In Depth Comprehension

We read a book about lightning.  We were talking about questioning yourself while reading.  What do you already know? What don't you understand? Why does that happen? and many others.  I would do a read aloud and they would have sticky notes.  After each page we would stop and I would choose 3 questions that they have.  We would discuss these questions and try to determine if we could answer them now, after reading, or would have to look up to find out.  We would keep reading and find out if we answered those questions and answer and discuss new questions.  It took us a week to get through the book but the questions and discussions that we had were very in depth and higher order thinking questions.  This helps them understand that when you are reading you don't just keep reading, sometimes in order to understand you have to stop and ask questions.  Writing them down helps and I always have sticky notes for reading time.  They have learned to stop and question throughout reading to help them better understand and dig deeper into the meaning of the book.  This is a great strategy and the students like it.