Strategies for Improving

Reading Comprehension

Before Reading:

1.    Preview the book.  Look at the cover and make predictions.  What can you tell about the book from the title?  The picture?  Read the back of the book.  What clues do you have about the story?  Look through the book.  Read the chapter titles and think about the pictures.

2.    Do you think this is a non-fiction or fiction?  What clues help you to know?

3.  If it is non-fiction, what text features do you notice?  Are there headings, sub-headings, bold words, pictures, charts, or diagrams? What do they tell you about the text?

While Reading:

1.    Write down or discuss any unknown words.  Can you use context clues to figure out the meaning?

2.    Write down any questions you have.  Ex.  I don’t understand why… I wonder   if… What does this mean…

3.    Make connections.  Write them down or discuss them.  Can you make text to self connections or text to text connections?

4.    Write down predictions about what will happen next.  Then determine whether or not your predictions were accurate.

5.    Take notes or talk about the most important events of the story.

6.    Write down anything that surprised, confused, angered, pleased, or shocked you.

After Reading:

1.    What was the main idea of the passage?  What details support the main idea?

2.    Describe the characters.  How are the characters alike and different?

3.    Describe the setting.  Is there more than one setting?  Can you draw a picture of what you think the setting would look like?

4.    What is the main problem in the story?  How is it solved?

5.    Retell the story and include all of the most important events.

6.    How could you summarize the story?  Make sure you include beginning, middle, and end.

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