Read and Retain!!!
Rationale: When students enter the third grade and beyond, reading becomes much more informative as they are more easily able to decode words. This is when the real struggle begins ö understanding what they have read. One comprehension strategy for non-fiction text is the question-answer strategy. This is a scaffolding to help students determine what the important concepts from the passage were.
Materials: text: Communities (grade 3 social studies) Holt Social Studies, 1986, pages 145-148, paper and pencils
Procedures:
1. TODAY WE WILL LEARN AN IMPORTANT WAY TO HELP US REMEMBER WHAT IS
IMPORTANT IN WHAT WE READ. EVERYONE OPEN TO PAGE 145 OF YOUR
SOCIAL
STUDIES BOOK AND READ THROUGH SECTION 2 TO PAGE 148.
2. REMEMBER THAT SUMMARIZATION IS WHEN WE ASK OURSELVES QUESITIONS
TO SEE IF WE REMEMBER WHAT THE MAIN POINTS OF THE PASSAGES WERE.
3. I will explain that questions help us determine what was important
about the story. LOOK AT THE QUESTIONS ON PAGE 148. THE
ANSWERS
TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE READING.
THIS
MEANS THAT THE ANSWERS ARE FOUND IN THE PAGES BEFORE THEM.
4. EVERYONE LISTEN AS I READ QUESTION 1. (Read question
1÷What
are some of the different kinds of jobs people do for the federal
government?)
5. LETâS SAY I CANâT REMEMBER THE ANSWER TO THAT
QUESTION.
I AM GOING TO LOOK BACK ON THE PREVIOUS PAGES TO SEE IF I FIND
IT.
LOOK! I SEE ON PAGE 145 THAT THE PRESIDENT AND LAWMAKERS ARE JOBS
WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. ALSO ON PAGE 146 THE TEXT SAYS THAT
POSTAL CARRIERS, SECRETARIES, SCIENTISTS, AND PAGES (WHICH I FIND OUT
ARE
PEOPLE WHO RUN ERRANDS) ARE ALL WORKERS THAT KEEP THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT.
6. NOW THAT I HAVE MODELED HOW TO LOOK BACK, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO FINISH
QUESTIONS 2-4 AND WE WILL DISCUSS THE ANSWERS.
7. I will collect the papers and assess if the students understood
looking back and got the correct answers before we go over them as a
class.
Reference: Pressley, M. Strategies that Improve Childrenâs Memory and Comprehension of Text. The Elementary School Journal, Volume 90, number 1. 1989.
3rd grade social studies text: Communities, Holt, 1986, pp. 145-148.