Check the Picture...Think…

Look at the picture and see what word makes sense with the picture. What’s in the picture? What’s happening in the picture?

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Use a Word You Know

Is there a part of that word you’ve seen in other words? What part of the word do you recognize?

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Does That Sound Like a Book?

It’s important to listen to yourself as you read. It should make sense. Slow down and ask, “Did that sound right? Did that sound like it should in a book?”

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Make Attempts that Make Sense

When you’re stuck on a word, come up with a few options that the word could be. Use the information you have so far and the letters at the beginning of the word to find a word that makes sense.

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Juggle All 3 Balls!

When you get to a tricky word, it’s important you do more than just sound it out! It has to make sense, it has to sound right, and it has to look right!

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Check the Beginning and End

When you get to a tricky word, it’s important that you aren’t just checking the beginning. There are many words that start with the same letter. In a picture of a boy holding a baseball bat and a ball, the word could be bat, boy, or ball.

1. Check the beginning.

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• Check the end.

Skip and RETURN!

Sometimes, when you’ve tried other strategies and still can’t figure out a word, skip it to gain more information. Then, RETURN to the word and try it again.

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Attack, Then Go Back

Attack a tricky word by “bumping” into the beginning. Figuring out the word is great, but the time it took might take you away from the meaning, so go back and reread the sentence like you’ve always known it.

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Use a “Teacher Voice”

When reading nonfiction, try to show that the info you’re learning is interesting. Look to the ending punctuation to know what tone you’ll use. Since the book is teaching new info try to sound like a teacher.

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Make the Bumpy Smooth

Your brain does so much work when you read--and it’s trying to do it all at the same time! So figure out the tricky words and what the story is saying, then go back and read it again more smoothly.

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Say Goodbye to Robot Reading

One way to make your reading sound smoother is by not reading word...by...word. To do this, we try to scoop a few words and read them altogether. This is called a phrase. You can slide your finger under the words you want to scoop, and then read them all in one breath.

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Pay Attention to Punctuation

Readers don’t just read the words on the page. They also read the marks! Ending punctuation gives us a big clue as to how the sentence should be read. Look ahead to see if our voice should go up for a question, be strong for an emotion, or pause for a period.

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Punctuation in the Middle of a Sentence

Now that you’re reading harder books with longer, more complex sentences, you’ll find some punctuation in the middle of sentences. The words between these punctuation marks (- , ; :) are called phrases. Look ahead so you can try to read these phrases in one breath.

Look Who’s Talking

When reading, don’t just read the words--read the punctuation marks, too! In a story, it is important to know when a narrator is speaking and when characters are speaking. When you see “ a character is opening his mouth to start talking. When you see ” a character is closing his mouth to stop talking. When we see this, we can change our voice

Look Who’s Talking

Make Your Voice Match the Feeling

Think about how a given character is feeling at this part in the book. How would they sound when they talk? Try to make your voice match the character’s feelings.

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Get Your Eyes Ahead

When you’re reading smoothly, your eyes should actually be ahead of the words currently coming out of your mouth. Your brain moves faster than your mouth so that it can start to preview what is coming next.

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What’s Your Problem?

Good readers can identify the main problem in a book. One way to do this is think about all of the different story elements (characters, setting, theme, etc.) and ask if they are connected to the problem or even causing the problem.

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What’s Your Problem?

Continued...this would be the back of the index card.

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What does the Character Want?

Some books are hard to summarize because there is so much going on. If that happens, try thinking about what the character wants. This usually drives the plot. Then try to summarize and connect your points back to what the character wants.

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Summarize What’s Most Essential

Good readers can summarize a book by telling the most important parts only. They don’t get bogged down by all of the details. To do this think about the beginning, middle, and end of the book. Then think about the main parts of each section.

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Uh-Oh, Uh-Oh, Phew

Good readers summarize by thinking about the plot. The plot is the problem (uh-oh) and all the obstacles (uh-oh) that come along as the characters try to solve the problem. It ends with the solution (phew).

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Where are you?

Paying attention to the setting can help get you acclimated with the plot. This is especially true for books that change settings often. Look at the beginning of chapters and pay attention to any clues that might tell you about setting. Look out for flashbacks, too! Some authors will jump around in time!

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Plotting Flashbacks on a Timeline

Some books will play with the order of a story. The author might choose to start at the end and then jump back to the beginning. You can help clear up confusion by making a timeline and plotting all the important parts.

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5 Finger Summary

After you read a book, or part of a book, try saying what it was about. Hold up a finger for each sentence you say. Once all five fingers are up, you should be at the end of the story. Then write the summary.

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Angled Summaries

As you start writing more complex books, the author might include a theme or message. When you notice this, you can include this in your summary at the beginning. Then make sure the rest of the summary supports the point you made at the beginning.

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How does the Blurb Help?

Before you begin reading, look at the blurb. Many times this will help you figure out what type of book your going to be reading. But also, it can hint at the theme or message of a book sometimes.

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How’s the Character Feeling?

Characters have feelings just like real people have feelings. Pay attention to how they feel by noticing how they act, speak, what they say, and what they think. Then ask, “What does this tell me about how the character feels?”

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What’s in the bubble?

Sometimes the text won’t say what a character is thinking or what they would say. Pause and ask, “What’s my character thinking? What is my character saying in his head?”

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Ready, Set, Act!

Trying to act like a character helps you understand her as a person. Partners can help direct you to make sure your acting matches the feelings and words of the character in the text. Then, switch roles.

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Prove It!

Think about an idea or a theory you have about your book. Write it on a sticky note. Then, reread the text to find a line where the character does or says something that connects to your idea.

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ID Traits by Finding a Pattern

Often, traits are revealed through behaviors a character repeats again and again. Think about the character throughout the story. What actions, thoughts, or dialogue repeats? If there is a pattern, when trait can be named from it?

Notice a Pattern?

Develop Inferences with Text Clues

Combine what the book says with what you know about people in real life to make inferences about characters.

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Compare 2 Characters

To compare 2 characters, it’s helpful to think about categories. Most characters have traits,face obstacles, and change over time. Writing about these things for 2 characters side by side will help you understand each character better.

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Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

Notice what is happening to the character. How are people treating him? Has something similar ever happened to you? How do you think you would react in that same situation?

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Yes! But Why?

Think about if you asked your parent for $10. Do you think they would ask you, “Why?” You have a reason for every action you do. So does the character in your book. Good readers think about not only what the character does, but why they do it.

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Change Your Perspective

Look for a place in your book where characters interact. Try to witness that interaction from both characters’ perspectives and see if it changes how you think about the book. How does each character feel?

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Dialogue Tags are Windows to the Soul

When a character has dialogue, don’t just pay attention to what they say. Notice how they say it by using the dialogue tags and look at their actions. We can infer traits based on these tags/actions.

Character:

Billy

Out-of-Character Character

In books, usually characters act in a consistent way. However, occasionally, a character may act in a very unusual way. Whenever this happens, pay close attention because usually the author is trying to tell you something.

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Peer Pressure

Consider all the influences on a character. How does the character deal with all of these influences? Setting? Secondary Characters? Problems? What effect do these things have on the story?

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Add It All Up to Get a Theory

As books get more challenging, characters become more complex. Consider all the different traits a character displays. Pile them up and see if you can make a theory about your character overall.

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Dig Deeper to Find Theme

Good readers often look for deeper meanings in their books than just the story. One way to do this is think about “What is this book really about?” Try to name the problem of the book in just one word or phrase. Usually a theme is something that can relate to other books or even life.

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Reactions Lead to Lessons

Good readers look at the interactions between two characters. Often, how a character responds to another character can lead us to a lesson. If we stop and think about the character’s reaction or why they reacted the way they did, we might be able to learn a life lesson.

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Symbols Repeat

Authors will use objects to represent much larger ideas or themes. Good readers pay attention to these objects that repeat and ask themselves questions like, “What idea could this object represent?” or “What topic is the author trying to talk about?” Then, they try to answer these questions to get a deeper understanding of the book.

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Notice a Pattern? Give Advice

Good readers notice when characters’ behavior starts to repeat. We call this a pattern. We can start predicting how they will react in certain situations. But, we can also infer a central message based on what advice we’d give the character after noticing their pattern of behavior.

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Any Last Words?

Often, the author will try to include the theme or the message on the last page or even the very last sentence. Go back to the last sentence. Reread it and ask yourself, “what lesson can be learned from this?”

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Mistakes Can Lead to Lessons

Good readers can spot mistakes that characters make a mile away! Next time you catch a mistake, try to see if there is a lesson the character can learn from the mistake. This lesson might be the theme of the book!

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Aha Moments

Look for a part where the character reflects or learns something BIG! This could be the theme! Look for font changes to signify character’s thoughts. Then ask what is she learning and does it connect to the real world?

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Read Between the Lines

When reading nonfiction, good readers pay attention not only to the main text, but to the other elements on each page. Readers can look at pictures, titles, captions, graphs, etc. to figure out what the MAIN IDEA of the text is. Before reading, look at the other elements on the page and see if you can identify the main idea before even reading the text. Then, after reading, compare your first thought to what the text said.

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What? And So What?

When reading nonfiction, good readers know the topic they’re reading about. However, they also know the main idea about that topic. The topic can usually be inferred just by looking at the book, but the main idea takes a little bit of thinking and processing on the reader’s part. Good readers ask themselves, “So what?” in order to figure out the author’s main idea. The answer to that question is what makes the book important or worth reading.

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What repeats? Repeats? Repeats?

Good readers always want to know what the main idea of a book is. One way to find the main idea is by noticing words or phrases that the author repeats.

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Ask Questions...Form Ideas

Good readers always think about what they’re reading. They also have questions while they are reading. Sometimes, noticing these questions and answering them can help readers understand the main idea of the text.

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Chunk it Together

Good readers sometimes pause after short sections and paraphrase what they just read. They even jot these ideas down. Then, after they’ve read an entire section, they put these paraphrased ideas together to get the main idea.

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Perspective, Position, Power

Nonfiction authors will sometimes write with a slant or an angle based on any biases they might have. Good readers look for these slants and use them to determine if they can trust and depend on the author’s perspective and information.

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Read, Cover, Retell

Good readers pause every now and then to check that they are understanding the text. One way to do this is to read a section of text that is about as big as your palm. Then, cover that section with your hand and try to retell the main idea of the section in your own words.

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For Sure! Think? Wonder...

Sometimes we let what we think we know stop us from really understanding what an author is trying to teach us. To avoid this, before reading about a topic, jot down or think about what you already know for sure about that topic, what you think you know about that topic, and what you wonder about that topic.

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Ready, Set, Caption!

A lot of informational texts include pictures as text features. Sometimes these pictures come with captions explaining the picture and connecting it to the main idea. However, not all pictures have captions...yet! Good readers read the text and try to link it to what they see in the picture. Try writing your own caption explaining the picture and how it connects to the main idea!

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Check Yourself!

Even good readers don’t understand everything they read the first time they read it. Good readers know how to monitor when they are not understanding what they’re reading. They pause, check what the understand, reread, and revise they’re thinking.

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Prove it!

Good readers not only understand the main idea, but can use text evidence to support the main idea. After reading a section of text, they can state the main idea and then list supporting facts connected to the main idea.

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Important vs. Interesting

Authors of informational text include a ton in information! Some of it supports the main idea or topic, but some of the info is just interesting info to engage the reader. Good readers read facts and decide if that fact is important and supports the main idea, or if it is just something interesting the author added.

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Building Word Power!

Good readers stop when they come across a word they don’t know the meaning of. Then, they use clues on the page such as text, titles, and pictures to help them guess what the word means. Then they ask if their guess fits in with the book they’re reading.

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Say it Out Loud

When good readers come to a word they don’t know, they try to figure it out by sounding it out. Try saying the word out loud and you just might realize that it is a word you actually know. Saying it out loud might help you recognize the word in a different way than just reading it in your head.

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Look for Linking Words

When you come across a word you don’t know, look for linking words nearby that are either similar or different from the unknown word. Many times authors will put very similar words near each other to help clarify their meaning. They might also put antonyms nearby to give an example of something opposite of the tricky word.

Similar Linking Words: such as, or, also, is

Thrombosis, or the formation of a blood clot, can lead to swelling.

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Different Linking Words: Unlike, but, although

Unlike a healthier sugar like agave, saccharin has very little nutritional value.

Get Help from Features

When you come across an unfamiliar word, look at all the other text features on that page. Many authors will use pictures, diagrams, captions, and even the glossary to help you understand difficult concepts or words. This helps you figure out the meaning without having to go to a different source.

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Break it Down to Build it Up

Some words are built of smaller parts that you already know the meaning of. Search a word for prefixes, suffixes, and roots to see if you can use those to help you figure out the meaning. Think of other words with the same prefix or suffix and see if that helps.

Undeniable = un + deny + able

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The un and able are also in unbelievable, and I know that means something that you can’t believe. So, maybe undeniable means something that you can’t deny?

Context + Clues = Clarity

When you hit a word you don’t know, pause and think about what’s happening in the story at that point. Think about the current scene your reading and use clues from the scene to help you make some theories about what the word could mean.

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