How to Teach Synthesizing (We Can Change our Mind when We Read)

Synthesizing in First Grade: When Our Thinking Changes as We Read In this week's episode of The Education Connection, I'm sharing how I teach synthesizing, a reading comprehension strategy that helps students recognize how their thinking changes as they read and learn new information. I'll walk you through my classroom routine, starting with a simple anchor chart, making predictions halfway through a read-aloud, and comparing those predictions to what actually happens at the end. Plus, I'm sh

Making Pictures in Our Minds: Teaching Visualization in First Grade | Writing About Reading Series What do popcorn, a good book, and a little imagination have in common? They're all part of one of my favorite reading comprehension lessons! 🍿📚 In this episode of The Education Connection, I'm sharing how I teach visualization in my first-grade classroom by turning our read-aloud into a little movie-theater experience! With popcorn bags, a movie-film anchor chart, and a surprise illustration rev

How to Teach Questioning in First Grade | Writing About Reading Series Are your first graders full of questions? Let's put that natural curiosity to work during reading! In this episode of The Education Connection, Robin Wilson from First Grade Love shares simple, practical ways to teach questioning as a reading comprehension strategy in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Discover how to help students ask meaningful questions before, during, and after reading—and how to turn those qu

In this episode of The Education Connection, we're wrapping up our three-part series on making connections with text-to-world connections! Discover simple ways to help first graders connect what they're reading to the world around them through seasons, holidays, community events, and everyday experiences. I'll share picture book recommendations, a simple anchor chart idea, and practical ways to turn reading connections into meaningful drawing and writing activities. Remember, if they can say

How do you teach text-to-self connections in first grade in a way young readers can really understand? In this episode of The Education Connection, Robin Wilson continues the Writing About Reading Series with a simple, classroom-tested approach to teaching text-to-self connections. Learn how to introduce the strategy with a Book → Me anchor chart, model your own connection, and help students connect events and feelings in a story to experiences from their own lives. Robin also shares how she m

How do you teach text-to-text connections in first grade without making the strategy too complicated for young readers? In this episode of The Education Connection, Robin Wilson shares the simple, step-by-step way she teaches first graders to connect one text to another as part of her Writing About Reading series. You'll hear how Robin uses a simple anchor chart with two books and a large arrow, chooses books with easy-to-find connections, and spreads the lesson across two days. She also share