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

Checking My Understanding: Fix-Up Strategies and Word Clues

C2.4 C1.1 A1.1About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can notice when my understanding breaks down.
I can use strategies: adjusting reading rate, visualizing, reading ahead, asking questions and consulting references.
I can use word knowledge, grammar, cohesive ties and sentence structure to understand difficult sentences.
I can explain how these skills help me in any subject.

Words to know

monitor
To keep checking whether you understand while you read.

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

consult a reference
To look something up in a dictionary, glossary, atlas, encyclopedia or reliable website.

cohesive ties
Words that link ideas together, such as pronouns (it, they), synonyms and connecting words (however, as a result).

appositive
A word group, often between commas, that renames or explains a noun just before it.

Remember from Grade 4

In Grade 4 you adjusted your reading rate, read ahead, consulted references, and followed cohesive ties like this and they. You used appositives to figure out new words.

In Grade 5 you will use a full toolbox of fix-up strategies, including visualizing and asking questions, and you'll untangle long, complex sentences in informational texts.

Hook: The traffic light in your head

While you read, imagine a traffic light in your head:

Green: I get it. Keep going.
Yellow: Hmm, I'm a bit confused. Slow down.
Red: I don't understand. Stop and fix it.

Good readers notice yellow and red lights. That's called monitoring. Then they use a fix-up strategy. Read this informational text, written for this website, and watch your traffic light.

The traffic light in your head. Monitoring means noticing when the light turns yellow or red, then choosing a fix-up strategy.

Canada's Robotic Arms

In 1981, a robotic arm built in Canada flew into space for the first time aboard the American Space Shuttle Columbia. The arm, which was soon nicknamed the Canadarm, could grab satellites and move heavy equipment in the shuttle's cargo bay. Because objects have almost no weight in orbit, the arm could move huge loads, although it had to move them slowly and carefully.

Its successor, Canadarm2, was installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield went on a spacewalk to help install it. Canadarm2 is about 17 metres long. It doesn't stay in one place. Instead, it can move along the station end over end, like an inchworm, grabbing special fixtures with one end and then the other. As a result, it can reach many parts of the station. These robotic arms have made Canada famous for space robotics.

Strategy	When to use it	Example from the text
Adjust reading rate	Hard or fact-filled parts	Slow down for the paragraph about how Canadarm2 moves.
Visualize	Descriptions of movement, places or how things work	Picture an inchworm: grab with one end, swing, grab with the other end.
Read ahead	A word or idea isn't clear yet	Successor is explained by reading on: Canadarm2 came after the first arm.
Ask questions	Something seems strange or missing	Why does it have to move slowly if loads have almost no weight? Ask, then look for an answer.
Consult a reference	Still stuck after rereading and reading ahead	Look up cargo bay or orbit in a dictionary or the glossary of a space book.

Fix-up strategies

Worked example

Let's untangle a complex sentence

Because objects have almost no weight in orbit, the arm could move huge loads, although it had to move them slowly and carefully. What does this sentence mean?

Split it into parts at the commas and connecting words: (1) Because objects have almost no weight in orbit, (2) the arm could move huge loads, (3) although it had to move them slowly and carefully.
Find the main clause (it can stand alone): the arm could move huge loads.
Because gives the reason: objects have almost no weight in orbit.
Although gives a contrast (something surprising): it still had to move slowly.
Ask a question: Why slowly? Prior knowledge from science: heavy objects are still hard to stop once they're moving, even when they seem weightless. (You can check this in a reference.)

Meaning: The arm could move very big things because they are almost weightless in orbit, but it still had to move them slowly and carefully.

Untangle a long sentence by splitting it into parts. Find the main clause first; then because gives the reason and although gives the surprise.

Worked example

Let's follow the cohesive ties

In paragraph 2, what do these words refer to? (1) Its successor (2) it in It doesn't stay in one place (3) These robotic arms

(1) Its points back to the first Canadarm, so its successor means the arm that came after the Canadarm: Canadarm2.
(2) It refers back to the nearest matching noun, Canadarm2 (from the sentence before: Canadarm2 is about 17 metres long).
(3) These robotic arms is a summary tie: it gathers up both the Canadarm and Canadarm2.
Connecting words are cohesive ties too: Instead signals a contrast with staying in one place; As a result signals an effect.

(1) Canadarm2, the arm that came after the first one; (2) Canadarm2; (3) both the Canadarm and Canadarm2.

Word knowledge helps too

Word parts: robotic = robot + -ic (relating to). Install means to put in place, so installed means was put in place.
Grammar clues: nicknamed the Canadarm comes right after The arm, which was soon... so the Canadarm is the arm's nickname.
Appositive: International Space Station (ISS): the letters in brackets give the short form, so later you'll know ISS means the same thing.
Background knowledge: from science, you may know that orbit means travelling around a planet.

Just for fun

Canadarm2 gets around the space station by flipping end over end, grabbing on with one end and then the other, like an inchworm. It's an arm that walks. Try not to think about that too hard!

Transferable skills

Monitoring your thinking and choosing a strategy are transferable skills. You use them in math (rereading a word problem), science (visualizing a diagram), social studies (reading a map legend) and even sports (noticing when a play isn't working and changing it).

Hands-on activity

Strategy detective with sticky notes

You need: a nonfiction book or magazine article that is a little challenging, sticky notes (or small paper slips) and a pencil.

Read 2 pages. Put a sticky note wherever your traffic light turns yellow or red.
On each note, write which fix-up strategy you used: slowed down, visualized, read ahead, asked a question, looked it up.
Find one long sentence. Copy it and split it into parts. Find the main clause and the connecting words.
Draw a quick sketch of something you visualized.
Tell a grown-up which strategy helped most today and why.

Your turn

What does it mean to monitor your reading?

What does successor mean in the text? Which strategy helped?

Visualize how Canadarm2 moves. Describe it in your own words.

In Instead, it can move along the station..., what does Instead tell you?

What does ISS stand for? How do you know?

Which strategy would you use if you didn't know what cargo bay means, after rereading didn't help?

When should you slow your reading rate?

More practice: warm-up

What colour on your traffic light means stop and fix it?

What does visualize mean?

Name one reference you could consult.

Maya loves skating. She goes every Saturday. What does She refer to?

What year did the first Canadarm fly into space?

More practice: on your own

Find the main clause: Although it was snowing hard, the team finished the game, because the playoffs started the next day.

Why is visualizing especially useful for a text about how a machine moves?

Beavers build dams. These structures slow down streams. What does These structures refer to? What kind of tie is it?

Your friend reads a science article at the same speed as a comic. What advice would you give?

Give an example of how the strategy asking questions helps outside language class.

Challenge

Rewrite this long sentence as two or three shorter, clear sentences: Canadarm2, which can move end over end along the station, is about 17 metres long, so it can reach many places that astronauts would otherwise have to go outside to reach.

You read: The probe's trajectory was altered. You don't know trajectory or altered. Describe three strategies you'd try, in order.

Explain why it can be confusing in this pair: The arm grabbed the satellite. It was spinning slowly. How would you fix it?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is a fix-up strategy?

To visualize means to...

Canadarm2 is about 17 metres long. It doesn't stay in one place. What does It refer to?

In the arm could move huge loads, although it had to move them slowly, the word although shows...

When you are reading a fact-filled science text, you should usually...

Who helped install Canadarm2 on a spacewalk in 2001?

For parents and teachers

What this lesson teaches: Grade 5 students use strategies such as adjusting reading rate, visualizing, reading ahead, asking questions and consulting references to monitor and confirm understanding (C2.4). They use knowledge of words, grammar, cohesive ties, sentence structures and background knowledge to comprehend texts (C1.1), and see these as transferable skills (A1.1).

How to help at home:

When your child reads aloud, pause and ask: "Green, yellow or red light?"
Model your own fix-ups: "I didn't get that sentence, so I'll reread it slowly."
Keep a dictionary (paper or a child-safe app) handy.

Common difficulties:

Not noticing confusion. Ask your child to retell each paragraph in one sentence; if they can't, it's a red light.
Pronoun mix-ups in long texts. Ask, "Who or what is 'it'?"
Long sentences. Split them at commas and connecting words to find the main idea.

About the facts: The Canadarm, built in Canada, first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981. Canadarm2 was installed on the ISS in 2001; Chris Hadfield performed spacewalks to help install it. Canadarm2 is about 17 metres long and can move end over end between fixtures on the station. The text was written for this site.