Schema

Another pre-comprehension strategy to teach is what is schema/background knowledge.  Some teachers teach schema with making connections.  I teach schema first because to me schema is a part of all the strategies even though it is essential for making connections.

My favorite book to teach schema with is a Fish is a Fish by Leo Lionni.  This lesson idea came from my former teaching buddy Tracy (by way of Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning).

First, you give each student a piece of paper that they fold, so that they have four boxes (or give them a little many book with four sheets). While you read a Fish is a Fish, you do not let the students see the pictures.  I don't even let them see the front cover.  At points in the book, where the frog tells the fish about a new animal,  you stop and ask the kids to draw the new animal.  At the end of the book, you have them show their drawings and then you show them the pictures from the book.   Fish in the book sees everything as a fish but with something added.  So a bird is a fish with wings.  Then we discuss that are drawings are different because our schemes are different.  And that fish's pictures in his head were OK for fish because that is all the schema fish had.  He knows fish and the pond-that is his schema. This lesson really helps the students understand that every one's schema is different, and that their limited experiences can be a hindrance to their understanding of a text.  So we usually have a conversation about how we can add to our schema or background knowledge.

As for a nonfiction text to teach schema, I have a book called Unusual Animals (It is out-of-print but there are several books like it.  I found one on Amazon called 101 Freaky Animals) that have facts about strange creatures that the children probably have not seen.  I would teach the lesson in a similar fashion.  I would read the description of the animal but not let them see the pictures, but have them try to draw the animal.  Then we would talk about why their pictures are different from each other and different from the real animal. It is because our schemas are different or because we do not have enough schema to draw the animal.