A QUICK GUIDE to COMPREHENDING LITERATURE J. Comer- COLUMBIA ELEM. 6Th Grade English/Language

A QUICK GUIDE to COMPREHENDING LITERATURE J. Comer- COLUMBIA ELEM. 6th Grade English/Language Arts A Parent’s Guide to talking to their Child about Reading.

WHAT IS A CLOSE READ? 1. Careful attention to the text; rereading for understanding 2. Looking back in the story and finding evidence 3. Looking at the word choices that the author uses to tell the story and how the sentences are put together to build the story meaning. 4. STAY FOCUSED ON THE MEANING WHILE YOU ARE READING. Do not let distractions cause you to misunderstand the story. Pay attention to what you are reading and when you get to a point where you are not understanding, stop and reread. 5. After you read and are explaining the story’s meaning, use evidence from the story to justify your answers.

These are the basic literature standards your child will be expected to show mastery of and how you can help them “prepare” for what literature they are reading. ( Example: realistic fiction, fiction (make-believe), poems, historical fiction, fables, tall tales, legends, myths, mysteries, etc. This can be used with any story with characters, a sequence of events, a plot and an ending.)

For each weekly lesson, we generally focus on ONE of these anchor standards for our instructional lessons. However, the goal is for students to develop into thoughtful readers who integrate all of these strategies naturally, as they are reading daily.

WORDS IN BOLD are EXPLANATIONS of what the reading terms mean. ANCHOR STANDARD Reading Skills Focus Questions the reader should be able to answer 6 th Graders will be able to:  Reading Comprehension after reading the story carefully: Read closely to determine what  Draw inferences 1.Why did the author write this text? the text says explicitly (RIGHT  Cite specific examples and 2.What inferences can you make? THERE IN THE TEXT) and to make 3.What information would you need to support logical inferences from it; (DECIDE details to support WHAT THE MEANING IS BASED inferences the inference? ON WHAT YOU READ and WHAT  Analyze the text. 4.Analyze the passage. What can you conclude? YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE 5.When you analyze the text, what inference can TOPIC.) you make? 6.How does the text evidence support your *Cite specific textual evidence conclusion? (LOOK FOR PROOF IN THE TEXT) 7.What was the author’s purpose? when writing or speaking to 8.What can you conclude from the text? support conclusions drawn from the text. (WHAT DID YOU LEARN BASED ON WHAT YOU READ?) Words to know: *TEXT EVIDENCE means you can find the exact details in the passage you just read.  Analyze *INFERENCE means you think about what the author wrote and what you know to make sense  Explicit of what you read.  Inference *”WHAT DO YOU CONCLUDE?” means “What did you find out that it meant?  Textual evidence *ANALYZE the TEXT means read slowly and thoughtfully, rereading to clear up any confusion and to discover the author’s message or reason for writing the story.  Conclude  Author’s purpose WORDS IN BOLD are EXPLANATIONS of what the reading terms mean. ANCHOR STANDARD Reading Skills Focus Questions the reader should be able to answer 6 th Graders will be able to:  Reading Comprehension after reading the story carefully: Determine the central idea or  Make inferences 1.What is a life lesson from the story? themes of a text and analyze their  Recognize and analyze 2.What event best captures the theme? development. themes 3.How can you best summarize the text? Summarize the key supporting  Understand symbolism 4.Is your summary free from personal opinions details and ideas.  Support theme or idea or judgments? with details from the text.  Summarize  Understand the difference between fact and opinion or judgment. Words to know: *THEME means the overall message of the story.  theme *CENTRAL IDEA means the most important idea that draws your attention to a theme.  central idea *CONVEY means how you are getting others to understand your ideas/answers.  convey *FACT means there is evidence to prove it  details *OPINION means that is what you think *JUDGMENT means what you decide based on the evidence  summarize *DISTINCT FROM means you don’t consider that part  distinct  fact  opinion  judgment

WORDS IN BOLD are EXPLANATIONS of what the reading terms mean. ANCHOR STANDARD Reading Skills Focus The reader (student) should be able to 6 th Graders will be able to:  Describe a plot 1.Summarize the story using key information. Describe how a particular story’s  Sequence a series of 2.Sequence the story . plot unfolds in a series of episodes. episodes in a story 3.Describe how a character evolves with the plot. Describe how characters respond  Identify the problem or change as the plot moves  Summarize 4.Describe the plot. toward a resolution.  Describe how characters 5. Tell how the plot unfolds. change throughout a story 6.Describe the problem. How was it resolved?  Determine the resolution 7. What can you infer about ____? (the to the story character, plot, resolution)  Describe how characters 8.The character’s reactions tell the reader that respond as the plot moves ______. toward resolution 9. At what point in the story did the main character begin to change? Words to know: *INFER means you think about what the author wrote and what you know to make sense of  describe what you read.  plot *PLOT means “What was the whole story about?”  episodes *RESOLUTION means how the problem in the story was solved *PLOT UNFOLDING means how the action happens…what events make up the action?  characters/char. traits *SEQUENCE of the story means what happened first, next, last….  resolution *SUMMARIZE means to tell basic events about what happened from the beginning to the end  dialogue (in order). WORDS IN BOLD are EXPLANATIONS of what the reading terms mean. ANCHOR STANDARD Reading Skills Focus Questions the reader should be able to answer th 6 Graders will be able to:  Understand synonyms after reading the story carefully: Interpret words and phrases used  Understand connotations 1.What does the word ____ mean in the story? in the story.  Understand figurative 2.Without changing the meaning of the sentence, which word can best be used to Analyze how specific word choices language shape the meaning or tone of the  Compare/contrast replace an unknown word? story.  Understand how word 3.Which synonym is closest to the meaning of choice impacts meaning the word ______? and tone 4.Is a feeling or emotion associated with the  Interpret words and word usage? phrases 5. How did the author use word choice to impact  Make inferences the meaning or tone? Words to know: *SYNONYM means words that are similar in meaning  phrases *CONNOTATIONS means the way something was said and how it sounded  figurative language *PERSONIFICATION – giving human abilities to nonhuman objects, animals, or ideas.  connotative meaning Example: The sun’s rays danced through the trees.  analyze *SIMILE – compares 2 things or ideas using “like” or “as” Example: Each glowing  specific splinter of rock on the volcano was like a deadly bullet.  inpact *METAPHOR - a direct comparison that refers to one thing as another. Example:  meaning Blankets of burning ash were smothering the airplanes.  tone *TONE – the feeling of the story  word choice  determine

WORDS IN BOLD are EXPLANATIONS of what the reading terms mean. ANCHOR STANDARD Reading Skills Focus Questions the reader should be able to answer th 6 Graders will be able to:  Identify point of view after reading the story carefully: Explain how an author develops  Explain how the point of 1.How does the author develop the narrator or the point of view of the narrator or view is developed speaker’s point of view? the speaker in the story. 2. How does the author’s word choice help develop the narrator or speaker’s point of view? 3. Who is the narrator? 4. From whose point of view is the story written? 5. How did the author help develop the character’s point of view? Words to know: *POINT OF VIEW – who is seeing the action?  Author *NARRATOR – the speaker who is telling the story and the action  Point of view *FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW – the character is telling the story  Develop THIRD PERSON PONT OF VIEW – the narrator is telling the story  Narrator  Speaker in text WORDS IN BOLD are EXPLANATIONS of what the reading terms mean. ANCHOR STANDARD Reading Skills Focus Questions the reader should be able to answer 6 th Graders will be able to:  Understand after reading the story carefully: Analyze how two or more texts compare/contrast pattern 1.How are _____ and _____ alike? address similar themes or topics in  Recognize text forms and 2.How are _____ and ___ different? order to build knowledge or to 3.What are the genres of each selection? compare the approaches the genres authors take.  Understand how themes 4. What is the topic or theme of each selection? are developed 5.Although the topic/theme of these passages is  Identify text topics similar, how is the presentation different? 6. Why do you think the author used this approach to relay the theme? Words to know: *COMPARE – Tell how things are alike (similarities)  Compare *CONTRAST – tell how things are different (differences)  Contrast *TEXT – what you are reading  Similarities *GENRES – the kind of story or text you are reading (fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, information, etc.)  Differences THEME – the overall message or application to life, life lesson  Text  Genres  Theme  Historical novels  Fantasy  realism