This year I will encourage students to pick books that are both interesting and challenging.  Students will focus on learning reading strategies to foster improved comprehension of a variety of texts.  
There are seven strategies that students must be able to apply when reading in order to truly understand a text.
 

 
 
1.  Making Connections
2.  Creating Mental Images
3.  Making Inferences/Drawing Conclusions
4.  Asking Questions
5.  Determining What is Important
6.  Synthesizing
7.  Monitoring Comprehension and Meaning