Summary

Harcourt, Inc.

Reading Strategies ~ Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey

In Strategies That Work, Harvey & Goudvais describe several techniques for teaching reading comprehension strategies.  These strategies are useful for fully appreciating and understanding fictional texts that incorporate informational elements. These comprehension strategies include accessing prior knowledge, predicting, questioning, making connections, visualizing, inferencing, using text structure to identify major ideas, paraphrasing, clarifying, summarizing, and creating pictures and graphs. 

Strategies are most effectively taught when they are introduced one at a time, with the teacher explaining directly what the strategy is, how to use it, and when it is appropriate.  It is important to do this within the context of real reading for meaning so that students will learn the importance of using these strategies for comprehension. Explicit explanation and practice (of comprehension strategies) in connected reading are the best ways for children to become strategic readers.  To learn more about explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies to students, visit the Put Reading First site. 

As you incorporate several reading comprehension strategies when working with a story, you may want to teach students about the OWL strategy (O- what do you observe or notice? W- what do you wonder?  L- link it to your life).  Click here to learn more about OWL and access a poster you can use in your classroom. 

Picture Walk

• Before showing students the book, ask them what comes to mind when they hear the word Worms.
• Record all responses on chart paper and ask, “What made you think of that?”  This is a good way to assess students’ prior knowledge about worms. 
• If you find that students do not have a lot of background knowledge about worms, visit:

Herman the Worm’s website at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/
Worm World at http://yucky.discovery.com/noflash/worm/index.html

• Look at the cover of the book and ask students what they think the story will be about.

• Go through story with students, showing them only the illustrations.  Some teachers prefer to cover the text during picture walks- this can be done with sticky notes.  Ask students, “What do you think this page is telling us about worms/about the worm family?”  “What makes you think that?”  “Is this something that we need to add to our list?”

Reading the story

• Primary- take the opportunity to reinforce concepts of print: what is on the cover?  (title, author, illustrator, illustration), title page (what do we call this page?), first page (where do we begin reading?  Top to bottom, left to right progression). 
• During the reading of the story, stop 2-3 times at specific points to assess comprehension by asking questions or thinking aloud together.  (Visit this page to learn more about Think Alouds.) 

Some sample questions/think alouds:

1.        Why do you think the neighbors didn’t like the worm family?

2.       This reminds me of the time when I moved and the new neighbors weren’t very friendly…  This models the Making Connections strategy.  See the Text Connections Graphic Organizer that intermediate teachers can use with students.

3.       On the pages where the worm family “collapses limp as a string”- How do you think the worm family feels?  How do you know?

4.       Why do you think the worm family keeps moving on?  Why do you think they keep singing their song?

5.       On the page where Mother says, “Chins Up!”- think aloud, “I wonder why Mother said that?”  This models both thinking aloud and the Questioning strategy. 

• When you’re finished reading the story, ask students what their favorite parts of the story were.  Ask for connections that they made while you were reading.  Remember there are several kinds of connections they might make: text-text, text-self, text-world.
• There are several themes that can be discussed after reading this book:
                      family, self-esteem, prejudice, moving, worms

Summarize

Summarize the story together using a graphic organizer such as:

1. Story Map
2. Summary Notes (intermediate)
3. Story Map/Book Report- several great ones located at Enchanted Learning.  Remember, we have a school subscription to Enchanted Learning so that you can access/print these out.  If you have forgotten the password, check the password list flyer that you were given in your Media Center orientation packet during pre-planning. 
4. Story Map for Narrative Text

Writing Strategies ~ 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham

“Rejoice in who you are!  Rejoice in who everyone else is!” 

The Worm Family is the story of a very proud family of worms, searching for a place to call home.  But they meet some resistance from their new neighbors along the way, and their family pride is tested.  Through it all, they rejoice in their very worminess, and we learn how important it is to stay true to ourselves. 

Here are a few definitions that will help your students to better understand the story...

• valises – French word for suitcases
• rollicked - played about happily
• wince – to shrink back, as from pain
• dinky – very small and unimpressive
• spectacles - glasses
• blustered – talked in a noisy, boastful way
• flustered – nervous and unsure
• regaled - entertained
• jubilate - celebrate

* Teaching the Traits * 

Teaching Word Choice:  “Word Fun” ~ Adapted from 6+1 Traits for the Primary Grades & 6+1 Traits 

The Worm Family is chock full of fun, very descriptive, precise words that will inspire your students to perk up their own Word Choice!  To help your students increase their writing vocabulary, you can create a list of “fun” words to use!  You can either maintain the list as a class, or have your students create a list in their writing folders.  Begin the lesson by dividing your list into several categories.  Here are a few to get you started… 

               *  Funny Words                      *  Strange Words                    *  Hairy Words
               *  Splendid Words                 *  Size Words                          *  Warm Fuzzy Words
               *  Tasty Words                      *  Bug Words                           *  Mean Words
               *  Worst Words                     *  Food Words                                   

As your students discover new words in their reading or in class discussions, ask them to add them to the list.  The Worm Family is a great source to get your lists started!  Then encourage your students to use those words in their own writing.   

The Worm Family Words

You can also make this lesson a little more grammar-focused by using parts of speech for the titles of the word categories
 

• Worms are an important part of the recycling process.  Visit the website, Worm World, to learn about composting, read an interview of Eddie the Earthworm, watch a video clip of a baby earthworm being born, and take an earthworm quiz!

• Follow the The Adventures of Herman the Worm and learn how to make a worm bin, worm facts, and enjoy the many interactive links along the way!

• Start an add-on story about worms using this site as a guide.

• Know any good worm songs?  If not, click on the Worm Songs link - students can follow along with the audio clip to sing some great worm tunes!

• If you need more "wormy" information, check these books out from our media center:
  Wormology (592 ROS) by Michael Elsohn Ross; The Life Cycle of an Earthworm (592 KAL) by Bobbi Kalman; Toil in the Soil (592 LAC) by Michelle Myers Lackner; Compost Critters (591.52 LAV) by Bianca Lavies; and Earthworms (592 PAS) by Elaine Pascoe.  And, of course, don't forget Diary of a Worm (E CRO) by Doreen Cronin!

• Check out the great Bill Nye the Science Guy video titled Invertebrates found at PRO 592 INV.

• Use the "Can o'Worms" measurement activity on page 4 in the April 2005 issue of AIMS magazine.  Students will use rulers and paper clips to measure yarn "worms" and then construct play dough worms that are specific lengths.

• Want to do an experiment with real worms?  Learn about the habits of worms and light by doing the "Worm Watch" activity on page 56 in the March/April 2007 Instructor magazine.  Students can then show their results by creating a graph in Graph Club!