Comprehension: Visualization

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For Parents: Some Online Games that Teach Comprehension Strategies for 1st/2nd Class approximately

In our school there is a Whole School Approach to

learning comprehension using the strategies from

Martin Gleeson’s ‘Building Bridges of Understanding’. 

The following is adapted  for our school

from resources for ‘First Steps’ from the PPDS website.

E =  We Expose , T= We Teach, M = We Maintain.

 
    J.I.   S.I.  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
 Think Aloud  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Prediction  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Visualisation  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Making  Connections  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Questioning    E  T   M  M  M  M M M
 Monitoring  Comprehension:  Clarifying                E  T  M  M  M M M
 Monitoring  Comprehension:  Declunking        E T  M  M M M
 Determining  Importance          E  T  M   M
 Inference          E  T  M  M
 Synthesis              E  T
 Application of  Strategies  E  E  E T  E  T  M  M  M  M

 

The following games will give you an idea

of what many of these strategies involve 

and will give your child a little practice.

 

Though some of these strategies are not

taught formally until the middle and senior

classes, it is good to give your child practice.

 

You might like to concentrate on

one or two strategies a week

from the list of those being covered

in First and Second Class

and gradually build up your child’s skills.

 

1. Prediction: 

Prediction game from Phil Tulga.com

 

2. Visualisation: 

Visualizing activity from Blue Ribbon Readers

 

3. Making Connections: 

Making Connections from Blue Ribbon Games

 

4. Questioning: 

The Questioning Cube from Blue Ribbon Games

 

5. Monitoring Comprehension by clarifying and ‘declunking’

(‘Declunking’ is the process of breaking up a word into syllables

in order to pronounce it correctly and understand its meaning.)

The Fridge Game from Blue Ribbon Readers requires students

to identify confusing words (by monitoring)

and replace them with words

that make sense of the sentence (clarifying)

 

6. Determining Importance:  

Blue Ribbon Readers – The Hamburger Game

 

7. Inferring: 

Inferring using riddles from Phil Tulga.com

and The Detective Game from Blue Ribbon Readers

 

8. Synthesis is a complex process

and is taught in Senior Classes

but here is a simple game that

introduces it from Blue Ribbon Readers

 

You can read more about comprehension strategies here.

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Comprehension: Visualization + Making Connections – Summer Poems: ‘Summer Morning’ by Rachel Field + ‘Sunflakes’ by Frank Asch

Summer Morning

by Rachel Field

I saw dawn creep across the sky,

And all the gulls go flying by.

wham:a different corner
Photo Credit: Lali Masriera via Compfight

I saw the sea put on its dress

Of blue midsummer loveliness,

The forest floor
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Justin Kern via Compfight

And heard the trees begin to stir

Green arms of pine and juniper.

I heard the wind call out and say:

‘Get up, my dear, it is today!’

 

Starburst and Beach Grass On Turquoise free creative commons
Photo Credit: D. Sharon Pruitt via Compfight

Sunflakes

by Frank Asch

If sunlight fell like snowflakes,
gleaming yellow and so bright,
we could build a sunman,
we could have a sunball fight,
we could watch the sunflakes
drifting in the sky.
We could go sleighing
in the middle of July
The Bamboo Forest and some great Twitter Lists to follow
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Trey Ratcliff via Compfight
through sundrifts and sunbanks,
we could ride a sunmobile,
and we could touch sunflakes—
I wonder how they’d feel.
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Visualizing the main characters in Jenny Nimmo’s ‘The Snow Spider’.

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A Visualization based on ‘Winter Song’ by by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

Today we listened to a beautiful song:

 

‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

This is what Matthew drew.

 

‘Winter Song’ was familiar to many of the students

because it is currently being used in an often repeated

advertisement on the television.

 

We studied the lyrics.

We used our imagination

and we sketched some pictures

that the lyrics put into our heads.

 

Then we took a look at a

wonderful animation on Vimeo

to inspire us even further.

‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

 

Initially we used white chalk

on black sugar paper.

Then we added colour.

This is what we did:

 

These are the results:

Winter Pictures in Chalk on PhotoPeach

 

We would love to hear what you think of our artwork.

Do leave a comment.

We would love to hear from you.

If you would like to comment,

please double click

‘Continue Reading’ below

and a comment box will appear.

A Word to the Wise:

Please don’t leave your child to explore Vimeo or Photopeach unattended  :)

The internet is a portal to the world outside. Children should be supervised.

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Visualizing ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’

We visualized what happens in the song

‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’

Here is a detail from Shauna’s visualization:

Here is JC’s very detailed visualization:

Double click on JC’s picture

to see the ‘twelve lords a-leaping.’

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Visualizing scenes from ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith

We are following the programme in comprehension:

‘Building Bridges of Understanding’.

We are learning comprehension strategies.

 

As a whole-school, we concentrated on ‘prediction’ in September and October.

Now we are practising ‘visualization’.

We are reading ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith.

We are also learning a lot about hedgehogs and road safety in class too.

Nicole drew this one:

We drew lots of pictures to illustrate The Hedgehog Family:

Ma, Pa, Peony, Petunia, Pansy and Max.

This is Owen’s one to show you the family…

‘… sitting in a flower-bed at their home,

the garden of Number 5A

of a row of semi-detached houses

in a suburban street.‘
This is Julia’s

Some other children also drew what they could visualize when we read:

‘On the other side of the road was a Park,

very popular with the local hedgehogs

on account of the good hunting it offered.

 

As well as worms and slugs and snails,

which they could find in their own gardens,

there were special attractions in the Park.

 

Mice lived under the Bandstand,

feasting on the crumbs

dropped from listeners’ sandwiches;

 

frogs dwelt in the Lily-Pond,

 

and in the Ornamental Gardens 

grass-snakes slithered through the shrubbery’.


JC included all these special features.

Here are our visualizations:

Visualizing ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith on PhotoPeach

listen to ‘Reading a short extract from ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith’ on Audioboo

Here is an Animoto of our work:

 

We would love to hear what you think of our work.

If you would like to comment,

please double click

‘Continue Reading’ below

and a comment box will appear.

A Reminder:

Please don’t leave your child to explore online unattended
The internet is a portal to the world outside. Children should be supervised.

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Visualizing ‘It Was A Dark And Stormy Night’ by Allan Ahlberg

We are working on comprehension strategies

in reading, following the

‘Building Bridges of Understanding’ programme.

 

We spent the first six weeks of the school term

predicting what was going to happen next

in the stories we read.

Now we are adding ‘visualization’ to our skill set.

Teacher has read six short novels in class this year.

This one is our favourite by far.

 

“…Outside a light wind was blowing

the last of the storm clouds away.

In the east there was a glow,

and streaks of pink and violet

and duck-egg green tinged

the darker edge of the sky”.

 

From: ‘It Was A Dark And Stormy Night’

by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

 

Teacher thinks Nicole has visualized the sky at dawn, very well:

We all worked hard on ‘visualizing’ as you will see:

‘It Was A Dark And Stormy Night’ by Allan Ahlberg 

As always I would remind you to supervise your child when they are online.

Jake visualizes ‘The Pirate Ship’.

 

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