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Take A Lesson from Nana

by Kandis | Nov 20, 2024 | Blog Posts, Do, Learn, Middle School, Reading Comprehension, Think, Upper Elementary, Younger Elementary

I’m pretty sure that everyone has a Nana in their life because Nana is the person who can tell a story about anything because she has lived it all and if she hasn’t she has a way to connect what you are talking about to something she has lived. Nana can...

It’s Time to be the Chef

by Kandis | Nov 6, 2024 | Blog Posts, Middle School, Reading Comprehension, Think, Upper Elementary, Younger Elementary

The difference between the typical home cook and a chef is the knowledge and understanding of how to make little adjustments that make a big impact while cooking. Most home cooks are quite comfortable following a recipe and getting a decent result. A chef, on the...

Moving Towards the Bullseye

by Kandis | Oct 30, 2024 | Blog Posts, Learn, Middle School, Reading Comprehension, Think, Upper Elementary, Younger Elementary

When kids first start making predictions they are often so concerned with being accurate that they don’t add any detail to their predictions. The vagueness of their predictions is only matched by the vagueness of someone with something to hide. You know the...

Accurate like the Weatherman?!?!?

by Kandis | Oct 23, 2024 | Blog Posts, Do, Middle School, Reading Comprehension, Think, Upper Elementary, Younger Elementary

Sometimes I think that my local weathermen would have more accurate predictions if they said something like “It’s cloudy and later we have a chance of meatballs” because quite frankly that is more likely what is going to happen than what they predict...

Strategy Stack Up

by Kandis | Oct 2, 2024 | Blog Posts, Learn, Middle School, Reading Comprehension, Think, Upper Elementary, Younger Elementary

Learning individual comprehension strategies like visualizing, schema, questioning, inferring, summarizing, predicting, connections and judgments is a great start. Unfortunately, having the ability to use each strategy in isolation not enough. Isolated strategy use is...

But Picture Books Already have Pictures!!!

by Kandis | Sep 24, 2024 | Blog Posts, Middle School, Reading Comprehension, Think, Upper Elementary, Younger Elementary

People often wonder why I insist that young readers learn to visualize – aka pay attention to their mind’s eye – since the books they read already have pictures in them. While it is true that most children’s books already have pictures, that...
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