Have you ever had a student that can read almost any word put in front of them but isn't able to understand what they read? Check out these ideas for working with kiddos that need extra help with understanding what they read.
5 Ways to Improve Comprehension Skills This Summer
Do recreational reading this summer. Focus on getting reading materials that interest each child. So often in school, kids must read what is assigned. Let the kids choose their reading materials
Spend time with your kids asking them basic questions about what they are reading. Some questions you might ask are: a) Who is in the story? b) Who do they like best in the story they are reading and why? c) Where is the story taking place? d) What is happening in the part of the story they just read? e) When is the story happening?
Let the kids express what was in their story by drawing on paper, painting a picture, or drawing on a driveway or sidewalk.
Read stories together with your kids and then discuss them.
If your kids are too young to read yet, start with pictures in a book and ask them who, what, when, and where questions about what they see in the pictures.
Comprehending what is read can be the most difficult piece of the reading process for some. Just as word attack skills begin with phonemes and letters, comprehension needs to be broken down and taught piece by piece to help students make the connection to the message in the text being read.
Picture Comprehension
I like to start all the way back at picture comprehension. I start with pictures kids will enjoy and identify with such as pictures about birthdays, preferred activities, and even pictures about things I know they would like to do. I want the students to connect with the pictures and even connect them with experiences they have had. Here is a picture from a freebie in my store.
In a picture like this, I want to have the student tell me what they see. How much detail can they give me? Can they share what may be happening before or after this picture was taken? Questions I often use that can help elicit information are:
Who is in the picture?
What are they doing?
Where do you think they are?
What do you think is going to happen next?
Transitioning from pictures to print
Once students can grasp what is taking place in the pictures, I transition to pictures with one easy-to-read sentence.
With a sentence such as this one attached, I have the sentence read. Then ask more detailed questions such as:
Who is kicking the ball?
What is the boy in orange doing?
Where do you think the ball is going after it is kicked?
The purpose is using materials such as these is to be able to discuss the background of the picture, the actions of what they see, and the message the picture is bringing to the reader.
Here are a few resources from the store to help with comprehension. Click each picture
Have you ever had a student that can read almost any word put in front of them but isn't able to understand what they read? Check out these ideas for working with kiddos that need extra help with understanding what they read.
We know the beginning of reading is connected to deciphering the letters, sounds, and words otherwise known as decoding or word attack skills. Grasping the entire reading process, we know it also means understanding the message that is being conveyed in the text. This can be the most difficult piece of the reading process for some. Just as word attack skills begin with phonemes and letters, comprehension needs to be broken down and taught piece by piece to help students make the connection to the message in the text being read.
I like to start all the way back at picture comprehension. I start with pictures kids will enjoy and identify with such as pictures about birthdays, preferred activities, and even pictures about things I know they would like to do. I want the students to connect with the pictures and even connect them with experiences they have had.
Here is a picture from my new freebie in my store.
In a picture like this, I want to have the student tell me what they see. How much detail can they give me? Can they share what may be happening before or after this picture was taken? Questions I often use that can help ellicit information are:
Who is in the picture?
What are they doing?
Where do you think they are?
What do you think is going to happen next?
Once students can grasp what is taking place in the pictures, I transition to pictures with one easy to read sentence.
With a sentence such as this one attached, I have the sentence read. Then I can ask more detailed questions such as:
Who is kicking the ball?
What is the boy in orange doing?
Where do you think the ball is going after it is kicked?
The purpose is using materials such as these is to be able to discuss the background of the picture, the actions of what they see and the message the picture is bringing to the reader.
Here is a FREE resource packet from my TpT store that I have used to work on picture and sentence comprehension. Check it out.
Reading comprehension is one of the most essential skills to teach, yet one of the most complex. It is an essential skill, not just in the subject of reading but many other subjects as well.
Sequencing is a key component in comprehension strategies. It helps us find meaning in the text we read, not only as students in reading and school but in a multitude of situations in real life.
What Is Sequencing?
📚 Sequencing is one of the core skills that help us to comprehend and make sense of what we read.
📚 It is identifying the parts of the story, such as what happens first, second,
third and last. 📚 It is the beginning, middle and ending of a story.
When we sequence what is read, we find meaning in what is read by using the details of the text, the order of the events and keywords to make sense of what we read in a larger context.
We use the parts of the text such as beginning, middle and end of the passage as well as keywords in passages such as first, then, later, afterward, finally and in the end, to place the details in order in the bigger scheme of what is being read.
Why is Sequencing Important?
In order to remember things we read and share with others, it's important to be able to tell things in order. Sequencing helps the information be more organized thereby making the retelling easier to understand.
Recalling the information in chunks such as beginning, middle and end makes it easier to tell and remember.
What to do
Integrate sequencing into other areas of your teaching.
Reading
Use great sequencing stories to introduce and practice sequencing.
Here are just a few books that work well to teach, practice and have fun with sequencing. Having taught primary age students for much of my career, one of my favorites is 📚The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
📚Bring the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema 📚If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joff Numeroff
📚There Was An Old Lady Who Swalloweda Fly by Simms Taback
Many of my students had very low reading levels but I still wanted them to be able to sequence events and ideas. We started our work at the picture level. Here is a great simple way to introduce and practice sequencing at the picture level.
Writing
Pick an activity such as cooking or a science experiment. These lend themselves well to using a follow-up activity of putting the steps in order or even retelling how they were done.
Graphic organizers are a great way to begin writing and putting the events of what happened in the activity in order.
Math
Math provides an optimal method of integrating sequencing, math skills, directions and more. Take an easy recipe such as making no bake cookies or jello or putting together a snack.
Perform these with the group, then have them illustrate the steps and the order in which they were done. Its also a great time to emphasize how important order is since often when we put cookies together in the wrong order, the cookies do not turn out well.
Some great recipes I have used for this include:
Rice Krispies treats
Reindeer Poop Cookies - while these cookies may need a different name in your classroom they are great fun.
Here is a great resource for no bake ideas.
Science
Science is an excellent opportunity for working on sequencing skills. Practice sequencing following the steps of an experiment. Work on retelling how the experiment was done. Drawing pictures of the steps of an experiment is an awesome way to integrate science and sequencing.
So you're a special education teacher! You have your elementary class and now you have all these students to teach to read.
Now it comes to deciding and choosing what reading materials you will use with your kids.
How do you pick what to use for your kiddos?
Here are 5 things to consider when choosing reading instructional materials.
Look at your kids' needs. What type of learners are they? Know your students!
What type of disabilities and skills do your students have?
Are they good at memorization?
Do they lack phonetic skills?
Are they strong in vocabulary?
Can they read words fluently?
Do they grasp the meaning of the content they read?
Do they require extensive repetition to grasp concepts?
Are your students good at word calling(i.e, reading the word but not knowing the meaning)?
Keep these answers in mind when you select your materials.
2. Assess your students if you don't know the answers to these questions. This assessment could be formal or informal. I usually started by administering a sight word test.
This can be as easy as a checklist of the sight vocabulary your students need to learn. I frequently used Dolch or Fry, but sometimes I was required to use our districts word lists. Completing an assessment such as this can give a great picture not only about what words they know but how they approach decoding words.
3. Look for the reading components that match your student needs. What do you need the materials to include and focus on?
4. Consider that fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, phonics and phonemic awareness are crucial components of any reading program. They all play an important role in a good reading course.
5. Look at each student and determine what area(s) they need to focus on the most. Decide which series, programs will answer each students needs the most.
Let's look at just a few of the more common reading programs available that you could consider using.
Great for kids with good memorization skills.
This is an excellent program for students with special needs as it provides repetitive lessons that can be a valuable teaching strategy when working with kids with special needs. In my experience, Edmark works well with kids that learn whole words better than phonics.
I love the direction cards, the repitition and hand on materials in this program. They have take home materials and extra practice worksheets. Edmark also includes a technology portion of the program which can be helpful for kids needing reinforcement. The Edmark materials includes easy to use data sheets that work well to keep track of what lesson the student is on but also words missed in each lesson. These also serve as a great way to record data. Edmark is great for kids needing an instant gratification that they CAN READ.
PCI Reading Program is a superb choice for kids needing to work on transition from individual words to sentences and comp. This research-based program focuses on teaching sight words not only from the more common Fry and Dolch lists but it also incorporates real world words. Integrated in these materials are sight word lessons presented through repitition followed by hands on practice. By the time the students complete just level 1, they have mastered 140 sight words.
One of the great things about this program is the way they introduce 5 sight words which are quickly followed by stories that enable the kids to practice the previous 5 words plus others they have learned before.
This is another great program that includes excellent worksheets and data recording sheets
This is a wonderful methodical program that focuses on decoding and comprehension. It is geared to start at 3rd grade.
This program has a great comprehension strand. It focuses on writing it thinking it and speaking it. The decoding sportion emphasizes vocabulary and structure of language.
This another great product with detailed progress and data tracking all built into it.
Reading Mastery is another program that has been around for quite awhile and for good reason. It combines fluency, phonics, phonetic awareness, word decoding and comprehension into a package that works. The materials in this program are comprehensive and take a bit of organization, but once you settle on your organizational plan for it, you are set. The data tracking and progress monitoring includes detailed
This program encompasses not only reading but writing, language and spelling as well.
The presentation of this program is highly scripted and some people have experienced difficulty with it, but I found it highly functional as the student could predict the questions.
Spell Read focuses on phonological fluency and reading fluency. It is a 1-year program for students that are 2 or more years behind in reading level. This program is a highly structured sequenced program that helps students learn sound knowledge, how to analyze sounds and how to blend them.
The questioning technique of what is read in the program helps ensure the students are comprehending what is read. The written responses to what is read augment the synthesization of decoding and comprehension in this great program.
There are many restrictions we experience in the selection of materials to use with our kids. Sometimes our school boards dictate what we must use. We sometimes must heed the direction of our building administration or Special Education department. I have often found in my experience of material selection that if I have the research to back it up, they are often open to listening and considering of new materials.
What programs do YOU use in your classrooms? Share your favorites.
Teaching reading to kids with special needs often requires pulling out all the tricks we have in our "bags" in order to see progress. I often find comprehension to be a particularly difficulty piece of teaching reading to get across to kids.
Today I wanted to share with you an idea I have used that has worked with my kids over the years.
No matter what I used teaching reading skills, I always made sure I have the four main strategies included in my reading instruction.
Research has shown that these four techniques are effective especially for comprehension instruction. They are direct explanation, modeling, guided practice and application. Briefly these instruction steps are as follows:
Direct explanation
The teacher tells the students why the strategy being worked on will help comprehension. she/He also explains when to apply the strategy.
Modeling
The teacher models how to apply the strategy while demonstrating using the text that is being used by the students.
Guided Practice
In guided practice the teacher guides and helps the students as they are working to know how and when to apply the strategy.
Application
The students apply and practice what has been taught until they can do it independently.
One way to work on main idea is through the use of graphic organizers. One of my favorite organizers for main idea is an ice cream cone graphic.
Have the student read a story or read it to them.
Discuss the story and explain and model how you would take sentences and determine which ones contain main idea and which contain details. Think aloud as you make your decisions so the students can "see" how you come to the answers you use. On this graphic organizer, place the main idea in the cone and a detail in each scoop of ice cream.
In the next lesson, use the same organizer and read or read a different story to the students. Discuss the story and guide them as they make their decisions about main idea and details. Discuss everyone answers so everyone can correct their answers and understand the reasons for the correct answers.
Finally, use a third story on the same level and readability but this time let the students complete the graphic organizer themselves as they apply what they have learned in the previous lessons.
Here is an example of how the ice cream cone graphic organizer might look for the following paragraph.
Dogs need special care.
You have to take dogs for walks everyday.
You feed your dog so they stay happy and healthy.
You play with the dog frequently.
I have included a free downloadable of the file in my TpT store. Click my logo below to take you there.
How do you deal with Halloween in special education classroom? You might have 6 students or 7 or 8. Perhaps you have more with 12, 13 , 14? And with each one of those students often comes multiple special needs; many of them have allergies, some are on special diets such as a gluten free diet, or sugar-free diet. What do you do for Halloween when you have so many different needs to meet?
I had multiple students on different diets, other students that had food allergies, yet we still wanted to have fun at Halloween in Ms Reeve's classroom. How can you have the typical party with all these special requests and needs?
This happened to me for several years so I partnered up with parents so that we could give the kids a great experience. First, I asked each parent to submit a short list of 5 things their child could and would eat. Items they were not allergic to, enjoy. It could be a Halloween treat or another item if they preferred. I ok'd all the other items with each parent for their child and from there I began to "build" my Halloween party.
Once we had all the edible items straighten out, the rest was easy. First I set up the Halloween story area. Our school had strict rules about what we could do for Halloween so I had to adhere to those. A few of the books I used was How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow by Wendell Minor
Another book I loved to use was
Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann
My all-time favorite book is, was and perhaps always will be:
It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
by Charles M. Schulz
All three of these books and many more lend themselves to quick, fun reading in a group and then you can use them for comprehension activities or acting out activities...perfect for a party.
The next activity was taking the story we read and putting it into sequencing order with pre-drawn pictures. The kids loved coloring and putting the pictures together on the back of an orange paper plate.
On the front of the plate we made a pumpkin/jack o' lantern face.
For eating, most of the time, we were able to work it out so everyone had their own item to eat and a choice of one other item. The kids loved all the activities so much. All the activities were spaced out around the classroom at different center tables.
Teaching comprehension skills to students with disabilities is often a very challenging concept to teach. We all know that comprehension is the reason we read. We aren't really reading without understanding what we read. I have come across many students in my years of teaching that have excellent word calling or decoding skills, but extremely limited comprehension skills. It is often easy to assume that students who can read words are understanding what they read. I have had more children that are excellent word decoders or word readers than I have had kids who have good comprehension in my special education classes. How do we help them?
Today I want to start a series of posts on comprehension skills in the special education class. Today I thought we'd start where I usually start with my students - the WH questions, WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE.
Here are 3 things I do when teaching WH questions.
1)
First, start working with pictures then gradually move to simple sentences using the WH questions. I always start with a simple picture. Select a basic picture without extraneous activity in it. Can the student express in some way what is happening in the picture? Who is in the picture? What are they doing? Using a picture that depicts a common activity in the student often takes part in is very useful. A picture of student saying the Pledge of Allegiance or playing outside at P.E. What is happening in the picture? Where is the person in the picture? These are also good questions to pose and can all lead you to determining where the student is functioning in comprehension. By eliminating the text and using pictures, you are focusing just on the basic information.
2) Use of a visual prompting card for the information you are asking is often beneficial. If you were asking about who is in the picture then a card with the word who and pictures of people might help them to understand what type of information you want them to give you. If you were asking about WHEN something is happening in the picture for instance if it is a picture of somebody eating breakfast then on the prompting card you might have a calendar or a clock or an hour glass in order to queue them in a little bit better regarding what information you're asking for. Here is an example of one I have used.
For the WHAT question I use a visual of things such as desk, pencil, backpack. For the WHEN Question I use a visual of a clock, a calendar, a watch to symbolize that when answers are going to address time.
3) Use picture cue cards for answers to the questions that you're asking for the comprehension. For instance, if you're asking who is getting on the bus for a picture of a person getting on a bus then you might have 2 or 3 choice cards from which the student can select the correct answer. This is extremely helpful when you have a student with limited verbal ability or often with students who have issues with extended processing time.
Next Comprehension skill:
Sequencing with first, next, last
When you look at reading programs for special education classrooms, especially those for students with significant disabilities, two programs immediately pop up. So please join me as we take a quick look at both of these programs.
One program is Edmark Reading Program. It has been around since 1972 and is well liked by many special education teachers. Another program that comes to mind is PCI Reading Program. This program is fairly new starting around 2009 . Both of these of these programs are excellent materials to use when teaching reading to students with disabilities. Both have significant strengths and only a few differences.
As a Special Education teacher of students with significant disabilities for the last 12 years, I have used both of these program extensively and have seen both of them work their "magic" in teaching students with disabilities how to read. I say "magic" because it almost seems like that sometimes. It NEVER gets old watching a child's eyes light up when they realize they CAN READ a word for the first time. Its a lot of hard work, of course on the student and the teacher's part, but there is THAT moment when, that" light bulb" goes on and you can almost see it turn on within the child. They are proud of themselves and they WANT to learn more.
A lot of times when you speak with teachers, you find they have great allegiance to one or the other of these programs. Sometime teachers have a choice as to what program to use but other teachers must use what is provided to them by their school or district.
I am different. I adore both, have used both extensively and feel both have their place in our world of working with students with disabilities. I used Edmark extensively for many years until PCI Reading was introduced in our county and we were instructed to use PCI as our primary materials as it followed our standards closely and use Edmark as a backup, supplemental program.
WHO ARE THESE PROGRAMS FOR?
Before we start, lets start with a couple of similarities between the two programs.
Both are designed for use and work well with students with developmental disabilities and autism as well as students with significant learning disabilities.
They both have extensive research to back their use.
They both use an errorless approach to teaching the materials to students. This means student have a high rate of success and can see themselves as successful readers. Built into both of them is a spiraling repetitive teaching sequence of the content that helps ensure students a successful learning experience. They both focus on giving students a solid foundation of common base vocabulary upon which students can build their reading skills. Both PCI and Edmark teach a highly structured set of words with sequential teaching steps broken into small increments to increase the learners' success. Here is a quick look at a few factors of both programs.
Let's look at each one separately for a moment.
Edmark
When a student successfully completes Level 1, they have usually progressed from nonreader to being able to read approximately 1.0 GE materials.
The words taught in the Edmark program include words that can invoke an image. Words such as ball, car, airplane, him, you, milk, and zoo.
The approach used in Edmark is basically a sight word approach is an alternative to learning to read with phonics.
The systematic and repetitive program steps allows students especially those with significant disabilities to become successful readers
Edmark has a software component that once taught, can often be used independently by students.
Edmark also has a manageable systematic record keeping with lesson by lesson and word by word tracking that provides way to record reteaching.
Sight words used in the program are primarily for grades K-3 but that doesn't mean the student will be reading on grade level 3 when they have successfully learned the words.
The Edmark Reading Program provides motivation
by breaking learning into steps that ensure
even the poorest readers achieve over 90 percent correct
answers. This approach eliminates incorrect
responses and leads students to see themselves as
“readers” rather than “nonreaders.”
Four instructional formats are used throughout
the program: Word Recognition, Direction Cards, Picture/Phrase Cards, and a Story Book. Level 1
teaches the student 150 basic sight words plus endings
(-s, -ed, -ing). Level 2 extends the
learning by teaching an additional 200 words, plus
compound words.
Basic literal comprehension skills are taught through pictures, and directions cards.
Edmark's comprehension is very basic literal comprehension skills and very useful for beginning readers. Here is an example of a Level 2 comprehension lesson in Edmark.
PCI
The PCI Reading Program works on a 5 word cycle then assess. This program includes errorless discrimination, positive reinforcement, a controlled vocabulary with tactile reinforcement. It also has a great software component.
It systematic record keeping is very concise, easy to track, quick to complete and tracks reteaching extremely well.
PCI teaches 140 words in level 1 and the students can read a book after just 5 words are mastered.
The words taught in PCI come from the Dolch and Fry lists and include more words that cannot be tied to an image in isolation, such as is, as, do, to or as well as more common words that can be connected to an image making it easier to remember.
PCI includes phonics and phonemic awareness in the teaching of their materials.
One of the places these two programs differ is in the treatment of comprehension, phonics and phonemic awareness. Level 3 in PCI takes the words learned in levels 1 and 2 and expands that learning into word analysis, and decoding while still expanding the students vocabulary and controlling the words in what is read. Level 3 also introduces students to new genres of nonfiction, and poetry while integrating writing, fluency and comprehension.
Here is a video showing you some of the components in the PCI Reading program.While this video came out in 2009 when Level 1 was brand new, they now have levels 2 and 3 out.
WHEN: It starts at midnight Sunday 9/7/14 and lasts just 24 hours.
You will find activities for a variety of reading skills that include letter names, sounds, phonics, word analysis, comprehension, rhyming, sight words, and vocabulary. There are activities for math that include number concepts, greater than less than, colors, money, touch numbers, telling time, color words and decomposing numbers. You will also find activities for writing words and sentence construction.
2. Browse the store until your heart's content and find the perfect item or items for you.
3. Purchase the items you have chosen.
4. Choose an item of equal or lesser value for EACH ITEM just purchased. Email your TPT username PLUS the name of the BOGO items you would like to maryann412@me.com. I will send you a free copy of the item of your choice. VOILA!! Buy One Get One!!!
Strong readers are those that are able to decode new words among other things. Good readers learn new words by comparing them to known words instead of sounding out individual phonemes each time. Learning spelling patterns is one way to increase their proficiency in reading words. In my classroom right now, we are concentrating on word families and chunks.
I want them to be able to recognize chunks of letters or the word families quickly and easily. If they can read bad, had and sad, they should then be able to generalize that knowledge to mad, glad and even keypad.
Some student have difficulty generalizing or seeing patterns such as are evident in word families, so they often need extra practice. So this week I am trying a new activity I created for word families. And I'm sharing it with you. I hope you find it useful, too.
Be sure and check back tomorrow for your Marvelous Monday Freebie.
Its the little things sometimes that get noticed and work so well in a classroom of special education students. Don't get me wrong, general education classrooms need to work well also, and the little things count there too, but in special education, the littlest things can make or break a day sometimes. Sometimes its colors of chairs, pencils, who touches your lunch box or moves your chair.
This summer I found a simple, but cool pin on Pinterest. It was one of those things that seemed so simple, it was like "How did I not think of this before?"
When school rolled around and my tennis ball solution for my chair and table legs scraping on the tile floors began to be a problem because the balls were falling off the legs when the chairs were moved, I remembered this pin. While I cannot claim this as an original idea, I have modified it and wanted to share it with all of you.
An idea of putting felt booties or socks as we call them in my room has been the BEST thing since sliced bread.
They are quiet, easy to install, economical and easy to replace if they get too dirty. My tennis balls were so dirty. I had tried to dress them up by drawing faces on them but it really didn't help. The cuts in them were expanding and I needed something different.
Here's how I did them.
1. Materials:
1- 9" x 12" piece of felt cut into 4 equal pieces.
1 zip tie at least 7 inches long (length helps in ease of fastening) Mine would work with a 4 inch zip tie, but it took longer to get it fastened and secured. Depends on your chair leg circumference also.
Pair of scissors to cut felt.
chair socks
2. Turn the chair upside down and cover one leg glider with one piece of felt.
3. Use a zip-tie and fasten it around the felt and pulled tightly to secure.
4. Cut off any loose end of the zip-tie.
5. Spread out the felt as seen with the yellow sock on the right in the picture above. You can choose to leave it gathered like the purple sock on the left.
The possibilities are endless I think as to what you could do with these. I did several color variations in my classroom just to add pizazz and to satisfy certain color preferences of a couple of my students.
We have a couple of chairs with football team colors, one chair with all pink feet and chair socks coordinated according to the location in the room to which they belong such as the reading table, computer center or individual centers.
Coordinated Center Chair socks
I have several center areas specified by color. You can see by the picture to the right how I color coordinated the center colors with the chair socks. This red center table has red tape around the edges. The chairs have red tape on the back to designate the chair belongs at that particular center and NOW, the chair at the red center has red chair socks. All color coordinated!!!
Over the years I've tried many things on chair legs but so far this is my favorite. Sometimes simple is the best!
Last week I showed you a preview of a product I was working on for my students to improve reading comprehension. It has simple 1 sentence text with basic WH questions. This activity has limited clip art so as not to distract from the content and includes answer prompts that can be cut out and placed in the answer square or they can left intact on the card and used as a worksheet. They can even be laminated and then you can use wipe off markers for students to draw a line from the answer space to the correct answer.
So as promised, just for you, my blog readers, here is a FREE sample of this new product.
Its a SALE! Its a SALE! Its a SALE! Its a SALE!
Are you still needing those last few things to make your classroom complete? Check out Superteach56's TPT store! I am having a SALE this week! 15% discount on practically everything. Be sure to check it out! Sale starts Tuesday September 24th through Friday, September 27th. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Superteach56
Don't forget our friends over at Manic Monday as well! Check them out for all the great freebies. I"m posting early this week but Manic Monday won't live until tomorrow so come back and visit again.
