Comprehension Cards To Go

     As I may have mentioned before, I am a little bit of a bookworm... okay, who am I kidding? I could lay under a shade tree and read all day! Most of my students, however, do not come into my classroom with the same appreciation for literature as I have.  It's really hard work to lure those kids away from the instant gratification of ipads and electronics to get real books in their hands (of course, if all else fails e-readers and Kindle apps are a great option). My second biggest struggle, aside from actually getting them to enjoy reading, is helping them comprehend the text. 
     I've put together a couple of great resources to use in your classroom that will work with any text to increase your students' comprehension. They're very inexpensive because every teacher deserves to get great resources without going broke. :) (Hello, year six of a pay freeze!)
   I printed each page on cardstock, cut them apart, and then laminated them. Each color set is a different level of Bloom's so you can easily distinguish between each type of skill you want to work on. Then I punched a hole into the upper left-hand corner of each card and slipped them onto a binder ring. Originally I had the entire set on one large ring and I just pulled out the cards I wanted to use. This week I decided to separate each color onto a different ring so I didn't have to fuss with moving through each color. After you get your cards on your ring, you can hang them anywhere for a quick assessment or comprehension activity (mine are hanging right next to my whiteboard).
    To introduce the cards, I gave each student in the room one card from the same set (I started with pink) and asked them to read the question and reflect on the text that they'd just been reading, "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic". After a few minutes of silent reflection, they discussed their questions in small groups. Once they get in the habit of reflecting with the cards, I mix the card sets up so each group has a variety of Bloom's levels.

There are so many ways to use these little gems:

• They're fantastic whole-group discussion starters for any text. 
• When we're partner reading, I can quickly pass out a few cards to each set of partners for reflection.  
• Students can choose one, or more, to create a written reflection of text they've read 
•  My higher level readers can also use the cards independently if they're doing a differentiated novel study (which saves me a TON of extra planning!) 
• It's easy to differentiate for struggling readers since each set is color-coded. 

If you're interested in picking up this resource, click on the link below the image to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oral-Question-Cards-with-Owls

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Blooms-revised-Taxonomy-Sentence-Stem-Cards-with-Owls
These Sentence Stem Cards are available with or without owl clipart.

If you love the cards, but need a different theme, download the product on my store and email me.
 I'd be happy to customize it for your classroom needs! :D

Happy Reading!