Teaching Thinking to Elementary Students
Thinking Skills Mini-Lesson: Do I Understand?
The point of all reading is comprehension. This is an important part of learning to read, especially when children are going to use the information from their reading to complete a project. Some readers become so preoccupied with saying letters and words that they forget to pay attention to the sense of what they’re reading. The following mini-lesson on checking for understanding should be given many times during the year with different kinds of texts.

“Today, you’re going to be reading some non-fiction books to learn about bears. Understanding what you read is the most important part of reading. I am going to show you what I think about while I’m reading to make sure I understand.” 

'The black bear is approximately 5 feet long. Females typically weight about 90 pounds, while males weigh about 290 pounds. However, some can weigh up to 700 pounds.’

“Now I’m going to ask myself some questions about what I just read to see if I understood. ‘What was this about?’ It was about the size of bears. 'Was there any part I didn’t understand?’ No."

“Now I’ll read the next part. ‘Cubs usually weigh about 1 pound at birth. They have small eyes, rounded ears, a long snout, a large body, and a short tail. The shaggy hair varies in color from white through chocolate brown, cinnamon brown, and blonde to black, but most black bears are indeed black or a darker shade of brown."

“I’ll ask myself ‘What was the section about?’ It was about what color they are. ‘Was there any part I didn’t understand?’ What a snout is. 'If it is important to know that word, what could I do?’ I could ask someone or look it up in the dictionary."

“While you’re reading it’s very important to ask yourself if you understand and what you can do if you don’t understand. Now I want you to read a page from your book with a partner and take turns asking yourself those questions at the end of the page.”

While students are practicing the strategy, the teacher coaches them as needed. Afterwards they share their experience and determine whether or not the strategy was effective.

Teacher:	“Did anyone think of something different to do if they didn’t understand what they were reading?”
Student:	“I just read it over again.”
Teacher:	“That’s a good strategy. Sometimes I like to put a little mark on a place I don’t understand so I can go back and ask someone about it later. Sometimes I don’t care if I understand a part because I don’t think it’s important, so I just keep reading, but I have to be really sure that it’s not important.”

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