2. Finding the Main Idea
• A sentence that tells what the passage is mainly about.
• The best title for the passage.
• I can ask myself “what is this passage mostly about”?
3. Recalling Facts and Details
• Every passage has them.
• They tell more about the main idea.
• They are things that are mentioned in the passage.
• I can look back to the passage to find them.
4. Understanding Sequence
• Sequence is the same as the order.
• A passage is told in sequence.
• Different things happen at the beginning, middle and
ending of a passage.
• This is about remembering.
• This is about putting events or details in order.
• This is about first, second, next, later, lastly, before or
after.
5. Cause and Effect
• A cause is something that happens.
• An effect is something that happens because of the
cause.
• Key words are why, what happened or because.
• An example of a cause: I throw the ball.
• An example of effect: The ball hit the wickets.
6. Comparing and Contrasting
• How two things are alike or different.
• Finding likenesses and differences.
• Key words are: most like, different, alike or similar.
7. Making Predictions
• Something I think will happen in the future.
• What will probably or most likely happen next.
• The answer is not written in the passage.
• There are clues about the answer in the passage.
• I can make a good guess from the clues
8. Finding Word Meaning In
Context
• I can find out what a word means by reading it in a
sentence.
• This is called understanding word meaning in context.
• Find the unfamiliar word in a sentence.
• Replace the word in the sentence with each answer
choice.
• See which answer makes the most sense.
9. Drawing Conclusions and Making
Inferences
• The author doesn‟t always tell us everything.
• Figure it out on my own.
• Example: The moon shone through the bedroom window
as Lou sat up in bed.
Conclusion: It is night time.
• Key words are: you can tell or probably
10. Distinguishing Fact and Opinion
• Which statements are facts and which are opinion.
• A fact is something that is true.
• An opinion tells about how a person feels about
something.
• Facts can be proven.
• Opinions cannot be proven.
• Opinion statements often contain: most, best, nicest and
greatest.
11. Identifying Author‟s Purpose
• Why did the author write the passage?
• I can remember P.I.D.E.
P - To persuade me to do something
I - To give me information
D - To describe something to me
E - To entertain me
12. Interpreting Figurative Language
• Some words are used to mean something different from
their usual meaning.
Example: „I spilled the beans‟.
Meaning. „I didn‟t mean to tell the secret‟.
13. Distinguishing between Real and
Make-believe
• Find which things could happen and which things could
not happen.
• Things that are real - Things in a passage that could
happen.
• Things that are make-believe - Things in a passage that
could not really happen.
• Key words: could really happen or could not really
happen.
