What's Important?

"Reading is all about thinking"...is one of my favorite sayings.  I am sure my class does not love it as much as I do.  It's true though, as we read we are thinking about the information in a story or text.  We may not realize that we are doing it, but that's what reading is all about.

We have been working on paying attention to our thinking as we read all year.  This past week though we have added a new twist.  Readers also need to determine what information is important to remember and what information is just interesting.  We did the following demonstration to help us understand...

Before Reading...

A Book

This represents a book.
We talked about how a book has a lot of information inside it. (aka..the water and the noodles)

Our Brain 

This strainer represents our brain.
As we read, all of the information in the book goes
through our brain.

As we read, the information from the story or text (the water and noodles) passes through our brain (the strainer).  This is what it looks like after we are done reading the story or text. 

After Reading... 

The book

After we read the story or text, only the interesting information from the book is left.

Our Brain

All of the important information from the story or text sticks to our brain.  That is the information that is going to help us understand what we have read.

This is the anchor chart that we created to help us remember.

So...as you read together at home, ask your child to tell you what is the interesting information and what is the important information.  Happy Reading!