Kate's Resource Share

Hi all,



I said I would post this a long time ago but I kept forgetting to have someone scan it for me (I only had a hard copy until now). These are the sentence stems that I mentioned several weeks ago in a post. The were shared with me as part of a professional development training. The are very useful in helping students learn how to talk about what they have read. Some of them have to be adjusted to make sense at times, but kids seem to be pretty good about figuring that out. I also write some of my own if the ones on this sheet don't seem to fit. According to the presenter, these also help students learn to think and write in complete sentences. I can see that as a possibility but I have no hard research to back up this assertion. I find that they also help teach students positive behaviors for social interaction.I hope you enjoy. (I had it in a nice neat graph, but I can't get it to attach as an image or copy and paste well!)


Comprehension Skills and Say Something Stems
A competent reader will demonstrate the ability to:
Retell Facts
* "l thought it was interesting when ...happened"

Comprehend
Story Elements
* "l'm going to discuss..."..the setting(time + place
..the problem
..a series of events
..the turning point
..the resolution

Analvze the Character
* "l think the character . . .f e e l s . . . "
* "l think the character'smood is . . . "
*"The character... acts like . . . "
* "The character . . .d o e s . . . "
*"The character... thinks(and/or believes) . . . "
*"l think the character has these personality traits:

Make lnferences
* "Even though ... is never said in the text, I think it means . . . "
* "Even though ... doesn't say ... I think he/she means/t this. . . "

Associate PersonalFeelings
* "When. . . happened, itmade me leel . . . "

Predict Upcoming Events
*" l predict. . . .will happen next! "

*"Because I know that . . . ,I think ... will happen nextl"

Speculate about Possibilities
* "l wonder what might have happened if ... had happened,"

Make a SummaryStatement
*"ln 20 words or less, I think this story was about ..." (who, where,when, and what)

Make a Relevant Connection
(Personal and Literary)
* "When ... happened. it reminded me of . . . "
* " W h e n . . . h a p p e n e d , it reminded me of ... I've read in... book (movie, TV, play).

Analyze the Main ldea and Theme
*"l'm going to discuss the title . .. "
* "The author's main idea was . . . '
* "The theme of the text is . . ."

Analyze Author's Stvle
* "l think the author's philosophy of life is . . . "
*"l'd like to thank ... forhis/her expressive language. Join me on page ... paragraph... and I will read it to you."
* "ln so and so's other book these things ... are similar."
* "ln so and so's other book, these things . . .are di fferent . "
*"This author is like or different from such and such author because. . . "

Demonstrate Knowledse of Vocabulary
*"Some challenging and interesting words and phrases the author tried are ..." (give page and
paragraph
* "ln ... story the author used these kinds of words,and in this story he/she used . . . "
* "Please join me on page..., paragraph ... and l e t ' s talk about the author's fascinating vocabulary and phrasing."

Analvze lllustrations /Charts / Graphs
* "l like (dislikel these illustrations because . . ."
* "These illustrations truly fit the meaning of the text because . . . "
* "These illustrations give extra meaning to the text because . . . "
# "These charts and graphs support a reader's understanding because . . . "

Reread or Restate to Validate or Revise
* "l think this ... and l ' d like you to join me on page . . paragraph . . , while I
read to you the proof of my thinking."
# "When I made a prediction, at first I thought ... and now I know . . . "

Contrast and Compare
* " ... is like ... because
* "... is not like . . .because.". .

Demonstrate Environment of Reading
* "l'd like you to join me on page ..., paragraph . . .while I read aloud my favorite part."
*" lt made me laugh (cry,angry, sad, etc.) to read about . . . "

'CreatingC lasstooms{o r Authorsa nd Inquirersb v Kathy G. Short and JeromeH arstew ith CarolynB urkea nd contributingT eacherR esearchersN, l1:t leinemann,1 996
"The numberb esidee achs tandardc oo.dinatesw ith the numberf ound in the text of IRA/NCTES tandardsfo r the Enqlis.hL an0uaqeA rts, Urbana,l L: NCTE/IRA.1 996
Say Somelhing, Pass and Read, and Synonym Substitution have been adapted and prepared by Mary Lynn Woods, Education Consultant-
T h i s s t r a t e g y m e y n o t b e r e p r i n t e d w i t h o u t s p e c i a l permissionfromMaryLynnWoods. {March20Ol}
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