Use What You Know to Read Better!

You can become a better reader by using what you already know! When you look at a new book, your brain can help you understand the story by thinking about things you have learned before. This is called using your prior knowledge to start reading.

Every time you see pictures, read covers, or think about what you know, you are getting ready to understand new stories better. Let's explore how you can use what you already know to become a stronger reader!

Prior knowledge means all the things you already know about the world. You know what dogs look like, how they bark, and that they like to play. You know that farms have animals and that the ocean has fish. All of these things you know can help you when you read new books!

When you start reading a book about dogs, you can think about dogs you have seen. This helps your brain get ready to understand the story better. Your prior knowledge makes reading easier and more fun.

Pictures give you important clues about stories! When you look at the cover of a book, you can see pictures that tell you what the story might be about. If you see a picture of a bear on the cover, you can think about what you know about bears.

You can also look at pictures inside the book before you read the words. These pictures help you guess what will happen in the story. When you see a picture of a jungle, you might think about animals that live there, like monkeys or birds.

Book covers are like treasure maps that give you clues! When you see a cobra and jungle on a book cover, you can predict the story will be about wild animals. When you see a giraffe and a hill, you might guess the giraffe will go on an adventure.

Looking at covers helps you prepare your brain for reading. You start thinking about the topic before you even read the first word. This makes the story easier to understand when you start reading.

Prior Knowledge: All the things you already know about the world that help you understand new stories and books.

Predict: To guess what might happen in a story by looking at clues like pictures and covers.

Cover: The front of a book that shows pictures and the title to give you clues about the story inside.

Setting: Where a story takes place, like a forest, ocean, or farm that you can see in pictures.

Characters: The people or animals in a story that you can identify from pictures and what you know about them.

Plot: What happens in a story that you can imagine by looking at pictures and using what you know.

You can practice using prior knowledge every day! Before you read any book, spend a few minutes looking at the cover and thinking about what you already know about the topic. If it's a book about farms, think about farm animals you know.

Try the "picture walk" activity - look through all the pictures in a book before reading any words. Use what you see and what you know to guess what the story will be about. This gets your brain ready for reading!

Using prior knowledge connects to many other reading skills you will learn. Use Prior Knowledge To Make Connections will teach you how to connect stories to your own life experiences.

You will also learn about Predicting and Using Prior Knowledge and Use Pictures as Reading Clues to become even better at understanding stories. These skills work together to help you read!

As you grow as a reader, you will use these skills for Use Personal Experience For New Texts and Making Background Knowledge Predictions. All of these skills help you become a confident, successful reader!