“Picture
Perfect”
Reading to Learn
Carlie Larson
Rationale: The most important thing for
students to learn from reading is comprehension. Comprehension is
the
ability to decipher and understand the main idea of a given material to
read.
A good way to practice comprehension with students is
visualization. This
is when a reader creates a mental picture of the events taking place in
the
story, in their head, in order to help him/her remember the main
idea.
This lesson will teach students how to visualize while reading and how
to use
visualization to improve comprehension by having them read a narrative
story
and create a picture in their minds. They will then have to use
this
picture to explain the events of the story.
Materials:
White board and marker
Copy of "Bad Hair Day" by Susan Hood
“My Elephant is Missing” by
Ken Nesbitt
Drawing paper and crayons for students
Assessment check sheets for teacher to use
(one per
student):
Did the student explain the main events of the book?
Did the student explain his/her drawing and how it relates to the book?
Procedures:
- Today
we are going to learn about comprehension. Comprehension
means that we understand what we are reading. Sometimes when we
read we have a hard time remembering what is going on in the
story. Something that we can do to help ourselves remember is to
create a picture in our minds of the events taking place in the
story. Today we're going to be creating a picture in our minds
while we begin reading a new book called Bad Hair Day by Susan Hood. Before we start with the book
we're though, we’re going to paint a picture in our head about the
following poem. Ask students to close their eyes and listen as
you read, “My Elephant is Missing” by
Ken Nesbitt. After you read it tell the students, "When I read
this I imagined a huge elephant running down the street away from
home! First I imagine the elephant being mad about taking a
bath. Then I visualize the sneaking around the yard trying to
stay away from his bathtub. Sometimes it
helps you understand the story better, if you can imagine the pictures
in your head in the order that they happen.” I want you all to
tell me some of the pictures you had in your mind when I read
this." Call on the students one by one and have them sketch out
their picture on the board.
- After
finishing the practice activity, hand out copies of “Bad Hair Day” to the students. Before
the students begin reading give a short book talk: "This story is about
a young girl who got an awful hair cut at home and now she thinks
she’ll have to wear a hat forever. On the
way to get her hair fixed, however, the little girl came across people
who also were not pleased with their hair cuts. I
wonder if the little girl will get her hair fixed and how it’s going to
be fixed." We’ll have to read the book to
find out. Explain to them that they will
be given some time to read the first few pages. "While you read I
want you to think about what pictures you can make in your mind.
After you finish the first three pages, you will draw your picture in
your head on paper. You don’t have to draw everything but make
sure that you illustrate what you think the most important parts of the
story were.
- After
giving the student sufficient time to read the first few pages and
complete their pictures, I will have them share with the class one at a
time. When the students get up to share, they should be prepared
to give a short synopsis of the pages as well as explain their drawing
and how it helped them to better understand the story.
Assessment: While
the students sharing their work with the class, the teacher will use
the
assessment sheet in order to check for use of visualization and
comprehension.
References:
Nesbitt,
K. "My Elephant is Missing."
http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-171.html
Hood, S.
Bad Hair Day. Gosset and Dunlap: New York, NY.
September
1999.
Broach,
S. Movies in Your Mind http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/broachrl.html
Return
to Odyssey's
Index