Scenario:My kindergarten class of 22 children ages 5 to 6 are working on learning how to comprehend from what they are reading. They have recently accomplished to learn how to predict the story before, during, and after. The students really got this activity and loved being able to predict what they thought was going to take place. I allowed them to get in front of the class to let them tell the predictions and they loved it.So now it is time that they learn a fluent way of comprehension with the predictions that they made. Think-aloud is the most effective way a teacher can model all the effective comprehension strategies a fluent reader uses to gain meaning from the printed page. I have a group of struggling readers that I have to reach. So I decided that I would use the think-aloud mystery strategy. In the think-aloud variation, a small group of children will work together to identify the “mystery” solution as they read a short passage written beforehand by me on sentence strips. They look at one sentence strip at a time and work together in the group for a “think-aloud” discussion. They are trying to find the evidence that is discussed on the sentence strip. The teacher will help them to provide higher thinking comprehension questions. Of course we will be integrating Pete the Cat theme book.
Benefits:This activity should help the children to discuss what is going on in their minds when they are trying to comprehend what they have read.