THE FOUR CORE STRATEGIES OF A GOOD READER-Developed by Sucess for All Foundation

Active readers do the following:

• make connections, judgements, and evaluations
• recognize when what they are reading is not making sense
• monitor strategy use
• work hard to bring meaning to the text

CLARIFICATION: The reader stops and is able to identify something that he doesn't understand when he is reading. The reader uses strategies to help him clear up the problem that prevents comprehension.

Can you say the word? If not...

• Blend it
• Chunk it
• Look for a base word
• Reread it

Do you know what the word or word part means? If not...

• Use context clues
• Reread
• Read on
• Use your background knowledge
• Make a mind movie

SUMMARIZATION: The reader is able to retell the main ideas and important events/details in a passage in a concise way and leaves out the less important details.

The following are strategies for summarizing:

After you read a story (narrative text) summarize these parts...

• main characters
• setting (where and when the story takes place)
• story problem
• important events
• solution and ending

After you read for information (expository text) use these tools to find main ideas...

• titles
• headings
• bold print
• captions
• sidebars
• bullets

QUESTIONING: The reader generates his own questions about the text then answers his questions to increase understanding.

Question Starters:

• Who...?
• What did...?
• How did...?
• Where was...?
• When did...?
• Why did...?
• What do you predict...?
• Do you think...?

PREDICTION: The reader uses prior knowledge and information learned to support what he thinks will happen next in the story.

Strategies

Narrative Clues :

• setting
• events
• actions
• character's feelings
• character's thoughts
• dialogue

Expository Clues:

• titles
• headings
• bold text
• captions
• sidebars
• pictures