Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading (Paperback)

by Tanny McGregor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Deepen your understanding of Comprehension Connections. Listen to Tanny McGregor's three Webinars, archived here for use with professional learning groups of any size:

Click here to access the webinars now http://www.heinemann.com/mcgregorwebinar/

Inferring, questioning, determining importance. It's not easy to explain these abstract reading strategies to elementary readers, yet knowing how they work and how to use them is an important first step to connecting with texts. Fortunately Tanny McGregor has developed visual, tangible, everyday lessons that make abstract thinking concrete and that can help every child in your classroom make more effective use of reading comprehension strategies.

Comprehension Connections is a guide to developing children's ability to fully understand texts by making the comprehension process achievable, accessible, and incremental. McGregor's approach sequences stages of learning for each strategy that take students from a fun object lesson to a nuanced and lasting understanding. Her lessons build bridges between the concrete and the abstract by incorporating writing, discussion, song, art, and movement into a web of creative connections that reinforce each strategy on a variety of levels. All the while Comprehension Connections offers an inside look at the dynamic of McGregor's teaching, showing you how her ideas look in action, and including the language she uses and that she encourages her students to use as they build their facility with:

• schema
• inferring
• questioning
• determining importance
• visualizing
• synthesizing.

Many students struggle to understand what it is they are supposed to do as they learn to read strategically. Help them make connections to the ideas behind reading and watch as your readers go deeper into texts than ever before.

About the Author
Tanny McGregor has been teaching and learning in the West Clermont School District near Cincinnati, Ohio, for the past eighteen years. She currently supports twelve schools as a K - 12 literacy specialist, coaching teachers, providing demonstration lessons, and facilitating laboratory classrooms. In addition, Tanny is an adjunct professor for Ashland University, teaching graduate courses in creativity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann (February 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0325008876
• ISBN-13: 978-0325008875
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,981 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concrete Gold Mine, February 24, 2007

By	H. Rogers (Antelope, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Since Mosaic of Thought, I've been reading a lot about teaching reading comprehension strategies. But like my special education students, I needed someone to show me how to teach them-concretely. This little gem gives you anchor lessons for each strategy. The anchor lessons use objects, songs, movement to introduce students to reading strategies. I highly recommend this book to my special education commrades trying to help their students improve comprehension.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehension Connections, November 13, 2007

By	P. Esselman (West Bend, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Excellent concrete examples and charts that children can relate to and use as anchor lessons. I recommend this book to all elementary teachers of comprehension skills.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, June 10, 2008

By	Judy Cross (FL) - See all my reviews

I love this book! It is so easy to read. As a reading coach, I am writing a grant to get this book for my faculty so that we can do a book study. The book makes comprehension concrete for children. I have used the lessons in the book with both kindergarten students and fifth graders. I would suggest it for anyone looking to make the instruction of reading comprehension more accessible to elementary age children. I would also recommend it for teachers of struggling students in middle and high school. Explicit, concrete instruction is what this text provides.