Reading+Strategies

Hi, I am Theresa Houck from Concord University. I love, love, love 4th graders! I am a reading teacher at Coal City Elementary right outside of Beckley, WV.
 * Here are some strategies you can use to help improve your reading:**
 * A strategy you can use if you don't know a word's meaning is to read "around" the word to see if you can get clues from the rest of the sentence.
 * If you are having trouble trying to figure out a word, chunk it into small parts-- for example, if you are trying to figure out the word "remarkable," separate it into smaller parts-- re mark able. It's good if you know the base word so you can start to take it apart that way.
 * If you are having trouble understanding a passage, slow down and reread it. Sometimes, it takes many times before you can understand it. You have to really make yourself concentrate hard to understand the meaning sometimes.
 * Try to find books in which you are really interested.
 * When you are reading text books, look at the headings and subheadings to catch the main ideas of the text.

I hope these few things might help you a little in continuing to enjoy your reading!

I'm Cynthia Kelley from third grade in Raleigh County. Here's a strategy for reading your science or social studies book. Before you begin a chapter or a section, look through all of it carefully. Examine the title, the headings, pictures, diagrams, graphs and vocabulary. Ask yourself what you already know. Think of some questions that may be answered in the selection. You will be surprised at how much easier it is to understand what you are reading if you do these simple things. I am Katie Garrett a 5th grade teacher at Oakvale Elementary in Mercer County. I teach all subjects and one strategy that I use in all subjects is an anticipatory guide. This is where a teacher brainstorms 8-10 questions about a text, the students must then tell you if the agree or disagree with the statement. This is a pre-reading strategy. After reading the text the students will refer back to the guide and see if the predictions they agreed or disagreed with were correct. Hi! I'm Cindy White, a substitute teacher in Mercer County. Do those comprehension questions after reading the story stump you? Try this. Stoplight questions! Ask yourself how you are going to find the answer. Red light: Stop and think; The answer is in your head. You need to infer and think about what you know. Yellow light: Slown down. The answer is in more than one place. Green light: Right there. The answer is found in the story in only one place. Hello! I'm Allison Pettus and I teach sixth grade at Spanishburg School in Mercer County. This is my second year teaching and I love it! I incorporate graphic organizers into my lessons. I have found that this allows the students to organize the information that they read. That allows them to create a visual representation of the information that they learned. I also have the students preview a section or story before they read it. They view the title, headings, sub headings, author's name, illustrator's name, pictures, charts, and anything else that is included in the story or section. Another thing that I have my students do is make predictions before reading and throughout the story. This allows students to monitor their comprehension, while allowing them to make predictions about what might happen next. Hey Guys, I'm Lesley Thompson and I teach 5th grade in Beckley WV. A strategy that I use a lot with my students is preview reading. In preview reading students have to make a prediction about the book based on the cover of the book and pictures within the book. Then students read the summary usually located on the back of the book for a better understanding. Afterwards, while reading students stop and reflect to see if what they thought was going to take place is really happening. It's a great way to get the brain thinking.

Hi, everyone! I am Holly Darnell and I teach third grade at Cranberry-Prosperity Elementary in Raleigh County, WV. Before reading a new story, I introduce new vocabulary words to my students on notecards and then I create a chart on the board in which the students complete on whether they know the word or not. I also write their answers of what the word might mean. I then explain the true definitions of each word and read a passage that uses the word. Before reading the new story, we take a picture walk and make predictions of what the story will be about and we discuss the genre of the story. As we read the story we stop to discuss it and to make connections to the story. Sometimes the students may have had an experience similar to the character in the story or understand how the character feels. After the story, we often play comprehension Jeopardy where the students answer questions about the story, do a writing activity, or play comprehension beach ball where the students toss a beach ball that has comprehension questions to answer about the story. My favorite subject to teach is reading.

I am a Title I teacher at Mullens Elementary School in Wyoming County, WV. I work mainly with first and second grade students. When I work with my second grade students, I stress the importance of fluency. I incorporate the use of reading strategies that help to build fluency. When the students are reading independently I let the last reader choose who is going to read next. If we are reading together I use echo reading, choral reading, or whisper reading. The students really enjoy whisper reading. It is amazing how well you can hear the students read when everyone is whispering. Stephanie