Students use the strategy of visualization here to better comprehend text

Title – Good Readers Visualize
By – Donna Misrok
Primary Subject – Language Arts
Grade Level – 1-2

Aim/Objective:

Students will use the strategy of visualizing to better comprehend text.

Prior Knowledge:

Students should be able to make text-to-self connections; and they should be able to make guesses and predictions related to a story.

Materials:

• Picture book — The Vegetables Go To Bed by Christopher King
• Poem — One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein
• Paper and crayons/colored pencils
• White board and markers

Procedure:

Whole Group:
1. Prepare white board: Good Readers Visualize .
2. What does visualize mean?
   • Making pictures in your head
   • Taking snapshots
3. How do we visualize?
   • By making connections
   • Using what we already know; drawing upon our background knowledge and experiences
4. Are everyone’s pictures the same?
   • No — because we all have different background knowledge and experiences
5. Demonstrate this point — give students a word (i.e., flower) and have 2 students come up to the white board and draw what they picture in their head. Point out that each student’s drawing was different. Repeat this with a few different words — bed, ice cream, tree, home
6. Ask students to close their eyes and visualize while you read The Vegetables Go To Bed , by Christopher King Do not show the pictures.

Practice:
• Individual Activity:
  Give each student a piece of white paper to draw on. Students will use colored pencils or crayons. Ask them to draw something they visualized from the book.
• Whole Group Share:
  Regroup in a circle on the rug and have each student present their visualization illustration. Point out how each is different from another because how/what we visualize is based not just on what we all heard together, but also on our previous knowledge and past experiences. For example, one student might draw a bunkbed while another student might draw a regular bed.

Wrap-up:
Review what visualizing means and how it helps us to better understand/comprehend a story.

Follow-up:
• Reread The Vegetables Go To Bed and share the illustrator’s illustrations. Compare with what students drew.
• Reinforce visualization strategy by doing similar lesson with a different genre (poetry). Read Shel Silverstein’s Poem — One Inch Tall . Ask students to illustrate what they visualize and share.

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