Comprehension Stem Posters

When we are discussing the reading selection, I find it helpful if the students have sentence stems to look at during the whole group discussion.  Having stems such as "I would like to make a prediction about....." or "While I was reading, I made a connection to ....." help the students focus on the heart of the reading, as well as give them the confidence that their contributions to the discussion are valuable.

 Here are some posters that I have out in my room during our discussions that you may find useful.  I have done many different things with these (blow them up and hang them on the wall, project on the doc cam, back and laminate and just put them on the floor in the middle of our circle for discussion, hang them on the white board and then take them down)  Use them how you feel would most benefit your students.  You can even shrink them down and create a little booklet for them to have at all times.

Well, that was short and sweet (I know...totally NOT like me!  haa haa)

Have you used sentence stems during discussions?  How do they work for you?  Any to add to the mix?

For another Comprehension strategy I use in my class, head over to my guest blog post on the Organized Classroom Blog.  I wrote about the Strategy Fans each of my students have.