10/29/08 Comprehension: Making Predictions

Part 1 (Daily Reading Homework): your child needs to read at least 20 minutes every night. Below, please record what they read, how long they read for and then initial it. Thanks!

Part 2 (Reading Comprehension): One of the main focuses of our year has been reading comprehension. Simply reading a book, article, or passage isn’t enough. Readers need to be able to re-tell what they’ve read in their own words!  Tonight your student is reading another short passage about bats. We’ve previously studied bats so they already have some knowledge to start with. After they read the passage then need to answer 4 simple questions about the passage. There is explicit and implicit information available to help your student answer the questions. Explicit means that the information is written on the page. Implicit means that they figure out their answer from clues provided on the page. Readers need to constantly check for implicit and explicit information. See if your child can readily figure out the main idea of the article. Can they use clues to figure out what kind of book the article is from? Can they finish the chart at #4 with a good title? Do they know what a myth is?

Part 3 (Your Turn to Write #8, Predictions): Your student did some pre-writing today with YTTW #8. I am sending it home again. I’d like them to make it even neater and better. We will be using YTTW #8 in class tomorrow to write a paragraph dealing with making predictions, the clues that help us make predictions, and outcomes. I have already assigned each pre-writing a letter grade. Please go over your student’s work and make sure they understand what we are doing. Even if your child’s YTTW #8 is already wonderful it can still be made neater.  Here is an example of the kind of paragraph they'll be expected to write tomorrow from the pre-writing exercise YTTW #8:

Part 4 (Minute Math): Minute Math is a daily activity. It is not due until Friday.