QAR Reading Comprehension Strategy {Tried it Tuesday}

Before I get to the QAR post today I'd like to take just a minute to say thank you to all the wonderful teacher bloggers I've met through this blog. I can't express how much I appreciate you sharing your ideas and classrooms with me and all the comments and support you've given me! I've learned so much through this blog in such a short time and its all because of you - THANK YOU! 

Second, I am thrilled about the TPT sale that starts today. I keep browsing, adding things to my wish list and then moving them to my cart! I'm so excited to shop and get some great new products for next year! 

Now that I've gotten all that off my mind I can tell you about my Tried it Tuesday this week. I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper to share a reading strategy I've been trying out in my classroom. 

I had the privilege of participating in a grant-funded professional development called Leading in Reading. We met 5 times in the fall and learned about some new strategies we could try in our classroom. The group I was in focused on comprehension strategies and that's how I was introduced to Question Answer Relationships. 

When it came time for the team from my school to choose a strategy to implement we went with QAR;. The strategy is pretty simple. You teach kids that there are 4 basic types of questions: 

1. Right There - you can put your finger on the answer in the text

2. Search and Find - you can put your finger on the answer but you will need to use two or more fingers (answer in more than one place) 

3. Author and Me - this when you use what the author told you and what you know to answer the question (inference, conclusion, etc)

4. On My Own - don't need to read the text to answer the question

Here are some posters we created as I was introducing this strategy. 

To introduce the strategy I asked how we get the answers to questions and we came up with two ways - in our head or in the book - that's where the two categories (and posters) come in. We then read a book called Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman. I used the book to model how I would create questions for the 4 different types. Then, students worked on small passages with partners for several days and finally on their own. 

As you would expect, the Right There and Search and Find questions were pretty easy for students to identify and also create themselves, but the Author and Me questions were much more challenging. We had to spend some extra time on creating our own Author and Me questions, but it was time well spent. I feel like QAR has really helped develop my students' ability to formulate good, "thick" questions. 

As a part of our work with the grant we had to do a pre and post test and we saw a 5% increase in pass rates on the comprehension test after we taught this strategy. I thought that was a pretty good return for a strategy that is easy to teach and the kids really thought it was fun too! 

Have you tried QAR before? Any tips of teaching the strategy and using it in the classroom? 

Context Clues {Tried it Tuesday}

Last week we talked about context clues AGAIN. Anyone else have kiddos that just can't seem to get the hang of this? 

This time I had my students write sentences that contained context clues. I had students work with their talking partner on this activity. I created a list of 8 words before the lesson (previous vocabulary words) and pairs chose their word from that list. Each pair was assigned a specific type of clue to use in their sentence and they got to work! 

I had never really considered reversing the roles and having students do the writing, but I do think it made them more conscious of how and when authors use context clues in their writing. It was a bit challenging for them at first because it caused them to think in a new way, but we worked on it for two short mini-sessions and they finally got the hang of it. This is definitely an activity I'll do next year when I introduce context clues and then continue to build on it from there. 





Here are the anchor charts we created after the activity. They came up with some decent sentences considering this was their first time. 















The idea (and others we did throughout the week) came from this book from Scholastic.

I'm liking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for another wonderful Tried it Tuesday! 

Ideas for Teaching Sequence

This week was the last week of instruction before we begin our 5 week-long review for THE TEST. We have discussed sequence a number of times while studying other skills, but I decided to take the week and focus in on just that skill. 

We started the week with an activity from the Reading A-Z comprehension skill packets. We read an article about the Titanic together, circled the clue words, and then put the events in order. Then students worked with their talking partners to read an article about Albert Einstein and do the same thing. I really liked the passages for this activity because the events were out of chronological order, so that led to a discussion about how authors sometimes use an important event to hook their readers. 

Partners hard at work on their A-Z passages. 

Next, we started working on a writing piece using sequencing words. Last weekend I found this Spring Break writing activity from The Techie Teacher and thought it would be perfect since this was our first week back from Spring Break. The graphic organizer that went along with this freebie was really helpful and the cars turned out great!  We've been getting lots of compliments on them from other teachers in the building.

Cuteness: My favorite writing said something to effect of, "Then, my mom said she wasn't leaving the house again." LOL I can so remember my mom saying that and I have definitely thought that myself a time or two! 

In our small groups we worked on some test taking strategies using a workbook called Ladders to Success 2. It was good practice for them because my kiddos seem to rush through sequencing questions and often times get them wrong because they "think" they remember the answer and don't go back to check.

We finished out the week by reading one of my favorite books, The Great Fuzz Frenzy! If you haven't read "The Fuzz" you've got to get your hands on a copy - it is too cute! 

After reading through the book once I gave everyone a 1/4 piece of paper to take notes on and we skimmed through the book again. I told them we were going to be writing the sequence of events and they needed to take a few notes to help them remember what had happened. Of course, some students wrote enough to cover every inch of that little paper, so this was a good place to have a reminder about determining the importance of details/events. 

I then gave them this flow chart I found online at Freeology. I'd never heard of this site before this week and it has some pretty neat FREE stuff on there. After we filled in the flow chart students used it to help create a summary of the book. 

Overall I felt like we had a very successful week with sequencing. What are some of your favorite activities to use when teaching the skill? 

Reivew: Comprehension Skills Packets from Reading A-Z

I love to find teaching resources that are relevant, ready to use and don't require a lot of prep time. It was love at first site when I found these Comprehension Skill Packets from Reading A-Z. These are going to be perfect for review.

I know Reading A-Z is a paid site, but there are some sites that I think are well worth the investment and A-Z is one of them!

Here is a screen shot of the first page you'll see when you get to the packets so you can read a little more about what they've got to offer.

 

The packets cover a wide range of reading skills and are for grades 1-5. Each packet has a lesson plan, projectable passage for whole group practice, and a projectable/printable passage for independent practice. 

Here is another screen shot from the fourth grade section...just a quick view of a few of the topics available.

I recently used the Compare and Contrast Skills Packet to review with my students and I thought it was a great success. Everyone was engaged, the stories were interesting, and I felt like the suggestions in the lesson plan were useful and relevant. 

If you don't have a subscription to Reading A-Z you can click here for a link to a 7 day free trial.

In addition to the Comprehension Skills Packet, the site offers leveled readers with lesson plans, activities, and comprehension tests.  It is an excellent resource and one that I would highly recommend!

Have you tried any of the skills packets? What did you think?