Reading Comprehension Lesson Plans - Try This Nifty Idea When Teaching Comprehension

Make Simple Stick Puppetswith the same characters.
Ask your students to do the following.Students can work individually or in pairs to create
- Draw the main characters from the story you areanother story with the puppet characters. Get the
exploring onto thick paper.students to form small groups of four to six and retell
- To control the size, fold the A4 paper into 8 andtheir new stories to each other. If there is time, the
draw each character in one of the rectangles.students can then write and illustrate their new stories.
- Also draw any other important elements of the story.Students can use the puppets to create scenes from
If you are doing "The Three Little Pigs", you will needthe story.
the three houses as well. If you are doing "Cinderella",If you have younger students (and access to a sand
you will need the pumpkin coach as well.pit) let them use the puppets and sand to create a
- Color your puppets, cut them out and glue them ontoscene from story. If you can, take photos and display
sticks.them in the class. The students can then write or type
- Store the puppets in an envelope or piece of A4a sentence that describes what is happening in their
paper folded in half and stapled at the sides.picture and this can be placed underneath. Once the
- Decorate the envelope and write the title of thestudents have finished their sand scene creation let
story and the name of the characters on it.them play freely with the puppets for awhile.
Once the puppets are made they can be used inIf you don't have a sand pit, the puppets will also stand
other activities.up in the grass. Grassland scenes can be created
Students can use the puppets to retell the story.from leaves, flowers and sticks. If that is not possible,
A student can retell the story on their own using theask the students to create a back drop to one of the
puppets as props (great for assessment) or eachscenes in the story using an A3 piece of art paper.
student can play a character and the group can retellStudents can use the puppets to create a book.
the story. The group version works best if there is anIf you have time and your students have the ability,
adult leading the story. As the adult reads or retells thesmall groups could create all the key scenes from the
story the appropriate student uses the puppet to actstory, photograph them, and use a computer to add
out what is happening. Ask the student controlling thetext to the photos. Their work can be shown to the
puppet to get their puppet to say something at theclass using power point or printed out to create a
same time,"Oh no, it's the Big, Bad Wolf again!"simple book.
Students can use the puppets to tell a different story