Comprehension Strategies - During Reading

The other day, I shared some ideas for preparing students for reading by using "Before Reading" strategies.  It is important that, before we start reading to our children, we help them think about the story and make some predictions.

Now I'd like to offer three strategies that we can use During Reading.  While we are reading aloud to children, the most important thing is the enjoyment of the book, of course.  Young children benefit from being active listeners.  They need to listen with their voices and their bodies in order to comprehend!  We can involve them by doing the following:

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything is an all-around fantastic book for fall.  My students love to read it every year.  It is a good example of how to incorporate movement while reading a book to young children.  The Little Old Lady in the story meets 2 big shoes on the path to her cottage, and the shoes go, "Clomp! Clomp!"  It is so much fun for the children to "clomp" their own shoes.  They also love it when I provide props to go with the story-- shoes, pants, a shirt, gloves, a hat, and a pumpkin head.  As I read, they take turns moving the props to match the story.  So much fun, and they are completely engaged!

The reading jargon for repeating a refrain or line in a book is "Choral Reading."  It's a term that means the children all join in reading the repeated lines in unison.  The Pete the Cat books are perfect examples of this strategy.  In Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes, the repeated line is, "I love my white shoes. I love my white shoes! I love my white shoes, etc."  It's so catchy that the students will have a hard time not joining in!  (Are your kids as crazy about Pete the Cat as mine are?  Be sure that you get the free audio downloads to go along with your Pete books.  They're just not the same without the audio!)

A final "During Reading" strategy that is perfect for preschoolers is Sequencing.  If we think ahead to elementary school, we know that students will have to retell stories with a beginning, middle, and end.  They will have to recount events of a book in order.  As preschool teachers, we can prepare them for this essential elementary skill by giving our kiddos lots of practice putting events in order.  One way to do this is to print pictures from the story (laminate them!) and give them to students before we read.  (Look!  A "Before Reading" strategy and a "During" strategy working together!)  Then, as we read they can place the pictures on a felt board, pocket chart, or easel in order.  Jan Brett's The Mitten is a good example of how to do this.  As each animal moves into the lost mitten, we add its picture to the board.  This sequencing activity, as well as a capacity lesson, are included in my Winter Centers and Circle Time Unit.

These are just a few examples of some of the many ways we can engage our students in reading a story.  How do you like to involve your children so that they become active, thinking, predicting, participating listeners during story time?  Share your ideas!

The adorable graphics in this post are by .

Have fun playing, reading and learning with your children today!