Seven habits of proficient readers:

1. Activating Prior knowledge: 

a.Text-self:

 b. Text-text:

"... there were hugs and kisses and " oh my , how you've grown!" and  " How tall you are...is this you?"
This  sentence in this book " Big Mama's" by Donald Crews reminded me of another book that I read "The Relatives Came" by Cynthia Rhyland. When relatives came to visit they hugged, and kissed.
In the picture on page 27 in "Big Mama's"  all family members are sitting around a big table eating, talking and laughing. That reminded me of the picture I saw in " The Relatives Came". There too, everybody was sitting around a big table. It was a big family and there were so many people. They were eating, talking and laughing.
On page 28 everybody was looking at the millions of  stars and pointing out at their favorites. That reminded me of " My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother" by Patricia Polacco. There, all the family members laid on their blankets and they watched the stars.
 

c. text-to world:

The book" The Hurricane" by  Jonathan London reminded me of the hurricanes that happened in Florida last summer. I watched them on tv. It was scary. People had to evacuate the whole city. They secured their houses and left everything behind to save their lives. Some of them stayed in shelters just like the one the families in the story did. The storm was so strong that it lifted up most of the roofs. Many buildings and trees collapsed. After it was over, everything turned into normal but the damage had been done. Hundreds of people lost their homes.
 

2. Creating mental images:

    Swords, axes, knives, daggers, spears, shields clinging together, arrows swishing past the night sky. Screams of pain could be heard from every corner. Bodies lying on the floor, hurt or dead. Commanders barking orders. Orcs stomping down the field. Stomp!, stomp! stomp! marching down with spears in their hands and red eyes glaring in the dark with a concentrated face staring at the enemy, ready for a battle. 1,2,3 the battle had begun.

WHY IS THIS PARAGRAPH A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR CREATING MENTAL IMAGES?

( That is an excellent example for creating mental images because when you close your eyes, you can actually feel like you are there witnessing the event. You can hear the screams of pain, the marching of the warriors, and the orders that the commanders were giving. You can hear and see the arrows, swishing and the shields clinging together. You can see the red eyes of the warriors glaring in the dark.)

3. Questioning the author and the text:

That is asking yourself questions before , during and after reading.

Before you read, you look at the cover and the title and then you ask questions about let's say what the book might be about. As you read, you ask questions like:

• What don't I understand?
• What does the author mean in this sentence/phrase?
• Why did the author use certain techniques? etc...

4. Using fix-up strategies to repair comprehension:

As you read you apply different strategies to better understand the text. You:

• re-read
• underline
• use dictionary
• read aloud
• ask for help
  

5. Retelling or Sythesizing:

Retelling:  Telling a story like you read it, in the same order using facts and details from the story.

Summarizing:  A kind of retelling but just telling about the most important parts of the story.

Synthesizing:  Making sense out of the message of the story you read. Putting the pieces of a story together. Putting together in your head the retelling, the summary and understanding the themes or big ideas in a story. Your ideas change as you read.

The answer to these questions:

• What does it all mean?
• What is the big idea?

6. Making inferences:

Filling in missing stuff about a story because the author doesn’t tell you.  You have to think about the story and things that you know
You use clues to determine what is happening in a story.
 

7.  Deciding on big ideas in a story (prioritizing information):