Third Grade Reading Strategies: Techniques for Reading Better

Third Grade Reading Techniques

Preview and Make Predictions

Before you dive in and begin reading, it's a good idea to preview the material first and predict what it's going to be about. When you preview, you look at all of the pictures, names of chapters and captions (words under the pictures) that are provided by the author. Doing so will help you predict what will happen in the story. When you preview and predict, you're preparing your mind to get ready for the reading, and when your mind is ready, you'll understand what you're reading better.

Change Your Reading Speeds

Did you know that there are times you should read slowly and times you should read fast? Whenever you're reading to remember and really understand what you're reading, try slowing down. If you read too fast, you don't give your brain enough time to figure everything out. On the other hand, if you're looking for certain information in the story or answers to questions, it helps to read a little faster or skim the pages. Knowing how to adjust (or change) your speed takes time and practice, but the more you work at it, the better you'll become.

Pause-Think-Retell

To really make sure you understand what you're reading, sometimes you need to pause, think about it and retell what has happened or what is happening in your own words. This is sometimes called giving a summary. When you give a summary, you talk about all the important things that have happened in the story. Doing this allows you to keep up with what you're reading. You can tell your summary to your older brothers or sisters, teachers or parents and have them check to see if you have done it correctly.

Reread

Finally, it's always a good idea to read the material more than once. When you read something for the first time, you don't always understand everything or follow the story well because of issues like distractions and challenging words. Rereading the story helps you to catch information you may have missed the first time and understand parts that may have been difficult at first. Rereading also helps you when you have to answer questions about what you've read.