"Teaching children which thinking strategies are used by proficient readers and
helping them use those strategies independently creates the core of teaching reading."

   The reading program in room 202 consists of the explicit teaching of reading strategies through independent, small group, and whole group practice. The program is based on the research cited in Mosaic of Thought by Susan Keene and Ellin Zimmerman and the research conducted by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.  There are seven reading or thinking strategies that proficient readers use to help them understand what they read. These strategies are taught through the use of specific picture books, novels, and/or short non fiction articles. Although good readers may use some or all of these strategies while they read, it is important to note that they are taught one at a time.  I model each strategy and then allow for guided practice, either individually or in small groups - depending upon the particular classroom or student need.  Once the strategy is mastered, the class moves on to the next one.  These strategies consist of the following and are introduced in the order below:

	schema (using background knowledge): making connections to one's life - text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world
	monitoring comprehension: rereading when it doesn't make sense and using fix-up strategies*
	inferring: using background knowledge and information from the text to draw conclusions (making prediction, creating opinions, or developing interpretations)
	questioning or wondering: before, during, and after reading
	determining importance: especially in non fiction text, at the word, sentence, and whole text level
	visualizing: sensory images
	synthesizing: taking what you've read and internalizing it

*Fix up strategies consist of knowing how to make sense out of what one is reading. Specifically, we review, and keep posted, the answers to this question: What do you do when you come to a word or phrase you don't understand?

1. look back in the text and try to figure it out
2. reread the sentence or passage before it and after it to see if it makes more sense
3. look for words within words or think about where you might have heard the word used before
4. substitute a word to see if it makes sense
5. skip over the word as long as you don't lose meaning
6. look the word up in the dictionary
7. ask someone to help you

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