Reading Comprehension Boosters: 100 Lessons for Building Higher-Level Literacy, Grades 3–5 takes a step-by-step approach. Key prerequisite skills are taught in each of the six units. Instruction is heavily scaffolded at first, but students are gradually led to independence.
For deriving main ideas, for instance, students are taught to categorize, a key prerequisite skill. Students also select from possible main ideas in a multiple-choice format before constructing their own.
Because comprehension is a constructive process in which students create meaning based on their background knowledge, Reading Comprehension Boosters has been designed to build background knowledge. Topics are developed in depth so that students’ background knowledge and ability to make generalizations are enriched.
A theme approach has been taken because this allows for determining relative importance of information, comparing and contrasting, noticing similarities and differences, and drawing conclusions, all of them key thinking skills.
Because vocabulary is a key component of comprehension, vocabulary is systematically developed. Once students have become familiar with the program, they are introduced to two vocabulary words in each lesson.
Because higher-level comprehension demands engagement, high-interest topics are featured. Students will read about such intriguing topics as guide horses, two headed snakes, parachutes for planes, flying cars, children who help make the world a better place, and sleep patterns in people and animals.
Although Reading Comprehension Boosters features intriguing topics, its main function is to introduce students to key higher-level literacy strategies. It is essential that students then apply these skills to their content-area texts and trade books.
Reading Comprehension Boosters provides brief, easy-to-read selections so that students candle vote their full mental energies to learning the strategies. Once learned, the strategies can be applied to more challenging materials.
Each unit is accompanied by a listing of books that extends the unit’s topic. Suggestions for applying strategies to these materials are provided.
