Reading Strategies Goal 12: Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement   
Goal 3: Supporting Print Work  
Goal 4:  Fluency
Goal 5:   Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Main Idea and Plot
Goal 6:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Characters
Goal 7:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Theme  
Goal 8: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Main Idea  
Goal 9: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Key Details   
Goal 10 - Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Text Features  

Goal 11-  Understanding Vocabulary and Figurative Language

This goal is all about supporting students' conversations about their reading.  Serravallo says that book clubs and partnerships play a crucial role in both supporting comprehension and in making reading a social process.  She says a good book club or partnership can be engaging and invigorating, but when they don't go well, time is wasted with off task behaviors.  Serravallo suggests that students need instruction on both conversation and in conversation about books.

How do I know if this goal is right for my students? 

The way to assess your students' skills in this area is by listening to your students' conversations about books.  Serravallo suggests taking notes and transcribing what you feel.  If you feel conversational strategies are lacking, this chapter will give you ideas to help.

Focus Strategy 1: Invite Quieter Voices

I love that this strategy teaches students how to invite those quieter students who are not participating into the conversation!  Even the quietest students have something to offer!  This strategy asks students to pay attention to who is talking a lot and who is not talking.  Tell them to be prepared to invite the quieter voices in the conversation with a question.  Have the student ask, "(Name, what are you thinking about this?"

Focus Strategy 2: Say Back What You Heard

Active listening is an important part of being in a book club or reading partnership. Students should not simple say what they have written down in their notes, but they should listen to what their partners are saying.  This strategy asks students to say back what they think they heard, then try to paraphrase it in their own words before adding on their own thoughts or comments.

Focus Strategy 3: SuperSTAR Jots

This strategy is a great way for students to prepare ahead of time for their book club or partnership meeting.  Students look over the notes and "jots" they have taken as they were reading.  They should put stars next to the ones that they think will be conversation ready.

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.




Other books by this author that I LOVE!




This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 


Melissa from Peas in a Pod is officially hosting goal 12 over at her blog, so make sure you head over there to see which strategies she chose to share!  While you are there, be sure to leave some comment love!

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Reading Strategies Goal 11: Understanding Vocabulary and Figurative Language

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement   
Goal 3: Supporting Print Work  
Goal 4:  Fluency
Goal 5:   Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Main Idea and Plot
Goal 6:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Characters
Goal 7:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Theme  
Goal 8: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Main Idea  
Goal 9: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Key Details   
Goal 10 - Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Text Features

This goal is all about improving comprehension by helping students to understand vocabulary and figurative language.

Study after study has linked a reader's ability to understand vocabulary and language in text to their reading comprehension.  Research has shown that in order for students to truly understand what they read, they must be able to understand 95% or more of the words in the text.

Because vocabulary is so crucial, many schools and teachers have rushed to implement vocabulary programs.  However, Serravallo points out that research suggests that most vocabulary learning occurs unconsciously through normal reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities.  The best way for teachers to support vocabulary growth is "by creating a classroom in which children read  a lot are encouraged to notice when words are news, learn strategies for figuring out what those words may mean, and are encouraged to use those words when they write and speak.

There are several ways to determine if this goal is right for your students.  One way is to use a standardized grade level vocabulary assessment. Flocabulary has grade level lists here.   

You could also ask about unknown words in linger passages to see if students have the ability to read for clues and details to infer the meaning of the word.  Students who don't know a lot of words, or don't have the skills to figure out meaning will benefit from this strategy.

Focus Strategy 1: Retire Overworked Words

We have probably all noticed the words that our students tend to use over and over again.  When they describe their characters as "nice", or how they had "fun" over the summer.  You may have wondered how to break your students of this habit, and if you have, this strategy is for you!

I love that this strategy not only benefits their reading skills, but also their writing skills as well.  

Using this strategy, you tell the student that they need to notice when they choose these overworked words, and then stop and say, " What do I really mean here?"  They should then revise their language to be more specific.  Instead of saying a character is nice, they might ask themselves what things the character does that makes them nice.  Perhaps they go share their toys, or go out of their way to make a new student feel welcome.  In these situations, the character might be better described as generous or compassionate.

When I use this strategy, I try to have a character trait list available to help students pick better word choices.


Mrs. R has a free one available here.

Focus Strategy 2: Insert a Synonym

This strategy asks students to insert a word that they know would fit the sentence when they come to an unfamiliar word.

For example, if a student encountered the word furious in a sentence, but didn't know the meaning, they could replace that word with a word that might make sense.

"When her best friend grabbed her toy, she was furious with him."

The student would ask themselves what word might make sense.  How would they feel if their friend grabbed their toy? Mad? Angry?

Focus Strategy 3: Word Part Clues - Prefixes and Suffixes

This is a strategy that we use often in third and fourth grade because we study prefixes and suffixes.  In this strategy, students use word parts they may already know to determine the meaning of an unknown word.  I have a word wall for upper elementary kids that focuses just on these word parts.

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.



Other books by this author that I LOVE!






This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Reading Strategies Goal 10: Supporting Comprehension in Nonfiction - Text Features

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement   
Goal 3: Supporting Print Work  
Goal 4:  Fluency
Goal 5:   Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Main Idea and Plot
Goal 6:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Characters
Goal 7:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Theme  
Goal 8: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Main Idea  
Goal 9: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Key Details

This week, my friend, Kristin Muse from Samson's Shoppe is writing a guest post for me. 

 Here are her thoughts:

Supporting Comprehension in Nonfiction

Getting the Most from Text Features

This goal is important to young readers because text features are a big part of reading nonfiction text. Text features help students to read, navigate and understand what they are reading. Text features help to support the main idea of the text by including relevant information, adding to the ideas or helping students navigate through the reading. There are numerous types of text features; graphs, illustrations, diagrams, charts, maps, photographs just to name a few. Many teachers already understand the importance of text features but studies show that students need to do more than simply identify the feature. Students need to be taught how to use these features to gain more information. Students should be able to identify the feature but more importantly, be able to understand the purpose and function of the text feature.

Determining if This is the Right Goal for Your Students:

Ways to determine if this is the right goal for your students include:

ü        What level are your students reading on?

o   Below level N – text features support the main idea

o   At level O – text features begin to give additional information

o   At level Q – text features become more heavy; they may include their own main ideas and details

o   At level U – readers need to be able to explain how the text feature relates to the main text

ü How to assess?

o   Ask questions when conferencing

o   Stop and jot

o   Respond to questions

o   Look at student writing

o   Listen to student conversations

ü Gauge where your students are from your assessment. Think about their reading level and what they can/cannot do. Is the student

o   Ignoring the text features?

o   Able to identify the text feature?

o   Able to identify and name its purpose?

o   Able to explain what the feature is teaching?

o   Able to make connections between the meaning of the text feature and the text? 

Focus Strategy 1: Cover Up Then Zoom In

 One strategy Serravallo discusses in this chapter is applicable to all levels of readers. Students use a sticky note to cover an image on the page. After reading the text on the page, they think to themselves, “What is this teaching me so far?” After determining their new knowledge, students’ undercover the sticky note and then ask themselves, “What new information am I gaining from this feature?” I like this strategy because it builds upon students’ ability to question and determine importance. 

Focus Strategy 2: Bold Words Signal Importance

This strategy is appropriate for reading levels F-Z+. Students look at the bold word to see if they already know it. If they don’t they try to use context clues to determine the meaning. Once they have a definition they review the sentence again and explain the fact with a new understanding of the word. This strategy helps students to synthesize information and monitor for meaning.  Here is a sample Anchor Chart from Life in 4B

Focus Strategy 3: Why a Visual

This strategy works best with students at reading levels G-Z+. When students encounter a visual, they stop and think, “What information is this visual giving me? Why is it important to the information in this section?” Some prompts that you can give your students to assess this strategy are:

·       What did you learn from the picture?

·       Why did the author choose to put this picture on this page?

·       What can you learn from this?

This book has so much information and is a great read for any teacher, at any stage in your career. Please review the book on your own for many more strategies to use with your readers. 

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.




Other books by this author that I LOVE!





This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Reading Strategies Goal 9: Supporting Comprehension in Nonfiction - Key Details

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.

You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement   
Goal 3: Supporting Print Work  
Goal 4:  Fluency
Goal 5:   Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Main Idea and Plot
Goal 6:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Characters
Goal 7:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Theme  
Goal 8: Supporting Comprehension in Non-Fiction - Main Idea

This goal focuses on supporting comprehension in non-fiction, specifically in determining key details.  Serravallo points out that "there is a difference between reading for details and reading for key details".  That difference being that a student has the ability to determine importance.

Students who might benefit from this goal are those who:

• can support a main idea with just one detail, but need prompting to list more than one.
• can support main idea with just one portion of the fact
• lists random facts to support details.

Focus Strategy 1: A Spin on KWL

This strategy is a pre-reading strategy and is a take on the traditional KWL method. Like the KWL, this method helps the student to prepare their brain for new information or learning.

You would have the student jot down:

1. What you know for sure.
2. What you think you know.
3. What you wonder.

Focus Strategy 2: Gather Up Facts

This strategy has students to gather up the facts that they learned in a particular book, article, or section of either.  You would tell the student that one way to remember all of the things they learn is to stop often and gather up all that they know.

Some prompts you could use include:

1. What did you learn in this part?
2. List what you remember.
3. That's one fact, let's see if we can list anymore.

Focus Strategy 3: Important VS. Interesting

This strategy asks the reader to consider whether a statement is an important detail that supports the main idea or just an interesting fact.  You would let the student know that in order for a detail to be considered a key detail, it must connect to the main idea that the author is presenting.

Young Teacher Love has a great anchor chart that goes with this strategy.

Life in 4B also has a great lesson that would help you to teach this strategy.

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.



Other books by this author that I LOVE!






This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 


Diane from School House Treasures is officially hosting goal 9 over at her blog, so make sure you head over there to see which strategies she chose to share!  While you are there, be sure to leave some comment love!

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Reading Strategies Goal 8: Supporting Comprehension in Nonfiction - Main Idea

Welcome to our book study of The Reading Strategies Book:  Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo! I am joining forces with some other fabulous teacher bloggers to discuss the reading strategies we come across in this AMAZING professional text!  If you missed my first post about this book study, you can find it here, along with a suggested way to set up your book for easy reference.


You can also find my thoughts and ideas on other goals in this book below:

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-Emergent and Emergent Readers   
Goal 2: Reading Engagement   
Goal 3: Supporting Print Work  
Goal 4:  Fluency
Goal 5:   Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Main Idea and Plot
Goal 6:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Characters
Goal 7:  Supporting Comprehension in Fiction Theme

Make sure you read to the bottom for your chance to win a $30 Amazon gift card!  You can use it towards your purchase of this book or anything else you would like!

In this chapter, the focus switches to non-fiction. 

Some students struggle with being able to explain what a text is mostly about, often resorting to reciting various facts or details they have read. The ability to understand what the most important parts of a text is critical to comprehension.

To determine if a student needs to work on this goal, you can have them read a non-fiction text at their independent level.  You would then ask them questions such as:

        1. What is this text mostly about?

        2. What is the main idea?

If they struggle to answer these questions, this would be an appropriate goal for them.

Focus Strategy 1: Notice What Repeats

In this strategy, you would tell the student, "To figure out what a book is mostly about, it is helpful to pay attention to the word or words that you see again and again."

An example can be seen in the page below from the book Sharks.

Students may notice that the word sharks appears multiple times both in the text and in the captions.  The student could ask themselves, is this text mostly about sharks?

Focus Strategy 2: Topic/Subtopic/Details

This strategy asks the student to first determine the topic (what the whole section is about), then the subtopic, and finally details that connect to the topic and subtopic.

Serravallo shows a simple graphic organizer that the students can create to keep track of this work.

Focus Strategy 3: Boxes and Bullets

This is a strategy we used often in class last year, as it is featured in the Lucy Calkins Units of Study.  In this strategy, students draw a box and several bullets beneath it.  As they read, they are supposed to ask themselves," Does this sentence say what the part is mostly about (box), or is this a detail (bullet)?"  They would then write the information in the appropriate space.

  You can download similar graphic organizers for this strategy here.

Remember, we are only picking and choosing some of the strategies to share with you - there are so many more great ones in this section as well as the rest of the book!

Now... time for the Giveaway!

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Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 8/18/16 and is open worldwide.

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

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If you would like to purchase the book mentioned above, you can find it here.




Other books by this author that I LOVE!





This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 


Nichole from The Craft of Teaching is officially hosting goal 8 over at her blog, so make sure you head over there to see which strategies she chose to share!  While you are there, be sure to leave some comment love!

If you would like to link up your own blog posts about this book, feel free to do so in the linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up