Reading Comprehension Bookmarks to Support Academic Language

Are you wondering how you can provide valuable support for students’ reading comprehension, particularly for those who are still learning to read in English? These Reading Comprehension Bookmarks are designed to equip students with the necessary tools to articulate their thoughts and ideas about the texts they have read effectively.

These bookmarks are carefully created to enhance their reading experience and boost their confidence in English language proficiency.

I have worked with many English learners at a variety of levels over my teaching career. Most students I taught were not newcomers and were in my general education classroom but received almost no outside support. I was the teacher responsible for helping them learn English and learn the content for the grade level.

Using sentence frames and giving students the language they need to be successful is so important.  They don’t know the words they need to use when speaking and writing about academic concepts unless we specifically teach them.

Components of Academic Language – Functions and Forms

In an earlier blog post, I outlined the components of academic language in depth. You can read the blog post for more details, but as a quick recap, the main components of academic language include functions (the purpose of using language) and forms (the sentence structure and vocabulary).

I designed these Reading Comprehension Bookmarks to support students who are speaking and writing about text using academic language.

What is Included in the Reading Comprehension Bookmarks

Included are 24 reading comprehension bookmarks for both reading skills and reading strategies. These reading comprehension bookmarks will help your students practice all the good reading strategies and skills they’ve learned all year long.

Use these reading bookmarks as references or to keep track of how to respond to the text.

Each reading bookmark has the following components:

• name of the reading strategy or reading skill
• prompts that you might ask students or that students could ask themselves while reading
• a sample graphic organizer that aligns with the comprehension skill or strategy
• sample student responses with sentence frames (when applicable)
• vocabulary that aligns with the comprehension skill or strategy
• blank spaces for more vocabulary words as well as a “back page” where students can write down unknown words they come across as they read

The set contains 24 comprehensive bookmarks designed to enhance both reading skills and reading strategies. These reading comprehension skills and strategies are not aligned with any specific curriculum or set of standards. They are the skills and strategies that are taught across many programs and woven through many state standards.

Here are the reading comprehension skills and strategies included in the reading bookmarks:

Reading Comprehension Skills

• Identify Main Idea & Details
• Determine Author’s Purpose
• Identify Cause & Effect
• Classify & Categorize
• Compare & Contrast
• Draw Conclusions
• Determine Fact & Opinion
• Describe Figurative Language (& Examples of Figurative Language)
• Identify Genre (& List of Popular Genres)
• Describe Plot
• Identify the Point of View
• Make Predictions
• Sequence Events
• Describe Story Structure
• Identify Explicit Information in Non-Fiction Texts
• Determine Theme
• Summarize / Summarise*

7 Reading Strategies Bookmarks

• Make Connections
• Ask Questions
• Make Inferences
• Visualize / Visualise*
• Determine Important Information
• Monitor Comprehension
• Understand Text Structure

* Visualize and Summarize are available in two spellings for English-speaking classrooms outside of the United States. The pages are exactly the same, but Summarise and Visualise are spelled with an “s” instead of a “z”.

Examples of the Reading Bookmarks

Here are some examples of the bookmarks included in this resource.  They come four to a page and are black and white for easy printing on colored paper. Simply print and cut them apart!

Each bookmark has the title of the skills or strategy and a question or prompt students can ask themselves. Most bookmarks have sentence frames students can use when answering the questions.

I  have also included vocabulary on most bookmarks that support the comprehension skills or strategy.  If there is room, there are extra lines to write additional vocabulary words.  There is also a full page of lines specifically for story vocabulary.  Depending on the unit, I print this page on the back of the bookmark so students can add words as they work with the skill or strategy.

How to use the Reading Comprehension Bookmarks

There are many ways to use these reading bookmarks.  I generally teach comprehension skills using an anchor chart, plenty of practice, and good literature (fiction or nonfiction).

The practice part is the key.  English learners and most students need a lot of oral practice before we ask them to apply their new skills to writing.  We practice in partners, in small groups, and independently.  You can read more about how I have my students practice academic language in this blog post about Opinion Writing and this blog post about cause and effect in science.

Practice the New Comprehension Skill with Familiar Content

One thing you might try, if the task you’re asking students to do is new and unfamiliar, is to practice the language with familiar content, something students know a lot about.  Here is a great blog post about how we practiced the skill Compare and Contrast with familiar content before applying it to our science content about how the earth changes over time.

I give students the bookmarks to use during our practice times or after I feel that they have a good grasp on the skill or strategy.  The reading comprehension bookmark is there to support their learning not teaching students the skill.

What Teachers Are Saying about the Bookmarks

“These look spectacular! I love that I can use them in multiple ways and that they cover such a broad spectrum. Looking forward to using them! Thanks!”

“These bookmarks are great for small group instruction. Having a sentence starter on each bookmark really helps my struggling students. Awesome resource.”

“I wish I would have bought these sooner! These bookmarks have really helped my students respond and write with proper sentences. Your bookmarks have everything you need! They have the graphic organizer, sentence frames, and list of clue words for each skill. I will most definitely start using these at the beginning of the year, next year. =)”

How to Purchase the Reading Comprehension Bookmarks

You can purchase the Reading Comprehension Bookmarks on my website or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Other complementary products that might interest you include:

• Reading Comprehension Graphic Organizers
• Reading Comprehension Posters
• Reading Comprehension Reference Rings

You can also purchase a bundle of all four resources together.

The Bookmarks also come in Spanish and as a bundle of English and Spanish.