Reading and Predicting

For the past few weeks, we have been learning what makes a great reader.

So far my kids know that the best way to become a better reader is to READ, READ, and READ!




They also know that there are 3 ways to read a book...

1. To read the pictures

2. To read the words

3. To retell the story




Additionally, we know how to pick "Good Fit" books.  In class, we have also been working hard on our stamina during Reading to Self and working on our comprehension with Reading to Someone.


Well, we are starting to get into my most favorite part of reading; that's learning about the great characters that we try to be like when reading.  I use 4 characters to get my students really excited about reading and working on their reading strategies.  

There are 4 characters I teach about. The first one is...

Madam the Powerful Predictor (she uses her crystal ball to predict what will happen next in the book)...yes I have a crystal ball and use it to teach it. They LOVE it.  I get totally into and so do they. 

Madam uses words like "I think..." "I wonder" and "I predict". We also talked about how she uses her crystal ball, so she might even say "I see in the future..." or more like "I see what's going to happen on the next page!" 

I read That's Good! That's Bad! By David Catrow.  It's such a great book to teach prediction!

We stop after every page and make a prediction about what will happen next.  It's also a great book to reinforce that the pictures are another way to read the book (they give great clues as to what will happen next). We usually share our prediction with a neighbor, with the class, or during some of the pages, I have a student come up and look into the crystal ball to tell us what will happen next in the story.  They totally get prediction after this lesson!


Our follow-up lesson (tomorrow) is when we read Fortunately, Unfortunately by Remy Martin.  The two books are very similar to each other and really allow for great predictions throughout the story because the plot changes every page.  They both change from a great event- to a horrible event- and back to great again, and so on. 

For example: "Fortunately, a friend loaned Ned an airplane. Unfortunately, the motor exploded. Fortunately, there was a parachute in the airplane. Unfortunately, there was a hole in the parachute." It keeps them guessing, or shall I say, predicting!  

We stop the book halfway though and fill out a prediction page on it. I have posted the page below.  They write their prediction on the lines using the sentence frame and then draw their prediction in the crystal ball. Click on the picture below to get the prediction page!

I can't wait to share about the other 3 characters we learn about and use! Hang tight to find out what will be next!