C. Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts · Reading Like a Critic: Understanding and Responding to TextsPredicting, Questioning, Monitoring and Fixing Up Comprehension
C2.3 C2.4About 65 minutes
Learning goals- I can make predictions using background knowledge and textual information.
- I can pose questions to confirm or refute my predictions, and revise or refine my understanding.
- I can monitor my understanding and notice exactly where it breaks down.
- I can choose a suitable fix-up strategy, such as rereading, using the glossary, asking questions or consulting references, to solve a comprehension problem.
Words to know
prediction
A reasoned guess about what will happen or what a text will say, based on evidence and background knowledge.
confirm
To show a prediction was right, using evidence from the text.
refute
To show a prediction was wrong, using evidence from the text.
refine
To adjust a prediction or understanding so it fits new evidence more precisely.
monitor
To keep checking whether you understand as you read, listen or view.
fix-up strategy
A move that repairs understanding: rereading, reading ahead, using the glossary, context clues, asking questions, summarizing, consulting a reference.
foreshadowing
Hints a writer plants early about what will happen later.
Remember from Grade 8
In Grade 8 you made predictions that you confirmed or refuted, and you used fix-up strategies with complex texts. In Grade 9, the difference is precision: you'll test predictions with specific questions, and you'll diagnose exactly what kind of comprehension problem you have before choosing a fix.
Hook: the taped-shut tin
Imagine someone you love hands you a sealed tin labelled DO NOT OPEN UNTIL SPRING. What's inside? You'd predict, you'd shake it, you'd look for clues. That's exactly what good readers do with stories. Let's read one in three parts and stop to predict at each break.
Do Not Open Until Spring (a short story written for this website)
Part 1
When Grandpa Theo moved into the seniors' residence in November, he gave Ari only one thing: a round cookie tin, its lid taped shut, with DO NOT OPEN UNTIL SPRING written across the top in black marker.
"Why spring?" Ari asked.
Grandpa Theo tapped the lid twice, the way he used to tap the glass of his greenhouse when the tomatoes were ripe. "You'll know," he said.
At home, Ari shook the tin. Something inside rattled, light and dry, like rice in a box. It weighed almost nothing.
Worked exampleLet's predict and question after Part 1
Make a prediction about what's in the tin. Use textual information and background knowledge, and write questions to test it.
- Textual clues: it rattled, light and dry, like rice; it weighed almost nothing; Grandpa Theo had a greenhouse with tomatoes; the tin can't be opened until spring.
- Background knowledge: spring is when people plant gardens. Seeds are small, dry and light and rattle in a container. Coins would be heavier and clink.
- Prediction: The tin probably holds seeds, maybe tomato seeds, that Grandpa wants Ari to plant in spring.
- Also consider alternatives: a letter or photos? Paper wouldn't rattle like rice. Money? Too light. So seeds is the strongest prediction, but stay open.
- Questions to test it: Why does it have to be spring exactly? Will the tin mention the greenhouse or tomatoes? Why give it to Ari and not someone else?
Prediction: seeds, probably tomato. Evidence: the sound and weight (text) + spring is planting season (background knowledge). The test questions tell us what to watch for as we read on.
Part 2
Every Sunday through the winter, Ari visited. Every Sunday, Grandpa Theo asked the same question: "Is the snow off the ground yet?"
In January the drifts were as high as the mailboxes. "Not even close," Ari said.
In March the snowbanks along the curbs had shrunk to grey ridges. "Almost."
"Then not yet," he said, and smiled as if they shared a secret. Ari didn't know the secret. She had tried searching what to do in spring online and got millions of results and no answers.
Stop and check
- Does Part 2 confirm or refute the seed prediction? It doesn't settle it, but the repeated question Is the snow off the ground yet? supports it: gardeners wait for snow and frost to end.
- Refine: Grandpa is waiting for planting season, so the tin is probably about the garden.
- New question: What's the secret they "shared"? Grandpa thinks Ari will understand; Ari doesn't yet. That gap creates suspense.
Notice the narrator tells us Ari didn't know the secret. Part 2 gives you, the reader, enough clues to be ahead of Ari. That's a writer's way of pulling you forward.
Part 3
On the first warm Saturday in May, when the last snowbank behind the parking lot had melted into a puddle, Ari peeled off the tape.
Inside, folded in a bread bag, were a dozen small paper envelopes, each labelled in the cramped capitals she knew from birthday cards: THEO'S BIG REDS. SAVED FALL 2025. HEIRLOOM: DO NOT BUY NEW.
Underneath lay a note.
My mother carried these seeds from her garden in Portugal in 1971. I have saved them every fall since. The garden at the old house is gone now, but seeds don't need a big yard. They need someone to remember them. Plant after the last frost. Water at the roots. Save the best one for next year. You're the keeper now.
Ari looked out at the balcony: two metres of concrete and a rusty chair. Then she went to find a bucket.
Glossary: heirloom (for plants): a variety grown from seeds that are saved and passed down for generations. last frost: the last night in spring cold enough to freeze; in much of Ontario, gardeners wait until about late May to plant tomatoes outdoors.
Confirm, refute and revise
- Confirmed: seeds, and they are a tomato variety (BIG REDS + the greenhouse tomatoes in Part 1).
- Revised: the tin isn't just about gardening. The note shows the seeds carry family history (Grandpa's mother brought them from Portugal in 1971) and responsibility (You're the keeper now). Our understanding grows from a gift to an inheritance.
- Answered question: Why spring? Because seeds must be planted after the last frost, and because Grandpa wanted Ari to discover the meaning at the right moment.
Monitoring: catching the moment you're lost
Monitoring means you keep asking, "Do I understand this?" while reading. Strong readers notice confusion early and name it:
- A word problem: What does heirloom mean?
- A sentence problem: Who is she in this sentence?
- A big-idea problem: Why does the note matter? What is this story about?
Then they choose a fix-up strategy that fits the problem.
Worked exampleLet's fix a comprehension problem
A reader says: I don't get Part 3. What are Big Reds, and why does it say DO NOT BUY NEW?
- Name the problem: two word/phrase problems (Big Reds, heirloom) and one big-idea problem (why not buy new?).
- Reread Part 1 for clues: tomatoes were ripe in Grandpa's greenhouse. So Big Reds is likely his name for a kind of tomato.
- Use the glossary: heirloom = a variety grown from seeds saved and passed down for generations.
- Connect: if you buy new seeds, you lose this particular family variety. DO NOT BUY NEW means keep this line going.
- Consult a reference if still unsure: a gardening website or library book on seed saving explains that people save seeds from the best fruit each year.
- Check: does it make sense now? Yes: Grandpa wants Ari to continue a family tradition, not just grow tomatoes.
By naming the problem, the reader chose the right tools: reread for context, glossary for heirloom, reference for seed saving. Now the big idea is clear: the seeds are a living family history.
Just for funWhy did the reader bring a rope to the library?
Someone said the next chapter ends on a cliffhanger.
Hands-on activityPrediction log with a sealed bag
You need: a paper bag or envelope, a grown-up or sibling, a short story or chapter you haven't read (from a library book or a free online story site your grown-up approves), sticky notes, a pencil.
- Warm-up: ask someone to put a small, safe household object in the bag (nothing sharp, breakable or alive!). Without looking, shake, feel and weigh it. Write a prediction with two pieces of evidence and one question to test it. Then check.
- Divide your story into three or four sections with sticky notes before you start.
- After each section, write: Prediction + Evidence (text) + Background knowledge + Question to test it.
- At the next stop, mark each prediction Confirmed, Refuted or Refined, with evidence.
- Each time you get confused, write the problem type (word, sentence, big idea) and the fix-up strategy you used.
What to look for: predictions that use both text and background knowledge; clear test questions; honest revisions; at least one named comprehension problem matched with a suitable strategy.
Your turn
1Give two textual clues in Part 1 that support the prediction that the tin holds seeds.
Any two: it rattled, light and dry, like rice; it weighed almost nothing; Grandpa's greenhouse and tomatoes; it can't be opened until spring.
2What background knowledge helps you make that prediction?
Spring is planting season; seeds are small, dry and light and rattle; coins would be heavier.
3Why does Grandpa keep asking Is the snow off the ground yet?
He's waiting for planting season: you can't plant until the snow is gone and the frost is over. The question is a clue to what's in the tin.
4After Part 3, which prediction is confirmed, and how was understanding revised?
Confirmed: the tin holds tomato seeds. Revised: the seeds are also a family inheritance carried from Portugal in 1971, and Ari is now responsible for keeping them going.
5Name the comprehension problem type: I don't know what zooplankton means.
A word problem (fix: word parts, context, glossary, dictionary).
6Name the problem type: I've read three pages and I can't say what this chapter is about.
A big-idea problem (fix: summarize what you have, reread headings, ask a question, read ahead, talk it through).
7What might the last line, Then she went to find a bucket, suggest? Make a prediction.
She's going to plant the seeds in a bucket on the balcony, accepting the role of keeper, even without a yard.
More practice: warm-up
To show a prediction or claim is wrong, using evidence.
2Name two fix-up strategies.
Any two: reread, read ahead, glossary, context clues, word parts, ask a question, summarize, consult a reference, read aloud.
3Predictions are based on what two things?
Textual information (clues in the text) and background knowledge.
Checking your understanding as you read.
5What does an heirloom plant variety come from?
Seeds that are saved and passed down for generations.
More practice: on your own
1A reader predicts the tin holds money. Using the text, refute that prediction.
The tin weighed almost nothing and rattled light and dry, like rice. Coins would be heavy and clink. So money is unlikely.
2Write a specific question that would test the seed prediction, and explain why it's better than What's in the tin?
Sample: Will the tin be opened when it's time to plant? It's better because it's linked to the evidence (spring, greenhouse) and tells you what to look for, instead of just waiting.
3Which fix-up strategy is least useful for this problem: I don't know who he is in this sentence: rereading the sentence before, checking cohesive ties, or looking up he in a dictionary? Explain.
**Looking up he in a dictionary. The dictionary says it's a pronoun but can't tell you who it refers to. Rereading** the previous sentence and checking ties will find the referent.
4Explain how the writer uses foreshadowing in Part 1.
The detail about Grandpa tapping the greenhouse glass when the tomatoes were ripe hints at the tomato seeds revealed in Part 3.
5Why should you revise your understanding, not just your prediction, at the end of a story?
Endings often reveal the deeper meaning. Here, knowing what's in the tin (seeds) matters less than understanding why (family history, responsibility). Revising understanding moves you from plot to theme.
Challenge
1Write a refined prediction about what Ari does in the next year, using two details from the note.
Sample: Ari will grow the tomatoes in a bucket on the balcony and save seeds from the best one in the fall, because the note says "Save the best one for next year" and "seeds don't need a big yard." Look for: a specific prediction tied to two quoted details.
2A classmate says predicting is pointless because you'll find out anyway. Respond with two reasons from this lesson.
(1) Predicting makes you look for evidence, so you notice clues like the greenhouse that you might skip. (2) Testing predictions shows you where your understanding changes, which leads you to the theme (the seeds as inheritance). Predictions also keep you engaged and help you notice when you're confused.
3Choose a non-fiction text you find hard (a science article, a game manual). Describe one comprehension problem, name its type, and explain which strategy you'd use and why.
Sample: In a science article, I didn't understand "photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy." Type: sentence and word. Strategy: break down the word (photo = light, synthesis = putting together), then reread the sentence and check the glossary. A dictionary alone wouldn't explain the process, so I'd also consult my science textbook. Look for: a named problem type matched to a fitting strategy with a reason.
Quiz
1. Which prediction uses both text clues and background knowledge?
2. To refute a prediction means to...
3. You don't know who they refers to. The best fix-up strategy is to...
4. In the story, the detail about the greenhouse tomatoes is an example of...
5. What's the first step in monitoring when you're confused?
6. At the end of the story, the reader's understanding is refined from...
What this lesson teaches: Grade 9 students make predictions using background knowledge and textual information, pose questions to confirm or refute them, and revise or refine their understanding (C2.3). They monitor comprehension and choose suitable strategies (rereading, glossary, asking questions, consulting references) to solve comprehension problems in complex texts (C2.4).
How to help at home:
- During a TV episode or film, pause and ask: "What will happen next? What's your evidence?" After it plays out: "Confirmed or refuted?"
- When your teen says "I don't get it," ask: "Is it a word, a sentence or the big idea?" Then help pick a strategy.
- Try the sealed-bag warm-up together (use only safe objects).
Common difficulties:
- Wild guesses. Predictions need evidence; ask "What in the text makes you think so?"
- Never revising. Some students stick to a first guess. Praise changing your mind with evidence.
- One-size-fits-all rereading. Rereading a whole page won't fix an unknown word; match the strategy to the problem.
Facts used: The story and its characters were written for this website. In much of Ontario, gardeners usually wait until about late May (after the last frost) to plant tomatoes outdoors.