Getting Knowledge Ready
•Helps access existing knowledge
•Links old and new knowledge
•Helps us to engage with the text
•Helps focus our mind as we read the text
•Helps us to visualise (make a picture) and organise what we know in our heads
Questions to ask
What do I already know about this topic? Can I look at the title and sub headings to guess what the text is about? What do the pictures and illustrations tell me? What questions will the book answer?
Building Vocabulary
•Helps us learn new and interesting words
•Helps us to read and say words accurately
•Improves our spelling
•Improves our vocabulary
•Helps us to learn more about the topic
Activities to develop vocabulary
Highlight or underline new words. Say, spell and write the words. Providesynonyms or antonyms for each new word. Link the words to other words you know. Use the new word in a sentence. Make a glossary of new words.
Reading Aloud
•Helps us to understand the text better
•Hearing the correct pronunciation of words helps us with the meaning
•Helps us to practise converting strings of letters into words
•Allows us to hear when something doesn’t make sense
When you are reading aloud, you should be…
Looking for letter patterns (chunks) that you recognise, self-correcting pronunciation, running your finger along the text, using your finger to break up words into chunks when needed, pausing at any point to think about or predict what you think is going to happen next.
Reading aloud requires self-talk
Think to yourself
•Can I sound out the words?
•What could this new word mean?
•Are there smaller words within the word?
•Can I think of a synonym?
•Can I look at the words/sentence around it to work the word or its meaning?
•Do I need to re-read? Or read on?
•What other words do I know that look or sound like this word?
•What pictures does this bring up in my head?
Paraphrasing or Retelling
•Develops and reinforces understanding of the text
•Helps with our expression
•Builds and reinforces vocabulary
Activities to develop summarising
Can I tell you what I have read in my own words?
Can I recall the beginning, middle and ending of the story?
Can I write some facts from the text in my own words?
Say Questions the Text Answers
•Encourages more active readers
•Builds skills in answering comprehension questions
•Makes you a better reader
•Helps you to understand a text
Before reading think/talk/write
What would I like to know about the text?
What questions do I think the text will answer?
Can I ask ‘who, what, where, when, why’ questions about the book
Summarising
•Shows an understanding of the text
•Promotes higher order thinking
•Helps us to engage with the text
•Links our new knowledge with prior knowledge
You can summarise
At the end of a sentence, at the end of the page, at the end of the book.
By saying or writing what the text was about.