another strategy for comprehension that students could benefit from is

summarizing with somebody wanted… but… so… then. This strategy is great for

summarizing fiction texts because there are multiple possibilities that can be produced for

each text. Students would be able to pick any character, not necessarily the protagonist, from

any fiction book and state what that character wanted. Then, students would state the

problem by explaining what got in the way of whatever it was that character wanted. Then,

students would explain the solution and lastly explain the ending of the text. Although this

produces a brief summary, Students could work through stories from different characters

perspectives to see the many possible summaries this strategy is able to produce. This

strategy is also beneficial because it can universally be used across any fiction text and

students can choose the character they complete the prompts on. 


10. Pharaphrase Chunks, Then Put It Together


Source: (Serravallo, 2015).


Explanation: Within this strategy, students work with nonfiction texts, which can be difficult

for some students. As they read, they should jot down the main ideas or events of each

paragraph. Once they have completed the reading, they will have a few short notes on the

article or reading as a whole. This prepares students to compile these facts to write a
summary of the text as a whole as opposed to only writing the main ideas of each paragraph.

Students are also able to acquire the main idea of the passage as a whole based on compiling

the ideas that they wrote down. As students work on this strategy, teachers should ensure that

students are only writing a few quick notes on each paragraph, not every detail mentioned.

This can be difficult for students that have not have a lot of experience taking notes. Teachers

should also encourage students to write their notes in their own words as opposed to having

students copy exactly what the author has written. Questions teachers can ask include “what

is the most important thing you just read in that paragraph?” Or “are you sure thats the best

detail from that article?” Overall, this strategy allows students to break up and article or text,

that may seem uncomfortable at first, in order to piece important details together to create a

summary.