Comprehension Strategies for Your K-6 Literacy Classroom

Thinking Before, During, and After Reading
Divonna M. Stebick - Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
Joy M. Dain - Carroll County Public School System, Westminster, MD
Comprehension Strategies for Your K-6 Literacy Classroom
March 2007 | 176 pages | Corwin
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eBook
ISBN: 9781452294001
Available from January 0001
Paperback
ISBN: 9781412940436
Available from January 0001

Description

"Invites readers on a meaningful adventure into classrooms where children actively think. Successfully brings comprehension strategy instruction to life through explicit frameworks for literacy instruction, authentic classroom examples, and high-quality instructional resources for K–6 teachers."
—From the Foreword by Debra A. Miller

"Focused and practical. The authors present a solid instructional model based on years of research. This book provides teaching tactics to help teachers, particularly those new to the profession, imagine how comprehension strategy instruction might actually look and sound in the elementary classroom."
—From the Afterword by Ellin Keene

"A resource unlike any I have encountered in my career. Both new and experienced teachers will use this book to aid their instruction, maximizing the most effective reading comprehension in their students."
—Jonathan Hart, Third-Grade Teacher, Copper Hill School, Ringoes, NJ

Enhance your thinking about teaching with these research-based comprehension strategies!

Teaching comprehension and insuring that students think about what they read can be a challenging task for educators. In reader-friendly terms, Comprehension Strategies for Your K–6 Literacy Classroom illustrates how teachers can effectively use six critical comprehension strategies to enhance student understanding: activating schema, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining important ideas, and synthesizing.

Divonna M. Stebick and Joy M. Dain present a "before," "during," and "after" instructional framework that provides the three elements necessary for strategic comprehension learning to take place: explicit instruction through teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent application.

Combining theory with classroom research, this helpful resource:

  • Offers step-by-step direction, guiding teachers through sample lessons
  • Includes ready-to-use lessons that are easily adaptable and aligned with NCLB and NCTE standards
  • Provides real-life case studies illustrating classroom application
  • Uses hands-on activities and visual aids such as anchor charts, sketches, treasure chests, and builders' plans to capture students' attention and promote critical thinking

Contents

Foreword

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Preface

Preface

About the Authors

About the Authors

Introduction

Introduction

1. Reorganizing Our Thinking ~ Making Connections

  • Activating Prior Knowledge
  • Metacognition
  • Developing Schema

2. Interacting With the Text ~ Questioning

  • Guiding Students' Thinking
  • Gradually Releasing Students Into Self-Questioning

3. Directing a Movie in Your Mind ~ Visualizing

  • Mental Imagery
  • Modeling for Intermediate Readers
  • Teacher Reflections

4. Piecing the Clues Together ~ Inferring

  • Reading Between the Lines in an Inclusion Classroom
  • Putting Your Thoughts to Paper

5. Sifting Through and Locating the Nugget ~ Determining Importance

  • Importance Based Upon Purpose
  • Determining Importance During Guided Reading
  • Revisiting Texts

6. Organizing and Recreating New Ideas ~ Synthesizing

  • Changing Our Schema
  • Bloom's Taxonomy

7. Conclusion ~ The You Do Phase of Making the Invisible Visible

7. Conclusion ~ The You Do Phase of Making the Invisible Visible

Afterword

Afterword

Resources

  • a. Blank Frameworks & Instructional Resources
  • b. Thinking Organizers
  • c. Picture Book Reference Lists

References

References

Index

Index

Description

"Invites readers on a meaningful adventure into classrooms where children actively think. Successfully brings comprehension strategy instruction to life through explicit frameworks for literacy instruction, authentic classroom examples, and high-quality instructional resources for K–6 teachers."
—From the Foreword by Debra A. Miller

"Focused and practical. The authors present a solid instructional model based on years of research. This book provides teaching tactics to help teachers, particularly those new to the profession, imagine how comprehension strategy instruction might actually look and sound in the elementary classroom."
—From the Afterword by Ellin Keene

"A resource unlike any I have encountered in my career. Both new and experienced teachers will use this book to aid their instruction, maximizing the most effective reading comprehension in their students."
—Jonathan Hart, Third-Grade Teacher, Copper Hill School, Ringoes, NJ

Enhance your thinking about teaching with these research-based comprehension strategies!

Teaching comprehension and insuring that students think about what they read can be a challenging task for educators. In reader-friendly terms, Comprehension Strategies for Your K–6 Literacy Classroom illustrates how teachers can effectively use six critical comprehension strategies to enhance student understanding: activating schema, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining important ideas, and synthesizing.

Divonna M. Stebick and Joy M. Dain present a "before," "during," and "after" instructional framework that provides the three elements necessary for strategic comprehension learning to take place: explicit instruction through teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent application.

Combining theory with classroom research, this helpful resource:

  • Offers step-by-step direction, guiding teachers through sample lessons
  • Includes ready-to-use lessons that are easily adaptable and aligned with NCLB and NCTE standards
  • Provides real-life case studies illustrating classroom application
  • Uses hands-on activities and visual aids such as anchor charts, sketches, treasure chests, and builders' plans to capture students' attention and promote critical thinking

Contents

Foreword

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Preface

Preface

About the Authors

About the Authors

Introduction

Introduction

1. Reorganizing Our Thinking ~ Making Connections

  • Activating Prior Knowledge
  • Metacognition
  • Developing Schema

2. Interacting With the Text ~ Questioning

  • Guiding Students' Thinking
  • Gradually Releasing Students Into Self-Questioning

3. Directing a Movie in Your Mind ~ Visualizing

  • Mental Imagery
  • Modeling for Intermediate Readers
  • Teacher Reflections

4. Piecing the Clues Together ~ Inferring

  • Reading Between the Lines in an Inclusion Classroom
  • Putting Your Thoughts to Paper

5. Sifting Through and Locating the Nugget ~ Determining Importance

  • Importance Based Upon Purpose
  • Determining Importance During Guided Reading
  • Revisiting Texts

6. Organizing and Recreating New Ideas ~ Synthesizing

  • Changing Our Schema
  • Bloom's Taxonomy

7. Conclusion ~ The You Do Phase of Making the Invisible Visible

7. Conclusion ~ The You Do Phase of Making the Invisible Visible

Afterword

Afterword

Resources

  • a. Blank Frameworks & Instructional Resources
  • b. Thinking Organizers
  • c. Picture Book Reference Lists

References

References

Index

Index

SAGE Publishing Logo

Comprehension Strategies for Your K-6 Literacy Classroom

Thinking Before, During, and After Reading


March 2007 | 176 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 01/02/2026 9781412940436 $37.95
Lifetime 01/02/2026 9781452294001 $35.00

"Invites readers on a meaningful adventure into classrooms where children actively think. Successfully brings comprehension strategy instruction to life through explicit frameworks for literacy instruction, authentic classroom examples, and high-quality instructional resources for K–6 teachers."
—From the Foreword by Debra A. Miller

"Focused and practical. The authors present a solid instructional model based on years of research. This book provides teaching tactics to help teachers, particularly those new to the profession, imagine how comprehension strategy instruction might actually look and sound in the elementary classroom."
—From the Afterword by Ellin Keene

"A resource unlike any I have encountered in my career. Both new and experienced teachers will use this book to aid their instruction, maximizing the most effective reading comprehension in their students."
—Jonathan Hart, Third-Grade Teacher, Copper Hill School, Ringoes, NJ

Enhance your thinking about teaching with these research-based comprehension strategies!

Teaching comprehension and insuring that students think about what they read can be a challenging task for educators. In reader-friendly terms, Comprehension Strategies for Your K–6 Literacy Classroom illustrates how teachers can effectively use six critical comprehension strategies to enhance student understanding: activating schema, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining important ideas, and synthesizing.

Divonna M. Stebick and Joy M. Dain present a "before," "during," and "after" instructional framework that provides the three elements necessary for strategic comprehension learning to take place: explicit instruction through teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent application.

Combining theory with classroom research, this helpful resource:

  • Offers step-by-step direction, guiding teachers through sample lessons
  • Includes ready-to-use lessons that are easily adaptable and aligned with NCLB and NCTE standards
  • Provides real-life case studies illustrating classroom application
  • Uses hands-on activities and visual aids such as anchor charts, sketches, treasure chests, and builders' plans to capture students' attention and promote critical thinking

Table Of Contents:

  • Foreword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Preface
  • About the Authors
  • Introduction
  • 1. Reorganizing Our Thinking ~ Making Connections
  • Activating Prior Knowledge
  • Metacognition
  • Developing Schema
  • 2. Interacting With the Text ~ Questioning
  • Guiding Students' Thinking
  • Gradually Releasing Students Into Self-Questioning
  • 3. Directing a Movie in Your Mind ~ Visualizing
  • Mental Imagery
  • Modeling for Intermediate Readers
  • Teacher Reflections
  • 4. Piecing the Clues Together ~ Inferring
  • Reading Between the Lines in an Inclusion Classroom
  • Putting Your Thoughts to Paper
  • 5. Sifting Through and Locating the Nugget ~ Determining Importance
  • Importance Based Upon Purpose
  • Determining Importance During Guided Reading
  • Revisiting Texts
  • 6. Organizing and Recreating New Ideas ~ Synthesizing
  • Changing Our Schema
  • Bloom's Taxonomy
  • 7. Conclusion ~ The You Do Phase of Making the Invisible Visible
  • Afterword
  • Resources
  • a. Blank Frameworks & Instructional Resources
  • b. Thinking Organizers
  • c. Picture Book Reference Lists
  • References
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

"Invites readers on a meaningful adventure into classrooms where children actively think. Successfully brings comprehension strategy instruction to life through explicit frameworks for literacy instruction, authentic classroom examples, and high-quality instructional resources for K–6 teachers."
From the Foreword by Debra A. Miller
"Focused and practical. The authors present a solid instructional model based on years of research. This book provides teaching tactics to help teachers, particularly those new to the profession, imagine how comprehension strategy instruction might actually look and sound in the elementary classroom."
From the Afterword by Ellin Keene
"This book provides teachers with specific instructional strategies designed to make students independent, thoughtful readers. Using these well-defined techniques will help students 'pack, repack, and reorganize' information in an efficient and meaningful way that will surely bring students to an optimal level of comprehension."
Marcia M. Talkovich, Program Specialist, Georgia Learning Resource System
"The authors demonstrate excellent pragmatic examples for new and veteran teachers as they guide students through six stages of comprehension strategies. Definitely raises the bar for student comprehension strategies."
Sue Morgan, Special Education Coordinator, Akron Public Schools, OH
"A resource unlike any I have encountered in my career. Both novice and experienced teachers will use this book to aid instruction and maximize their students' reading comprehension."
Jonathan Hart, Third-Grade Teacher, Copper Hill School, Ringoes, New Jersey

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