Overview

The lessons included on this blog were inspired by ideas from Tanny McGregor's book "Comprehension Connections." Click here for an overview of her book and introduction to this blog. When teaching the lessons on this blog, I began with an introduction of metacognition and schema using ideas from Tanny McGregor's book. I then introduced each comprehension strategy using her ideas, followed by 3 lessons in text using the gradual release of responsibility model. Lessons on this blog can be found using the links below:

Unit One: Metacognition
- Lesson One: "Real Reading" salad
- Lesson Two: Thinking bubble with "Flotsam"

Unit Two: Schema/Making Connections
- Introduction: lint roller & nonfiction books
- Lesson One ("I do"): "My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother"
- Lesson Two ("We do"): "Roxaboxen"
- Lesson Three ("You do"): "Boundless Grace"

Unit Three: Questioning
- Introduction: Quinoa & nonfiction books (LLI)
- Lesson One ("I do"): "Owl Moon"
- Lesson Two ("We do"): "Angel for Solomon Singer"
- Lesson Three ("You do"): "Henry's Freedom Box"

Unit Four: Visualizing
- Introduction: "Twas the Night Before Christmas" & SmartBoard with songs/poems
- Lesson One ("I do"): "Mirette on the High Wire"
- Lesson Two ("We do"): "All I See"
- Lesson Three ("You do"): "Salamander Room"

Unit Five: Inferring
- Introduction: "Garbage Bag Mystery" & Promethean flipchart
- Lesson One ("I do"): "Crow Boy"
- Lesson Two ("We do"): "How Many Days to America?"
- Lesson Three ("You do"): "Royal Bee"

Unit Six: Synthesizing
- Introduction: Matryoshka dolls, Gobstoppers during "Snow Day" poem spiral
- Lesson One ("I do"): "Charlie Anderson"
- Lesson Two ("We do"): "Wednesday Surprise"
- Lesson Three ("You do"): "Fishing Day"

Unit Seven: Determining Importance