Readers

Reader's mind is busy as a highway. So much is happening at the same time. usually we don't see what kind of strategies readers use to make sense of the text. In grade 3 we are learning about what goes on in the head of the reader and then we try to use the same strategies to better understand the texts that we read.

Reader's use their ideas, experiences and background knowledge to understand what they read. 

It is as if when we see a text different areas in our brain light up with different strengths.
We may understand the same text differently because we have different background knowledge.

For example, I showed this book:

C. got very excited because he knew what "Abuela" meant in Spanish. Others found out from the text that it means "grandma." When we read that the granny came from another country, several thought he might have come from Spain, but C. said that granny may have come from Mexico. Ar first we didn't know where the story was taking place, but as soon as the students saw a picture of the Statue of Liberty, they knew that the story took place in New York.

Readers make connections between the text and their own life.

We kept reading about the granny and the girl, and based on our own experience understood how the girl felt about spending time with granny in the park. Later when the students read their individual books, they compared the characters and events and feelings of the story to their own life, looking for similarities and differences.


Readers make text-to-text and text-to-world connections.

Even before reading a book the readers think what they know about different types of texts or about authors to know what to expect and what to pay attention to. When they read the text they think of other similar stories they have read or about what they have hears r seen elsewhere that might help to understand the text and the characters.

For example, I chose this book for a read aloud:

Right away the students said that Kevin Henkes writes about emotions, because we had read about Crysanthemum and Lily who both had had strong emotions. They said that since it was a picture book we had to pay attention to illustrations that may have details not written in words.
When we read the text we thought about our UOI and what we know about what to do when you are nervous or worried.

Readers have to keep their eyes and minds open because sometimes the stories are unexpected.

For example, I read:

One would expect a hungry dragon to steal a princess and a prince to come to a rescue and then everyone living happily ever after. Not in this book. We had surprises in the plot, in the way the characters acted and reacted and how the whole story ended.


We will practice monitoring our thinking. When we discover connections we will decide whether these connections help us to understand the text or they are just superficial similarities.