The RSB: Goal #10 - Supporting Comprehension in Nonfiction: Getting the Most from Text Features

Welcome to the discussion of The Reading Strategies Book! 

If you are just joining us, please get caught up with the links below.

Getting Started - Crofts' Classroom

Goal #1 - McGuire is Crazy

Goal #2 - Crofts' Classroom

Goal #3 - Chocolate Covered Classroom

Goal #4 - Crofts' Classroom

Goal #5 - Tried and True Reading

Goal #6 - Uncommon to the Core

Goal #7 - Refining Our Craft

Goal #8 - A Lot A Lot

Goal #9 - Crofts' Classroom

Goal #10 - Jimi' Rogers

Goal #11 - Brittany Nocito

Goal #12 - A Teacher's Ruminations

Goal #13 - Read Reflect Teach

Conclusion - Crofts' Classroom

Today we have a guest post from the amazing Jimi! I am excited to get this discussion going. Enjoy~

Goal 10: Support Comprehension in Nonfiction

I am a proud Kindergarten teacher and I absolutely adore my class this year! They are super smart and very bright. They are like little sponges. But, like most kindergarteners, they struggled with nonfiction. That’s why this goal and the strategies that are in this chapter have become like a Bible to me. They have really helped me out when I was in a jam about how to support my angels with Nonfiction comprehension.

The chapter itself begins talking about why this goal is important-identifying text features is more important than knowing what they are. Speaking as a Kindergarten teacher, I know how important it is for students to be able to explain their thinking and not just read to just read.

Here are a few of my favorite strategies:

10.1 Make the 2-D into 3-D: I love this strategy! I am a big advocate for being able to use ideas and thoughts across subjects. Since we cover 2-D and 3-D shapes in Math, it is perfect to also cover in literacy. This strategy focuses on having students visualize and explain what they see and tell about the page using caption.  The teaching tip is also wise as well-focusing on modifying the language for young readers, ELLs, and students reading at a lower level.

10.5 Get More from Pictures: This is also one of my favorites because it focuses on strategies we already teach our child---look at the picture, read and think what is the same with both. I love how it takes it further and gives students the opportunity to share what they learned from the picture. This is a strategy that can be used with any reading level.

10.12 Don’t skip it! I love this strategy for two reasons. First, in the beginning, we always teach our kids in Kindergarten the strategy of Skippy Frog, which reminds students to skip a hard word and come back to it. Two, the Anchor Chart that goes along with it is great. The best part of this strategy is the teaching tip, which reminds us to teach our students to slow a reader’s pace down by looking at everything on page. This is extremely important with nonfiction because students need to fully understand how all the information goes together.

I could go on and on how much I love this section of the book and how much it has saved my life as a teacher.  The whole book has been such a lifesaver and I can’t wait to dig into the Writing Strategies one. Happy Teaching!