Students learn components of think-alouds and type-of-text interactions through teacher modeling. In the process, students develop the ability to use think-alouds to aid in reading comprehension tasks.

Building Reading Comprehension Through Think-Alouds

Grades
|
Combining Read-Alouds With Economics in the Primary Grades
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students learn that what you read in books can really add up when they analyze literary texts for economic concepts.

Grades
|
Play Ball! Encouraging Critical Thinking Through Baseball Questions
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Cooperation and critical thinking are the name of the game as students use baseball facts they find online to create trivia questions for a class Jeopardy game.

Grades
|
Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills Through Whole-Class Dialogue
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
"That's my position and I'm sticking to it!" After reading about the Korean War, students will take a position in response to an open-ended question, support their position, and evaluate that support.

Grades
|
Peace Poems and Picasso Doves: Literature, Art, Technology, and Poetry
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students apply think-aloud strategies to reading and to composition of artwork and poetry. They research symbols of peace as they prewrite, compose, and publish their poetry.

Grades
|
Questioning: A Comprehension Strategy for Small-Group Guided Reading
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students learn about the process of questioning and using webs to organize information during reading and then practice writing factual and inferential questions.

Grades
|
Bringing Economic Vocabulary to Life Through Video Posters
2 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Imagine if vocabulary could come alive with the click of a button! Students create video posters to demonstrate knowledge of new economics vocabulary.

Grades
|
Seeing Integration From Different Viewpoints
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
What does the world look like through someone else's eyes? Guide students in using colorful paper glasses to examine a story of school desegregation from multiple perspectives.

Grades
|
Exploring Literacy in Cyberspace
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
It's not just words on a page (or screen)—reading comprehension involves making sense of the text. When students become aware of the analytical strategies they are using, they can explore the similarities and differences between making sense of print and making sense of a website.

Grades
|
Q is for Duck: Using Alphabet Books With Struggling Writers
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
A is for zoo? Q is for duck? The alphabet as students know it is transformed when students create a class book that contains clever associations for each letter of the alphabet.

Grades
|
Inferring How and Why Characters Change
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students will really get into character when they read short stories and analyze the how's and why's of characters' behaviors.

Grades
|
Thrills! Chills! Using Scary Stories to Motivate Students to Read
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students examine story elements through teacher read-alouds and independent reading and then use reader-response journals and graphic organizers to prepare for the creation of their own scary stories.

Grades
|
Note Writing in the Primary Classroom
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
This lesson provides a wealth of ideas for using notes in the classroom to promote authentic writing among children.

Grades
|
Mind Pictures: Strategies That Enhance Mental Imagery While Reading
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students create mental images while reading using a three-pronged approach: developing schemata and visual awareness; Watch-Read-Watch-Read (W-R-W-R), using video clips; and a strategy similar to the think-aloud approach.

Grades
|
Peer Review: Narrative
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
This minilesson guides student in using the PQP techniquePraise–Question–Polishto offer concrete and useful peer review feedback.

Grades
|
Family Ties: Making Connections to Improve Reading Comprehension
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Families are all about connections between people. In this lesson, students read three books about different families and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections to those texts.

Grades
|
Developing Searching, Skimming, and Scanning Skills With Internet Bingo
4 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Student pairs aim to be the first team to call out "bingo" in this lesson in which they use skimming and scanning to locate information about ancient Greece and Rome.

Grades
|
Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of Edgar Allan Poe
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Explore reading strategies using Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and other works. Students read Poe's works in both large- and small-group readings then conclude with a variety of projects.