1. Preview the text.

2. Activate your background knowledge.

3. Set a purpose for reading. (What do you want to find out? What do you

want to learn? What do you want to do?)

4. Make predictions as you read and modify them when necessary.

5. When you run across unfamiliar vocabulary words, try to figure out

what they mean by using context clues, looking them up in a

dictionary, or asking someone else what they mean.

6. Monitor your comprehension. As you read, make sure you ask yourself

if what you are reading is making sense. If it is not making sense, use

one or more comprehension strategies to try to make it make sense.

7. THINK while you read! Don’t just read the words and expect to

understand.

8. Make inferences and then, as you read further, retain them, modify

them, or reject them based on additional textual information. Good

inferences combine our personal experiences with textual clues. They

are supported by the text and consistent with our experiences. (What’s

your line of reasoning?)

9. Make evaluations–especially about what characters do.

10. Visualize (or act it out).

11. Draw a picture.

12. Try reading it aloud.

13. Reread or read ahead.

14. Summarize what you read in your own words.

15. Use study guides when available.

16. Answer questions.

17. Ask questions.

18. WONDER

19. Read with good fluency.

20. Know that some answers are found (1) from just the text, (2) from just

your head, and (3) by combining information from the text with

information in your head.

21. Read the titles, headings, and captions.

22. Analyze figures, charts, and maps.

23. Connect what you read to personal experiences; other texts–including

movies, cartoons, TV shows, and songs; and to the world in general.

24. Determine the most import ideas.

25. Think about cause and effect. (What caused this to happen?)

26. Think about the mood of the passage. (Is it happy, sad, scary, intense,

dramatic, etc.?)

27. Think about the author’s purposes for writing the passage.

28. Think about the time the story takes place and connect it to your

background knowledge of that time period.

29. READ A LOT!!!!!!

30. Discuss what you have read with someone else who has read the text,

too.

31. Write about what you read. Include your “Ah has” and connections.

“You get out of reading what you put into it. Good readers do

MORE than just read the words. Good readers think, wonder,

reflect, and connect while they read.”