What is a Science of Reading - Language Comprehension Unit?

A New Way of thinking about comprehension

How many times have we, teachers, worried about testing to determine whether our students understand a comprehension skill or strategy? In LETRS, Moats and Tolman talk about the many hidden mental activities that happen in comprehension. In other words, comprehension is more of a process than a product. Well, that makes sense. So what are those processes of comprehension ? Monitoring comprehension - my favorite strategy for this is STP (Stop, Think, Paraphrase) Reading with appropriate pace - pacing actually correlates to understanding text Making inferences as you read - what are the characters thinking or feeling? Making a mental model to organize thinking and understanding Making connections in the text with views and background knowledge How can we support those processes of comprehension? Reading multiple texts around one topic helps to build background knowledge. In another blog I will talk moe about this critical com...

Vocabulary - it's more crucial than you may think!

Just like phonics, direct, explicit instruction is the best way to teach vocabulary. Explicitly teach a New Word - pronounce, write and read the word tell students what it means - using student friendly definition, props or actions say the words multiple times while giving examples, sentences, or asking questions using it ask yes or no questions ask students to use the words during the day How to Practice Vocabulary Words dimensions of word knowledge - look at synonyms, antonyms, categories of examples, multiple meanings, etc.. Four Squares are great graphic organizers for analyzing words in depth. Multiple Meanings - one of the biggest confusions with students are words that have more than one meaning. As you get into the Upper Grades, there becomes more and more examples in grade level text. One way to practice, is by taking the word and using a web to show the various meanings. Classification into Categories - sometimes we spend more ...

Thanksgiving Tradition - a mini shared reading unit

Thanksgiving i s fast upon us...are you looking for a quick mini unit that uses three Thanksgiving books centered around the topic of Community Thanksgiving Traditions. In our Kindergarten classrooms, we are learning about communities and neighborhoods currently and suddenly found Thanksgiving was knocking on the door. In order to continue to build background knowledge and connections to our community, we decided to create a mini-unit about how American families celebrate Thanksgiving. Even though this was created with Kindergarten in mind, it could easily be used in grades K-2.

The OTHER end of the Reading Rope - science of reading

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