Before and During Reading: Prior Knowledge, Predictions and Fixing Comprehension Problems

Remember from Grade 6

In Grade 6 you used prior knowledge, made and revised predictions, and used fix-up strategies when you got stuck. You also found main clauses and cohesive ties.

In Grade 7 you'll do these things with more complex texts, and you'll do something new with predictions: pose questions that test them, so you know exactly what evidence to watch for.

Hook: What do you already know?

The story in this lesson is about a canoe trip and a thunderstorm. Before reading, jot down what you already know:

• Personal experience: Have you been in a canoe? Been caught in a storm?
• Other texts: Have you read stories or watched videos about wilderness trips?
• Science: What do you know about lightning and thunder? (In science you may have learned that light travels much faster than sound, so you see lightning before you hear thunder.)
• Geography and health: What do you know about Ontario's lakes and safety outdoors?

This is your prior knowledge. It will help you make predictions and understand what the characters do.

After the Haze (a story written for this website), Part 1

Aunt Rosa had promised Priya three things about the canoe trip: loons, stars, and no cell service. By the second afternoon, Kettle Lake had delivered all three.

Now, as Priya lifted her paddle, she noticed that the far shore, which had been sharp and green all morning, was fading behind a grey haze. A gust wrinkled the water. Aunt Rosa, who had paddled these lakes for twenty years, stopped mid-stroke and turned her head to the west, listening.

After the Haze, Part 2

Then Priya heard it too: a low rumble, like furniture being dragged across a floor upstairs.

"Thunder," said Aunt Rosa. "We're getting off the water. Now."

The nearest landing was the portage at the north end, marked by a yellow sign nailed to a cedar. They dug in their paddles. By the time the bow scraped gravel, the first fat drops were pocking the lake. They hauled the canoe high onto the shore, flipped it over and tied it to a stump. Then Aunt Rosa led Priya away from the water, past a tall, lonely pine, into a thick stand of young spruce, where they crouched on their packs.

After the Haze, Part 3

They waited, counting the seconds between each flash and its thunder: eight, twelve, twenty.

"It's moving away," Priya said, half rising.

"Not yet," said Aunt Rosa. "Thirty minutes after the last thunder. That's the rule."

Priya, whose legs had begun to cramp, wanted to argue, but she thought of the lonely pine by the shore, its top split and blackened by some storm years ago. She sat back down.

When they finally carried the canoe across the portage to the next lake, Aunt Rosa walking under it with the padded yoke on her shoulders, the sky was washed clean, and a rainbow arched over the water.

"Worth the wait?" asked Aunt Rosa.

Priya nodded, imperceptibly at first, then with a grin she couldn't hide.

Fixing comprehension problems

Complex texts have tricky words, long sentences and references back to earlier ideas. When you notice you're confused, name the problem, then choose a strategy that fits it.

Using other words to unlock new words

Imperceptibly looks hard, but you can break it apart: im- (not) + percept (notice, as in perceive) + -ible (able to be) + -ly (in a way). So imperceptibly means in a way that can hardly be noticed. Priya's nod starts so small you can barely see it, then becomes a grin. That shows she's a bit embarrassed to admit Aunt Rosa was right, but happy all the same.