READING COMPREHENSION AND CLOZE: Do You Know How To CLOZE? Grade 2 and Grade 3

Reading Comprehension and CLOZE. The prize to reading is comprehension!  We read for pleasure, and to gain knowledge and information.  Just like any good recipe, there are several ingredients necessary for developing reading comprehension strategies:  [Building the Reading Brain PreK-3 by Patricia Wolfe and Pamela Nevills]

Ingredients for Reading Comprehension: 

Using generous spoonfuls of:

• Vocabulary development (both listening and reading vocabularies)
• Concept Imagery [Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes®] is the ‘imaging’ of words from a story on the ‘movie screen’ in your mind.
• Illustrations (sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words)
• Words in context (using the other words in the sentence to help with a word’s meaning ‘skipping a word, read on, then go back’)
• Word definitions (ability to identify and understand roots of words, prefixes, and suffixes)
• Repeated encounters with a word (brain research suggests that a brain needs from 15-20 encounters with a word before it moves from short term memory to long term memory storage)
• Activating prior knowledge (questioning before, during, and after reading a selection)

Mix all ingredients for reading comprehension strategies together using a developmental bowl that starts at birth!

Babies:  2-3 months start babbling

Year 1-2: they say their first words

Year 2-3: they start combining words to form short phrases

Talk, talk, talk, and reading aloud forms the bowl

 Tools needed:  The key to reading comprehension strategies is using the best tools to combine the ingredients.

CLOZE is a fun reading comprehension tool.  Cloze expands vocabulary knowledge and the questions asked after reading the passage, develop comprehension.

Try the following CLOZE story of Buckaroo Buckeye, for Grade 2-3 reading, based on the children’s book Buckaroo Buckeye-A Little Nut with Big Dreams by Kristin Anderson Cetone

Word Bank

Path    buckeye    purpose    world    chestnut    Ohio    important   Arizona

buck    worthless    dream    hurtful    place    voice     travelled      bullies

Directions:  Fill in the missing words.  Use the word bank provided.  The number of letters for each missing word is shown.  All the missing words are parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, or verb.

Buckaroo Buckeye is the story of a little _ _ _ _ _ _ _ nut.  He fell from his tree in the State of _ _ _ _.  A buckeye tree is a member of the horse _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ family.  The buckeye got its name from Native Americans because they thought the dark brown nut with the tan cap looked like the eye of a _ _ _ _ deer.  Buckaroo admired the big, beautiful _ _ _ _ _that unfolded before him as he lay next to his cracked shell under the mighty tree!  The other nuts around him teased him and called him a 

‘_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ nut.’  These _ _ _ _ _ _ _ words made Buckaroo very sad.  An older and wiser nut encouraged him to follow his _ _ _ _ _ of finding his purpose and value.  Buckaroo listened to his inner

_ _ _ _ _ .  He was going to be _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ one day!  It had to be out there some _ _ _ _ _.  With the help of a little girl and her family, Buckaroo _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the world from Kentucky, to Missouri, to Louisiana to New York to California to Paris, Rome, Venice, Spain, and Switzerland. Eventually his path led to _ _ _ _ _ _ _.  So many wonderful places, but sadly Buckaroo did not feel he had found his

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ and value.  In Arizona he met many _ _ _ _ _ _ _ from tarantula, to scorpion to rattlesnake.  One day a young hiker changed his _ _ _ _ and led him to his place of purpose and worth.

Your Answer Is…

Buckaroo Buckeye is the story of a little buckeye nut.  He fell from his tree in the State of Ohio.  A buckeye tree is a member of the horse chestnut family.  The buckeye got its name from Native Americans because they thought the dark brown nut with the tan cap looked like the eye of a buck deer.  

Buckaroo admired the big, beautiful world that unfolded before him as he lay next to his cracked shell under the mighty tree!  The other nuts around him teased him and called him a ‘worthless nut.’  These hurtful words made Buckaroo very sad.  An older and wiser nut encouraged him to follow his dream of finding his purpose and value.  

Buckaroo listened to his inner voice.  He was going to be important one day!  It had to be out there some place.  With the help of a little girl and her family, Buckaroo travelled the world from Kentucky, to Missouri, to Louisiana to New York to California to Paris, Rome, Venice, Spain, and Switzerland.  Eventually his path led to Arizona.  So many wonderful places, but sadly Buckaroo did not feel he had found his purpose and value.  In Arizona he met many bullies from tarantula, to scorpion to rattlesnake.  One day a young hiker changed his path and led him to his place of purpose and worth.

Complete the reading comprehension strategies by asking these Questions:

1. Where did Buckaroo fall from his tree?
2. What family of trees is the buckeye a member of?
3. What did the other nuts call Buckaroo?
4. What did Buckaroo dream of doing?
5. Did his dream come true?  How?
6. How would you respond to hurtful words?  How did Buckaroo respond?