A. Literacy Connections and Applications / C. Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts · Understanding and Responding to Texts

Does It Make Sense? Rereading, Picturing and Asking Questions

C2.4 C2.7 C1.1 A1.1 A1.2About 35 minutes

Learning goals

I can notice when my reading stops making sense.
I can reread, picture the words in my mind, and ask questions to fix it.
I can say which strategy helped me understand.

Words to know

monitor
To keep checking that you understand while you read.

reread
To go back and read a part again, slowly.

visualize
To make a picture or a movie in your mind from the words.

strategy
A plan or a trick that helps you do something, like rereading.

reflect
To think back about what you did and what helped you.

Is your reading brain switched on?

Sometimes your eyes read all the words, but at the end you think, "Wait... what did I just read?" That happens to every reader!

Good readers monitor: they keep checking, "Does this make sense?" When it doesn't, they use a fix-up strategy.

Fix-up strategies: stop, reread, picture it, ask questions.

Three fix-up strategies

Reread. Go back to the start of the sentence or paragraph. Read it again more slowly. Often it makes sense the second time.
Visualize. Turn the words into a picture or a movie in your mind. What do you see, hear, smell?
Ask questions. Who? What? Where? Why? I wonder...? Questions keep your brain awake, and you can look for the answers as you read.

You can also look at the pictures, read on a little to see if it gets clearer, or ask someone.

Read-aloud: Busy Beavers

Beavers are builders. They cut down small trees with their strong front teeth. Their teeth are orange, and they never stop growing.

Beavers build a home called a lodge. A lodge looks like a big pile of sticks and mud in a pond. Inside, there is a dry room above the water. The doors are under the water, so enemies like wolves cannot get in easily.

In the fall, beavers push branches into the mud at the bottom of the pond, close to the lodge. In winter, ice covers the pond. The beavers swim out under the ice, grab a branch, and bring it back to eat inside the lodge.

If a beaver sees danger, it slaps its flat tail on the water. SMACK! That warns the other beavers to dive.

Picture it: a beaver lodge cut in half. The dry room is above the water, the door is underwater, and winter food is stored in the mud nearby.

Worked example

Let's fix up a confusing part

Amir reads: "The doors are under the water, so enemies like wolves cannot get in easily." He thinks, "That doesn't make sense! How do beavers get in if the door is underwater?"

Stop. Amir notices he is confused. That is monitoring. Good!
Reread the paragraph slowly: A lodge looks like a big pile of sticks and mud in a pond. So the lodge is in the water.
Visualize: Picture a mound of sticks in a pond. Under the water there is a tunnel going up into a dry room.
Use what you know: Beavers are great swimmers. Wolves don't like to swim underwater.
Ask a question: "Why underwater?" Answer: so the beavers can swim in, but wolves can't walk in.

Beavers swim underwater into their lodge. The underwater door keeps them safe. Rereading, visualizing and asking a question fixed the confusion.

Worked example

Let's ask questions while reading

Read the last two paragraphs of Busy Beavers. What questions could you ask?

Before: "I wonder what beavers eat in winter when the pond is frozen?"
During: Read push branches into the mud. Ask: "Why would they put branches in mud?"
Read on: In winter... grab a branch, and bring it back to eat. Now I know: it is their winter food.
After: "What does the tail slap mean?" Answer: it warns other beavers about danger.

Asking questions helped me look for answers. Beavers store branches in the pond mud to eat in winter, and they slap their tails to warn each other.

Reflect: What helped me?

After reading, think back: Which strategy helped me most today? Was it rereading, visualizing or asking questions? Say it out loud: "Visualizing helped me because I could picture the lodge."

Knowing which strategies work for you is like knowing which tools are in your toolbox. You are in charge of your own learning!

Just for fun

Why did the beaver read the book twice?

The first time, it only chewed the cover!

Hands-on activity

Make a strategy bookmark

You need: a strip of cardboard (from a cereal box), markers.

On the bookmark, draw a small picture for each strategy: 🔁 Reread, 🎬 Picture it, ❓ Ask questions.
Read a book with your grown-up. When something is confusing, point to a strategy on your bookmark and use it.
Visualize test: your grown-up reads the beaver lodge paragraph again with your eyes closed. Then draw what you pictured. Compare it with a real photo of a beaver lodge (from a library book).
At the end, put a sticker or a check mark beside the strategy that helped you most today.

Your turn

What colour are a beaver's front teeth?

What is a beaver's home called?

Why are the lodge doors under the water?

What do beavers eat in winter?

Close your eyes and visualize a beaver slapping its tail. What do you see and hear?

You read a sentence and it doesn't make sense. Name two things you can do.

Which strategy helped you most in this lesson? Say why.

More practice: warm-up

What does reread mean?

What does visualize mean?

Name a question word.

What is a lodge made of?

What do beavers use to cut down small trees?

More practice: on your own

Why do beavers put branches in the mud in the fall?

Why does the beaver slap its tail? Which sentence tells you?

Write one I wonder question about beavers that the text does not answer.

Lucy read "Their teeth never stop growing" and felt confused. What could she ask or picture to understand?

In "Inside, there is a dry room above the water," what does Inside mean?

Challenge

Why do you think the writer put SMACK! in the text?

Your friend reads very fast and can't answer questions about the text. What advice would you give?

How could the fix-up strategies help you in math or science?

Check your understanding

Quiz

What should you do first when reading stops making sense?

Making a movie in your mind is called...

Where are the doors of a beaver lodge?

Which is a question that helps you understand?

A beaver slaps its tail on the water to...

Which sentence shows a reader reflecting?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 2 readers learn to monitor their understanding and use fix-up strategies: rereading, visualizing and asking questions. They also reflect on which strategies help them most (C2.7). Naming strategies builds independence and lets children use their voice in their learning (A1.1, A1.2).

How to help at home:

Model it: "Hmm, that didn't make sense to me. I'm going to reread."
Read a descriptive paragraph aloud and ask your child to draw what they visualized.
After reading, always ask: "What helped you understand?"

Common difficulties:

Reading fast without understanding. Fluent word reading is not the same as comprehension. Stop after each page and ask, "What happened?"
Not noticing confusion. Ask a question about a tricky sentence to show them there was something to figure out.
Only asking simple questions. Encourage "I wonder" and "why" questions.

Fact note: the beaver facts here (orange teeth that keep growing, lodges with underwater entrances, branches stored for winter food, tail slaps as warnings) are well-known features of the North American beaver.