Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Vocabulary Book

The Key Vocabulary Routine is a content vocabulary program for grades 4 through 12 that can be used in all classrooms. The program emphasizes the integration of vocabulary instruction in any content area (e.g., science, social studies, English language arts, math).

The Key Vocabulary Routine emphasizes growth of vocabulary through wide reading, multiple exposures to words and linking new words to background knowledge. The book includes classroom instruction to support the following:

• Providing direct, systematic instruction of specific content  vocabulary and how to select the most appropriate new words from content reading material
• Teaching a word in relation to other words using activities such as categorizing, semantic feature analysis, and semantic mapping
• Analyzing word structure and teaching word parts, including the most common roots, suffixes and prefixes
• Teaching strategies for using context to determine word meaning
• Teaching strategies for effective use of a dictionary and creating student generated definitions

The Key Vocabulary Routine includes numerous examples and practice exercises, including opportunities to develop activities from reading material used in the teacher's own classroom. There are also reproducible templates.

Comprehension Book

The Key Comprehension Routine is a flexible program that can be used to teach and practice comprehension strategies for grades 4 through 12. The routine includes the following skills and strategies: main idea skills, use of text structure, top-down topic webs, two-column notes, summarizing, and question generation using Bloom's Taxonomy. These skills are combined into a series of four activities that can be used with all content reading material and classroom lessons.

In this book you will find:

• An overview of reading comprehension strategies, including factors that can affect comprehension
• A description of The Key Comprehension Routine with suggestions for how it can be implemented both in the classroom and as a school-wide program
• Hands-on suggestions for how to teach the skills in the routine embedded in content instruction

The book includes numerous examples and practice exercises, including opportunities to develop activities from reading material used in the teacher's own classroom. There are also reproducible templates.