As your child reads at home, no matter what the material, have them use
these strategies to improve their reading skills.

Part 7: Fix-up Strategies
Good readers can effectively use "fix-up strategies" when they are having a
problem understanding something read. This could be when they get stuck on
a word or when they are confused. Some strategies are: use the context of
the selection to define the word, reread to clarify meaning, and use my
questions and connections to understand what I have read.

Part 6: Summarize
Good readers can effectively summarize what they read by deleting some
information, substituting some information, and keeping some information
when they read. The readers must be able to analyze the information at a
fairly deep level. As you read with your child, have him.her stop now and
then and discuss what is most important for him/her to remember about a
story or article.

Part 5: Noting Details and Main Idea
Good readers are able to distinguish the difference between important and
unimportant details in a selection. They are able to use the details to
decide the main idea of a selection. As you read with your child, have
him/her stop now and then to consider what it’s important to remember.
Distinguish between facts that are interesting and those that are important.

* The most important ideas are...
* So far, I have learned that...
* Based on my knowledge of...

Part 4: Making Inferences
Using information in the text and your own experiences to make decisions
about the text, author and characters.

Good readers use prior experiences and information in the text to help draw
conclusions, make predictions, evaluating, judging and relecting on their
reading.

* I'm guessing that...
* I predict...
* It would be better if...
* I really liked how...
* If I were the main character...
* What I didn't like was...

Part 3: Motion Picture of the Mind
Using sensory images to increase student comprehension

Good readers create a wide range of visual, auditory, and other sensory
images as they read, and they become emotionally involved with what they
read. Sensory images are the cinema unfolding in your mind that makes
reading 3-dimentional. As you read with your child, stop to discuss what
you “see, hear, experience.” Connect the text to similar experiences of
your own. Ask your child to describe what they see as they read. Help
him/her make “a movie in their mind” about the text.

PART 2: Why, What, Where, Who, and How?????
Using questions to increase student comprehension

Have a conversation with your child about the book or material he/she is
reading. This will help him/her deepen understanding by:
* asking questions before, during and after reading.
* starting a conversation about the book being read.
* encouraging your child to ask real questions.
* inspiring wonder about the story.

Part 1: Making Connections
text to me, text to text, text to world

Good readers use what they know to understand the text.

* That reminds me of...
* It made me think of...
* I read another book where...
* This is different from...