Thinking Stems Being an Active Reader A. Making Connections: This reminds me of… An experience I have had like that… This reminds me of the book ________ because… How can I live differently because this book has been a part of my life? B. Asking Questions: I wonder… How come… Why… I’m confused… What if… I don’t understand… C. Visualizing/Sensory Images: In my mind I picture ______ when I read _____... I visualized… I can see… I can taste/hear/smell/feel… D. Inferring/Predicting: I think… Maybe this means… I’m guessing… This allows me to assume… I predict _____ because… E. Summarizing: So far this book is mostly about… The main ideas in this book are… Some important events are _____ because… First….Next….Then….Finally F. Synthesizing: I’m thinking that… At first I thought _____ but now I’m thinking _____ because… I’m changing my thinking again because… I think the lesson or theme is _____ because… These events have caused me to believe… G. Author’s Message: What is this really about? What does this story say about the world? Whose story is being told? What are the themes I have been identifying so far? What is the lesson of this book? H. Evaluating: I agree with _____ because… I don’t think … _________________________ _________________________ I. Setting (Time and Place): This takes place… Something I noticed about the setting… J. Characters: If I were (character’s name) I would… The character that interests me most is _____ because…
I would/would not like to live during this time period/in this place because… The author used _______ to describe the setting… A character that really changed in the story was _____ because he/she … I like/don’t like (character’s name) because… K. Plot: I think a problem in this story is… I (character’s name) will try to solve this problem by… An event that I think might happen next is… Another way this story could have ended is… Predict how the character might overcome an obstacle. L. Language: I like the way the author described… _____ is a new word for me. I think it might mean _____ because… An interesting (word, phrase, or sentence) that I noticed … _____ is one of my favorite passages because… *Record page numbers you noticed language! M. Author: I think the author wrote this book because… It’s interesting how the author… Something I noticed the author’s style… I’d like to read another book by this author because… I do/don’t like this author’s writing style because… N. Illustrator: If I were the illustrator of this book I would change/draw… I could draw _______ as a symbol for _______ because… Illustrations would/wouldn’t make this story more interesting because… O. Non-Fiction Prompts: Something that interests me about this topic is… Something new I learned… I want to learn more about… Some questions I still have about the topic… The author made the topic interesting by…. An illustration or picture that interested me the most was _____ because… Something I don’t understand… P. Open – ended Prompts: If I could change one part of the selection, I would change _______ because … I wish… Something that surprised me was… As I read this selection, I felt _____ because… I liked/didn’t like when ______ because… My favorite part was when _____ because… I noticed… I think the genre of this selection is _____ because…