Comprehension Strategies: Schema Part 1: Introduction

Now that students realize that reading is thinking and that good readers pay attention to their "inner voice", I can start to explain/name the strategies that their "inner voice" is taking them through. 

I start with explaining what schema is  using a strategy from Tanny McGregor's Comprehension Connections:
I name the word and explain it is all the things that they have in their head - like the people we know. I tell the students some small stories from my life, for example, how I love playing with my best friend, Jenna.  As I talk about some of our favorite games I write her name on small piece of paper.  I say "it's also the places we've been." I write down a vacation spot that my students have heard me talk and write about before. "It's also the things you know", writing down cooking on another strip of paper. I conclude giving examples of books I've read, experiences I've had, and information I've seen on T.V - each time writing the topic/person/place on small piece of paper. I can see their curiosity building - they want to hear more about my life and wonder why I am writing all this information down. Then I explain, as we go through life our brain remembers all this stuff. It's like a lint roller. Pulling out the largest roller I can find and rolling it over my strips of paper, I show students how all those little papers stick to roller just like the actual people and experiences are stuck in my head. This concrete visualization spurs students to start sharing their experiences and knowledge with one in another. They hurry to piles of paper strips on their desk and begin writing  . . . strip after strip. Comparing their knowledge to each other - already beginning the strategy of making connections.  "I've been to Disney too!" Then each student rolls up their schema and we display it as a reminder of how much we already know!

For homework, I ask students to complete The Many Pieces of My Graphic Organizer created by Linda Teese.

I also love this little creativity from  Amy at Milk and Cookies.

 The next day we begin learning how that schema, sometimes referred to as prior knowledge helps us understand our reading. We begin the lesson by doing the One Minute Determiner activity also found in Comprehension Connections. I split the paper into a t-chart. I write a familiar topic on one side. I give the students 1 minute to share their schema, writing it down as they shout it out. I repeat the activity on the other side with a topic I know they don't have schema for. Afterwards, I have students turn and talk about why there is such a different in the two topics. We sum up by writing SCHEMA down the right side. "Schema makes the difference!" I tell children I can tell they have a lot of schema for Cedar Point, but none for the Adirondacks. I explain that I have been to the Adirondacks so I have schema for it, sharing bits of my experience.

From here we beginning diving into Non-Fiction and use our schema to help us prepare to read and understand different non-fiction texts. Read about it in the post titled Comprehension Strategies: Schema Part 2 - Tapping into our Schema to Understand Non-Fiction.
*Once I finish writing up the entire Schema Unit, I will post my resources on my TPT store.