Here are some of the skills we've covered and printable posters you can use at home:
The following is a bookmark that can be used with fiction and non-fiction reading materials:
Author's purpose: Here's a link to practice this skill:
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/j/authorpurposep.cfm
Plot-The beginning , middle and end of a story. Print these to help with a simple visualization technique:
Visualizing Artists-Storyboard.pdf
Visualizing Graphic Organizer.doc
Main idea: The main idea is the most important idea about a topic, article or passage. Identifying the main idea is identifying what the passage is “all about” and the supporting details are statements that “support” the main idea.
Making inferences & Drawing conclusions: An inference is a guess you make about a passage. Using passage clues and what you already know is using the skill “drawing conclusions”. Drawing conclusions is the ability to figure out things in a story that the author doesn't always tell you.
Predicting Outcomes: Before reading students are encouraged to look at the title and text features (headings, pictures, captions, and graphics). This helps the reader think about what the passage may be all about. During the reading process, readers are encouraged to stop and think about what will happen next (also called a think aloud) -this skill is called “making predictions” or “Predicting Outcomes”
predicting_outcomes_with_definition.pdf
Text sequence: This skill refers to the ability to put the events in the story, article, or passage in a sequential order. In expository text it is the process of putting the steps of a process in order. For example: following directions in the proper order. Some clue words for sequence are: First, next,, then, after that, before, finally, at the end
Cause & effect: The reason something happens is the “cause”. What happens next is the “effect”. This is a skill a reader practices when they stop and think about what happened and why it happened. Sometimes this happens as a “chain of events” - one thing causes another, which causes something else to happen and so on.
Summarization: This is the ability to state the main idea and important details in a summary format. It is different than a re-telling. in a re-telling, you provide every detail, but a summary only includes the main idea and the most important details to support it. Paraphrasing is using the skill of summarizing in your own words.
Author's purpose: Why did the author write the selection, article, passage, story, or ad (think about newspaper ads)
- Persuade- (or convince, sway, influence, argue for or against, etc.)
- Inform – ( or show, teach, tell, instruct, report, etc.)
- Entertain – (amuse, make humorous, lighten up, etc.)
- Question to be posed BEFORE reading:
What do you predict may be the piece of the pie that the author chose when writing this selection?
Question to be posed DURING reading:
What have I read so far that gives me clues about which piece of the pie that this author chose in writing this selection?
Question to be posed AFTER reading:
Based on what I just read, what conclusion can I draw that tells me what was most likely the piece of the author’s purpose pie that was chosen for writing this selection?
