Four Characters

Ms. Leom uses "reciprocal reading" (officially referred to as "reciprocal teaching" strategy) in her classroom to support student reading. She introduces the four skills using characters.

First, we meet Madame Prediction. Before and during reading, we should predict.
I think ... I wonder ...

 We also met Clara Clarifier. As we read, when we come to a word or phrase we don't know, we clarify or use fix-up monitoring to know we need to pause, reread, and attempt to sort out what isn't making success. Clara says, "Reread! Reread! Reread!" She also encourages using context clues, reading ahead, and slowing down.

 Queen of Questions is another character. She has questions before she reads, as she reads, and after she reads. She works well with Madame Prediction and Clara Clarifier to support our comprehension, understanding of the texts we read.

Sunny Summerizer is another character. Before she starts a book or text, she thinks about everything she knows about a topic, summarizing. As she reads, she might stop at a section, a page, a chapter, or after reading to retell the big ideas in the order that they happened.

We talk about the four characters as the four main hats we wear as readers. Our brains are active as we read, constantly switching hats to support our understanding of the texts we read.