STAAR TARGET Reading Skills

T for Title
Genre: F/NF
Authors Purpose: PIE

If you learn all of these skills, then you are

Point of View: 1st or 3rd person

Underline all titles, sub-titles, headings, & sections
A for All 5 Fingers scan
Circle underlined words
Check off any pictures, graphs, and graphs.
Write the word caption under the pictures.
R Read the Questions
Code all questions and write words to help yourself.
G Go Back and read the story slowly and carefully.
Write a synonym next to each word circled. Underline the beginning of each long paragraph.
E Eliminate and prove your answers.
Cross off the wrong answers.
Write the number of where you found the answer in the story.
T Two-finger Touch
Make sure your answer choice matches the bubble sheet answer choice.

STAAR-tastic!

STAAR Strategies
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Authors Purpose: AP = PIE (Persuade = convince), (Inform = information), (Entertain = mostly funny)
Theme: Lesson I learned (Never pick opinion words: never, still, always, only, all)
Infer/Predict/Conclude: Make a guess based on what you have read so far
Genre: Fiction: Fables, Tall tales, Legends, Fairy tales, Folk tales, short stories Non-fiction: True, informative stories
Summary: BME (Beginning-Middle-End), must be in that order; do not pick answers that are too short or just give details
Point of View: 1st person (I am always first) or 3rd person (he, she, they)
Main Idea: one sentence of what the story is about
Context Clues (CC3): read the sentence before, the sentence the word is in, and the sentence after;
for single words: plug the word in
9. Text and Graphic Features: text words, graphics pictures (images)
10. Prefixes: come before the word (pre, re, dis, un, bi, in, im, mid, mis, de)
11. Suffixes: come after the word (er/or, ful, able, less, er, est)
12. Sequence: ABCD boxes to put events in order, then go back and find the letters you need and mark them in the story
13. Problem/Solution: solution is how the problem is fixed
14. Body/Details: the details support the body (spiderweb)
15. Fact: something that is true
16. Opinion: something that is not true
17. Compare: how the story or characters are alike
18. Contrast: how the story or characters are different
19. Story Structure: characters, setting, plot, problem, solution
20. Cause/Effect: label the bubbles: BECAUSE this, THEN THIS happened
21. Synonyms: words that mean the SAME
22. Antonyms: words that mean the opposite
23. Homophones: words that sound exactly the same but have a different meaning
24. Homograph: words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have a different meaning
25. Drawing Conclusions: making a guess about what will happen based on what you already know