Freebie! One of the keys to teaching reading comprehension is showing kids how proficient readers think about text. Teachers have to find a way to make their thinking visible. One way is with graphic organizers.

I mean...why WOULDN'T you use cootie catchers in your reading block? It makes perfect sense. Ok - remember last week how I was talking about doing a little spring cleaning with some of my TpT resources? Well, I did a little spring cleaning in my file folders on my computer as well. Yikes. Now THAT'S a bit of a rabbit hole. I got in a little deeper than I wanted to, but I figured I might as well finish the job. I got rid of a lot (a LOT) of cringe worthy products that just didn't make the cut anymore, and I got some major organizing done as well. BUT - you know what I found? THIS >>> It's a reading comprehension cootie catcher that I TOTALLY forgot I made! And since it resurfaced for me - I thought I'd resurface it for you! I'm sure I made it for you guys in the first place, but I can't for the life of me find it anywhere on the blog. There's actually 3 different versions. They have different comprehension questions that can be used with any fictional book. They work great as a quick partner review game. You can download them here! Find any long-lost things in your spring cleaning, lately? Pin and Share this freebie:

Woo-hoo! Are y'all enjoying summer vacation as much as I am??? Don't get me wrong, I love school, my students, and teaching but boy was I ...

Our principal has really been encouraging us to add more writing into our daily lesson plans. "They should be writing all day long" he tells us. The research is there to back him up. I bumped into this Roll and Retell page from Fun In First on Pinterest awhile back and finally figured out how to add it to our learning day. I printed and laminated four copies of the Roll and Retell page to hand out to each of my four table groups. After a round of Daily 5 I handed them out. I also gave each table one die. Each student at the table took turns rolling the die and then answering the question based on the number they rolled. They each used the individual book they were reading to answer the questions. I felt like it would be a great advertisement for new books for each child to read when they were done with the one they were working on. I also knew it would be great oral practice BEFORE they started writing. Once they had a chance to talk about what they were going to write, I set the timer for 5 minutes and let them write. Then we shared our responses. Here are a few of their responses. I had so much success with this activity with my students, that I created versions that cover the standards for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades. There are 6 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Second Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. There are 5 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Third Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. There are 7 different Roll and Respond Sheets that cover all of the Fourth Grade ELA Common Core Standards for both literary and informational text. Before you go, head on over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway! Every week one lucky winner gets a $25 Teachers pay Teachers gift card! Dr. Susan Hall, literacy leader and founder of 95 Percent Group, mentions this Roll and Retell Activity as a Reading Comprehension Game that Students Will Want to Play Over and Over! Check it out for the other ideas there as well! What have you tried in your classroom lately? Link up with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday and share! This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog. All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. I would love to hear from you! ❤️ Have a question? Idea for a resource you might find helpful? Be so kind and leave a comment below.

This Reading Comprehension Worksheet - Deserts is for teaching reading comprehension. Use this reading comprehension story to teach reading comprehension.

Hey bloggy friends! Long time, no see! Let me tell you, getting into the groove of this year has been C-R-A-Z-Y! After 3 weeks of gatheri...

Hi everyone, My little learners have been working SO hard on their reading these past few months and I am VERY excited to show what what they have been up to!

Are you ready for the month of March? We are all geared up for some fun learning this month! Our March NO PREP packets are done and we are ready to go!

Engage your students in your guided reading groups with this before, during, and after reading activity. Students simply roll the dice, determine the sum, and respond. Slip 6-8 of these in plastic sleeves or laminate and you are good to go for years. :) Enjoy!

I'm sure most you have experienced the act of reading a book while your mind was wandering elsewhere. Consequently, you can probably appreciate how easy it is for youngsters to miss meaning while reading. Although teachers, reading specialists and even parents spend an enormous amount of time instructing young learners how to decode the written word, they often neglect to fully teach the metacognitive skills required to comprehend text. What are the Common Causes of Reading Comprehension Problems? There are a number of indicators that can be used to flag students who will likely require explicit instruction in reading comprehension. Learners that have or had weak oral language skills when they were in preschool. Students that have underdeveloped word decoding skills. Learners with weak executive functioning skills, especially in working memory which involves the use of one’s “inner eye” and “inner voice.” Learners with poor language processing abilities. They may struggle with any of the following difficulties Semantic processing - the processing of perceiving words and placing them in a context that allows for deeper meaning. Vocabulary - all the words known by an individual person. Inferences - the act or process of reaching a conclusion about something from known facts or evidence. Text structure - the many ways text can be organized. Grammar - the study of the classes of words, their inflections, as well as their functions and relations in the sentence. What are Some Reading Comprehension Strategies? Teach students to be active participants when reading. Exhibit aloud your own inner voice as you use your own metacognitive skills to actively engage in reading. Develop decoding skills to automaticity - so students have the “cognitive space” to engage with the text. Foster a robust vocabulary by both teaching individual words as well as how to glean the meaning of new words from the surrounding text. Teach the grammatical rules that make up language. Instruct students about the morphological structure of words so that learners can figure out the meaning of many unknown words by evaluating prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Illustrate higher order language skills and teach students how to question, infer meaning, make personal connections and generate predictions. Teach students about text structure such as the setting, characters, initiating events, problems, resolution, explicit themes, cause and effect, compare and contrast, as well as problem and solution. Show students how to annotate text or take notes that summarize and sequence important events. Develop each student’s ability to generate mental imagery while reading. Show learners how to create their own inner questions that can focus attention on content and help them to make meaningful connections. Teach students how to monitor their attention and comprehension through mindfulness practices. Do pre-reading activities that explain the meaning of key words, activate relevant prior knowledge and generate mental imagery. Don’t feel that you have to teach all of these reading strategies to every student that has weak comprehension skills. Instead, evaluate the needs of each student and tailor instruction to address their specific deficits. How Can I Improve Comprehension? If you are interested in reading tools that can exercise and strengthen comprehension. Come review my reading publications at Good Sensory Learning. If you would like to view a video blog that reviews this content, click on the image below: Once you understand the causes of reading problems, the solutions become clear. I hope you found this blog helpful. Cheers, Erica Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning. She is also the director of Learning to Learn and Learning Specialist Courses. Blog: https://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.com/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1 GSL Blog: https://goodsensorylearning.com/blogs/news Stores: www.GoodSensoryLearning.com/ Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/ Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/694000

Snoopy knows what’s up.

Let's take a little peek in a day in first grade! I love my job and working with the kids, tap to get some tips and tricks you can use too!

In first grade reading comprehension is something new, challenging, and difficult to teach because even though they’re all 6 or 7 they’re developmentally so different. Head over to my blog to get this comprehension page. Depending on what grade you teach it’d be great for: homework individual assessment small groups partners intervention challenging gifted students ... Read More about Reading Comprehension

This year, I revised the materials in my reader's notebooks. I'm using a combo of a binder and a notebook for reading workshop this year, and I'm not 100% happy with it. I thought I would share some of what I've been doing. Maybe you can help me tweak. Let me first tell you how I've been working it. In their binder, they have a section for anchor charts and handouts. There's an index where they write the title of the paper so they can see at a glance what they have. It' sort of like a mini version of my anchor chart binder, but they have only the few charts I give the entire class and the ones I give specifically to them as needed during conferencing. There's also a section in their binder to keep track of books they have read, books they want to read, and a genre tracker. Now, the notebook is more of our workhorse. The notebook is where they take notes during mini-lessons, jot their thinking about their independent reading, and write their weekly letter to me for assessment. These are the notebooks I use. I got them at Staples during the ten cent sale. My friends turn their notebooks in one day a week. This way I only have to read 4 or 5 a day rather than all 24 at once. As you can see, orange notebooks are due on Tuesdays. When you open the notebook, you will first find this page: I think the note is pretty clear. Our focus this year is all about thinking deeper about our reading. The next couple of pages give an example of friendly letter format and how to edit/proofread their letter. We edited "idea chart" to read "thinking stems" Next, there are facing pages that have the "thinking stems" we use. A reader had asked me to post a link to these, but I just can't find it. I pulled these pages from a file I've had for a few years. I know I originally found them on the web, but when I tried to find them again this year I couldn't. If you have ever run across these, please let me know where so I can credit the author. This is glued on to the left page of the notebook. The other pages is on the right side. I like them facing each other so they can see it all at once. For some reason, I took two half-page pictures of the other page, Update! (7/22/12) Special thanks to Marilyn who emailed me the link she found for these Thinking Stems. This link should take you to a Word document you can print out. I believe they are from the Calhoun School District, but again not sure. CLICK HERE TO GO TO DOCUMENT. These thinking stems are good for helping my friends who have difficulty coming up with something to write. I used them as a springboard when I modeled writing a reading response letter not just once, but twice for my friends. I will do more modeling of this as time goes on and I expect more from their letters. After these pages, I still have two blank pages. One is for a rubric that I have yet to put in their notebook. That's one of the things I've not yet figured out to my satisfaction. While the kids know what I'm looking for, I want a rubric in their notebook. The problem is I can't find one that fits exactly what I want and I've been too lazy busy to just sit down and make my own. I guess I'm going to have to just do it this weekend. The rest of their notebook is filled with notes from our mini-lessons, their independent writing about their reading, and their weekly reading response letter to me. It's actually all working pretty well so far, but I just have this gnawing feeling that I'm missing something. So, I'm throwing it out there to you! What are you doing with your reading notebooks? What do your friends do with their notebooks? Do you use a rubric? What and how are you assessing them? What's worked for you? By the way, don't forget to ENTER MY THANK YOU GIVE AWAY! There are only about 22 or so entries thus far, so the odds are pretty good! You have also been leaving some great ideas for picture books to use in mini-lessons. Click over and check out the comments. Even if you don't enter, you will get some great picture book suggestions.

Reading strategies useful in every content area include Questioning the text, Visualization, and using Context Clues to infer meaning.

Asking questions before, during, and after reading comes very naturally to skilled readers, but for struggling readers, this skill can be just the opposite. Asking questions of varying depths is arguably the most important reading

Do you hate to teach poetry? Do you want your students to learn and enjoy poetry? Try these simple ways to learn how to teach poetry...

This Bloom's Digital Taxonomy mashes digital tasks like podcasting, blogging, networking, and bookmarking with the stalwart learning tool.

Cultivate lifelong reading skills.

Hi everyone, My little learners have been working SO hard on their reading these past few months and I am VERY excited to show what what they have been up to!

Today I wanted to touch on comprehension while I’m thinking about it. Sometimes I feel like we’re so concerned with moving our kids to the next level that we don’t really pay close attention to the skills our kids need to become independent readers who can truly comprehend what they’re reading. I feel like this …

Hey there! Jen Bradshaw here from TeacherKARMA.com Teachers, can you believe that you actually have to tell your students to THINK WHILE THEY READ? Reading is Thinking Resource has the perfect anchor chart for working on: predict infer visualize make connections question the text summarize Grab your FREEBIE over at Teacher KARMA. Best wishes! Jen Bradshaw You Might ... Read More about READing is THINKing – Comprehension Anchor Chart

This worksheet explores the types of extreme weather with a short reading comprehension exercise.

Spring is almost here and I can't wait! I enjoyed making our new Spring Math and Literacy Packet for Kindergarten! This packet is filled with FUN,

Make learning fun for your students! Strategies, activities, freebies and more for teachers, tutors and homeschoolers. Ideas you can use today!

I wanted to make some charts for Author's Purpose that would appeal to my first graders. I went with the P.I.E acronym (Persuade, Inform, Entertain) but took it to the next level by actually using Pie as the text examples. I then added some Other Examples so the students would get additional visual examples of the different purposes. I have these up on my Teachers Pay Teachers site for only $2.00! ***UPDATE - I had a few requests to add an additional, optional 4th poster for "Explain". I have now included this in the download too. This is also available in a money saving bundle with my Reader's Tool Box: Click on the picture to see it! Save With A Bundle: Author's Purpose Anchor Charts and Reader's Toolbox of Reading Strategies Click here to go to Teacher's Pay Teachers to get them :) While you are at my store, check out some of my new and best selling products including: My Original Writing Center - My best selling product! CVC Clip The Sounds Print Your Own Teacher Subway ArtPerfect for Gifts! Don't Get "Frozen" - A Sight Words Card Game Read It, Build It, Write ItAll 220 Dolch Sight Words Included The "Blue Cat" Daily Five Posters Reader's Toolbox of Reading Strategies Marzano (Kid-Friendly) Rating Scales Polka Dot Behavior Clip Chart with Daily/Weekly Behavior Reports and Punch Cards Chevron Behavior Clip Chart with Daily/WeeklyBehavior Reports and Punch Cards Word Family HousesCVC and CCVC Words Included The Ultimate Writing Center: Chevron Sight Words Superhero: Everything You Need to Motivate and Reward Sight Word Recognition Sight Words Superhero Add-On Pack: 130 Pages of Sight Word Games and Activities! Mighty Minions Sight Words Card Game Mighty Minions Read It, Build It, Write It Author's Purpose Anchor Charts Letter AND Sound Picture Mats Interactive Word Wall Books The Scientific Method Posters and Activities Awesome Adjectives with "The Blue Cat" Check out these MONEY SAVING BUNDLES: And MUCH more - click here to see more great products! And, don't forget to follow my store to get a free kit each month!!! Past "Follower Freebies" include" Click here to see how to get free kits each month: Mrs. Gilchrist's Follower Freebies

This reading comprehension anchor chart is perfect to teach inference. Use my original idea of a stoplight to teach the steps of how to infer! • By purchasing this listing, you will receive 1 PDF as an Instant Download. • No physical poster will be mailed to you. • This Design is NOT editable. • File Format: PDF -------------- PRINTING -------------- • Print on white cardstock for durability. • Printing from a home printer, use 'letter size' for a 8.5 X 11 print. • Choose 'scale to fit' to use a larger portion of the paper. • Large poster size like 24 X 36 can be uploaded into printing sites like Vista Print, Walmart. • Laminate to save it from year to year. • Print colors may vary slightly due to different home printers and varying ink saturation levels. ------------------------------------------------- HOW TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FILES ------------------------------------------------- The Etsy App DOES NOT SUPPORT file downloads on your CELL PHONE. File can be downloaded 2 ways. 1. Through a WEB BROWSER (Safari, Chrome etc.) -- Login to 'YOUR ACCOUNT' on ETSY (with your Email address, NOT your Apple ID) -- Click on 'PURCHASES and REVIEWS' -- Click 'DOWNLOAD FILES' -- SAVE on your computer 2. Check your EMAILS for an automated EMAIL message from ETSY with your download link (make sure to check Junk Mail/Spam folder as well) Do you need more help? Go here: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013328108?segment=shopping ----------------- COPYRIGHT ----------------- • This purchase is for your PERSONAL USE ONLY. • You may NOT alter, edit or manipulate these designs. • DO NOT SELL, RESELL, TRANSFER, SHARE or REDISTRIBUTE these designs to a third party in any way. Instagram: @ROCKINRESOURCES ------------------ THANK YOU! ------------------ Thank you so much for your support of my business ♥ Pam

These Reading Comprehension Bookmarks give students the tools they need to successfully share their great ideas about what they have read.

Teaching students to write for a specific purpose is one of my favorite skills to teach. Students enjoy drawing sketches that illustrate different writing

Hi everyone, My little learners have been working SO hard on their reading these past few months and I am VERY excited to show what what they have been up to!