Third Grade Codes for Comprehension

Coding is a strategy that can help to deepen comprehension while reading. Students use a symbol to represent a reading strategy. Third grade used coding while reading articles about the Chinese New Year celebration and the Kitchen God. A star represented an important fact, an exclamation point stood for an interesting detail, a question mark was used when the student had a question or wanted to know more and a squiggly line stood for a new word or a vocabulary word. It was remarkable to see how using these symbols helped the students to be very active readers.

When they finished coding the article, students looked back at what they had marked and selected the most interesting and important information to record on their form. The reading of various kinds of texts allows for different kinds of reading.

We teach students strategies to deepen their thinking while reading in hopes that they will have an array of strategies to use when reading on their own at home. Students have various learning styles and being able to draw on a strategy that fits their own learning style is important. This experience with coding will be a positive addition to a student's collection of reading strategies.