Reading Comprehension Blog

Here is a bunch of reading comprehension online activities and promethean flipcharts that you can use in your classroom for whole group lessons, small groups, center work, or for independent remediation or challenge work.  Skills addressed are character analysis, story elements, cause and effect, problem and solution (goes with story elements), main idea, sequencing, inferencing, using context clues, predicting, summarizing, etc.    Enjoy!   As always, let me know if there is anything I can do to help you integrate technology into your daily lessons.  J

Online Activities

 Grades Suggested 1-5 – Numerous Skills - http://mrnussbaum.com/readingpassageindex/ - Mr. Nussbaum is the man.   Check out his website for TONS of other academic activities, not just these reading ones.   These passages are broken up by grade level and by skill.   Put them on a projector or on the Promethean board and complete them together, as a center, or have the children complete them independently.

 Grades Suggested 1- 4 - Author’s Purpose http://www.woodland.k12.mo.us/faculty/rgarner/Reading/Authors%20puropse.htm – Anything you could want concerning Author’s Purpose!  Videos, passages, games, and more!

 Grades Suggested 1 – 3 – Cause and Effect- http://www.quia.com/mc/94601.html - Simple activity of matching to illustrate cause and effect

 Grades Suggested K – 5 - http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scrapbook/ - Character Analysis – Use this fun activity to analyze any character from any book! J

 Grades K-3 – Fact and Opinion - http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/factsopinions/ - Great interactive activity to help students realize the difference between a fact and an opinion.

 Grades 2-5 – Inferencing -  Students of all ages have a hard time referencing their background knowledge and combining that with detail from the story in order to make a good guess of what a character is thinking or what is happening in a story.   This fun game can help students in a fun way.

 Grades 2-5 – Main Idea -http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/book_buddy/rosie/skill_pre.html -   Fun activity to find the main idea of a short passage.

 Grades 2-4 – Main Idea - http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/samoset/mainideaprac.htm - Display passages on the overhead and have students write down clues on paper or a mini whiteboard to find the main idea of the passages.

 Grades 1-4 – Plot, Theme, and Setting – http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/h/plotp.cfm -  Simple Activity to help students understand what the plot, theme, and setting are of a story.

 Grades 2-4 – Predictions – http://teach.fcps.net/talk/activities/sniffy_fluffy/MakingPredictions/activity1makingpredictions.htm - Simple Activity to help students understand a great strategy to predict what will happen in a story.   Picture Walks! J

 Grades 2-4 – Predictions –  http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity_collections_preview/predict_outcomes/3_predict.html - Short Passages to help students learn strategies to make educated predictions of what might happen next in a story.

 K-2 – Sequencing – http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/storyscramble/scramble.html - Simple Story Sequencing Activity for the younger grades from PBS Kids and Arthur.

 K-2 – Sequencing and “How To” Activities – http://www.quia.com/pages/sequencingfun.html - Print out Tons of “How To” activities for students to work on their sequencing skills.

 K-3 – Short Story Videos - http://pbskids.org/lions/stories/  Tons and tons of short video stories divided into Genre for easy access.  From our friends at Between the Lions.

 2-4 – Story Elements - http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/test_tutor/build19/grade3/skill14/index.htm - Great activity that provides passages concerning characters, setting, and plot. 

 Promethean Activities – Remember even though many of you do not have a Promethean Boar, many of you do have the promethean software on your computers which will allow you to view these lessons and interact with them using your mouse.    You will just not be able to have students interact with the lesson by having them go to the white board.

 Using Pictures to Understand a Story

 K-1 – Picture Clues - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/81028/using-pictures-for-reading-comprehension - Having students use picture clues to understand a story is a great strategy to use at a young age.

 Characters

 1-5 – Character Analysis - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/44168/guess-who-character-analysis-edition - Based on the game “Guess Who” students can analyize characters from many of their favorite books and stories.

 1-5 – Character Analysis - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/29312/what-a-character - This flipchart discusses ways that authors reveal character traits. Students learn to find examples in the literature to demonstrate those character traits. A sample assessment, graphic organizer and web links are included.

Cause and Effect 

 K-3 – Cause and Effect - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/39758/cause-and-effect#.Un-2WIwo7xM –  Favorite Promethean activity on cause and effect.

 K-3 – Cause and Effect - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/28895/cause-and-effect#.Un-5Z4wo7xM

 Problem and Solution

 K-2 – Problem and Solution - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/35666/problem-and-solution

 Main Idea

 2-4 – Main Idea - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/39483/main-idea-and-supporting-details#.Un-6UIwo7xM – Explains about main idea, supporting details, and provides practice passages.

 2-4 – Main Idea - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/92680/main-idea-practice#.Un-68Iwo7xM – Find the main idea of these passages.

 2-4 – Main Idea - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/29511/main-idea#.Un-7W4wo7xM – Provides passages and online activities for finding the main idea of a passage.

 

Sequencing

 1 - 4 – Sequencing a Story - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/30749/sequencing-a-story - Sample Stories to explain sequencing the events of a story. 

 2 - 5 – Sequencing a Story - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/41592/sequencing  - Provides key words to look for in a passage or a story and sample passages for practice.

 2 - 4 – Sequencing a Story and Retelling/Summariing http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/166817/sequencing-and-retelling-practice - Students interact with the flipchart to hear a story and sequence the events of the story. Additionally, students are able to practice identifying the main components of a story to work on summarizing skills.

 Story Elements

 K-3 – Story Elements - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/39487/story-elements#.Un-8IYwo7xM – Simple explanation about story elements. 

 K-3 – Story Elements - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/26334/story-elements#.Un-8sYwo7xM – Same as the flipchart above.

 K-2 – Story Elements - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/30260/setting#.Un-9KYwo7xM – Explains about what setting is and why it is important.

 K – Setting - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/76611/setting-preview#.Un--WYwo7xM – Simple Setting activity for Kindergarten.

 

Inferencing 

 1 – 5 – Making Conclusions and Inferences – Making Inferences while reading is a hard skill to master for most, if not all, students.   Here are a number of promethean activities to help teach or reinforce this skill.

 http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/135956/inferencing#.Un_AHIwo7xM

 http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/141547/drawing-conclusion-making-inferences#.Un_AK4wo7xM

 5^th Grade - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/39888/making-inferences-story-adventure#.Un_BgIwo7xM

 5^th grade - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/28944/what-is-an-inference#.Un_Buowo7xM

 http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/41734/inferencing#.Un_B7owo7xM

 5^th Grade - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/30652/making-inferences-with-students#.Un_Cd4wo7xM -

 http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/60119/making-inferences#.Un_DVYwo7xM

 http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/159313/this-resource-teaches-the-skill-of-making-inferences-through-the-use-of-pictures#.Un_Daowo7xM – Making inferences through the use of pictures.  Great Strategy, especially for younger children.

 

Using Context Clues

 3 -5 – Context Clues -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/92357/context-clues-review-questioning - Students are given the definitions for various context clue examples and then asked the put it in practice by using the ActivExpression devices. After students vote, a student can come up to the Promethean board to click on the correct answer. Answers are hyperlinked to "Correct" and "Incorrect" Slides.

3 -5 – Context Clues -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/30598/using-context-clues - This flipchart can be used to help students use context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words.

 5^th Grade – Context Clues -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/25467/context-clues - This flipchart gives students practice using context to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word.  Included are practice activities and assessment pages.

3 -5 – Context Clues -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/77685/understanding-the-meaning-of-unknown-words-trough-the-use-of-context-clues - An interactive flipchart teaching on the concept of how to use context clues to find the meaning of unknown words. All of the vocabulary used is taken from the novel, Charlotte's Web.

1-3 – Context Clues -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/27591/context-clues - The flipchart focuses on context clues. The students read several passages. They have to figure out a word that is covered up by using context clues and picture clues. Erase the shaded part to reveal the word.
3 -5 – Context Clues -   http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/41591/context-clues - e this lesson on context clues to teach the different types of context clues and practice finding the meaning of words.  Sample Testing passages.  

 

Summarizing

2-4 –Summarizing Text -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/42872/learn-to-summarize

2-4 –Summarizing Text -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/78454/learn-to-summarize - Students review and learn how to summarize a nonfiction piece of text by example and using the gradual release of instruction method.

3-5 –Summarizing Text - http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/36249/summarizing - Use to reduce information to essential ideas in order to understand and learn important information.

3-5 –Summarizing Text -  http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/Resources/Item/81566/summary - This flipchart is a lesson on summarizing. It takes kids from doing a quick synopsis into doing an all-out summary - including a rubric that you can easily modify.