“When it comes to learning reading comprehension strategies children differ. They learn in fits and starts. What works for one may not work for another. For some it’s a matter of time, for others a matter of interest. Some kids take these strategies and run with them after one whole-group Toolkit lesson. Others need additional time, guidance, and practice to internalize comprehension strategies and use them to make sense of what they read. The small-group lessons in Comprehension Intervention are specifically designed to support those kids.”
-- Stephanie Harvey, Anne Goudvis, and Judy Wallis

Enhance your Toolkit Instruction with Targeted, Small-Group Lessons

Created to follow each Toolkit lesson, the Comprehension Intervention small-group sessions narrow the instructional focus, concentrating on critical aspects of the Toolkit’s lesson strategy to reinforce kids’ understanding, step by step. Using the language of the Toolkits in a small-group setting, Comprehension Intervention approaches each Toolkit strategy lesson in a new way and with new texts, showing kids that they can apply the thinking and strategy language they learned within the whole group to a wide variety of readings.

Framed around the gradual release of responsibility, the four-step session structure provides explicit scaffolded instruction. With an eye towards formative assessment, each session ends with Assess and Plan, a section that supports daily progress monitoring with strategy-specific suggestions for reviewing student work, assessing students’ thinking and accomplishment of session goals, and determining the need for additional practice.

Comprehension Intervention lessons lend themselves to a variety of instructional settings:

Guided reading groups—Sessions are ideal for small, flexible, needs-based guided reading groups to reinforce or extend what has been taught in a Toolkit lesson.

Tier 2 RTI groups—Sessions are designed to take about thirty minutes. They break down the original Toolkit instruction into smaller steps, making learning more accessible for Tier 2 students.

Tier 3 RTI groups—Infinitely flexible and targeted, sessions help teachers increase instructional intensity for individuals or very small groups, allowing additional time for instruction and practice.