Exploros | Comprehending Text

Engage

Overview

In this experience, students make inferences using their existing knowledge to increase their reading comprehension. They monitor their own understanding of what they are reading and learn techniques to use when they have trouble understanding. Then, they identify key points in a text and compare information in multiple sources.

Objectives

Develop understanding while reading.
Understand how to make inferences.
Use evidence and details from a text to determine key ideas.

Duration

One class period.

ELL Support

This experience uses basic and academic vocabulary that students will meet routinely in the classroom. Ensure that ELL students recognize key vocabulary while reading and in discussion.

If your ELL students have difficulty reading the text of this (or any) experience, which provides important reading strategies, here’s a tip. Use the Chrome browser with Google Translate extension. Students can set the browser to translate the experience to any of the dozens of languages supported by Google Translate.

Vocabulary Words Used in “Hearts, Real and Artificial”

circulate: move around
contract: squeeze together
chamber: section
valve: a membrane that controls flow of blood back and forth
transplant: remove and replace

When you learned how to read, you started by learning the alphabet. Then you began to recognize words and sentences. You read books for children, then branched out to other kinds of reading: street signs, cereal boxes, websites, texts, and so on. In this experience, you will learn some strategies for understanding what you read. Start by ensuring that you understand all the vocabulary you read and hear in discussions during this lesson.

Objectives

Develop understanding while reading.
Understand how to make inferences.
Use evidence and details from a text to determine key ideas.

Think about the following scenarios.

The battery on your phone is dead. You are sitting at school waiting for your ride to come get you, but you still have a few minutes to wait. You remember the book you picked out during your library class, so you take it out of your bag and start reading.
You are babysitting for your little neighbor, and he accidentally touches the hot stove where you are cooking. You can’t remember if you are supposed to put ice or just cold water on the burn. You use the Internet to look up how to treat this minor burn.

We read for many different reasons.

List at least one reason you read. To post more than one, separate them with commas, like this: geography, history.

Post your answer

Sample answers include:

pleasure
information
learning
studying
planning
texting/social media
word games

Share and discuss student responses. Point out that reading for pleasure is different than reading to gain information or to learn something.

When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.