Explaining What You Read Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: RI.4.3

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Many times will come across something we read that we want to share with someone else. When you are explaining something the focus should be to put yourself in your student's shoes. Share with them the main concept and events of the work. Explanations are not summaries. With a summary we give a general understanding and explanation goes a bit further. These worksheets will help students understand the process of preparing an explanation.

Explaining What You Read Worksheets:

In The News – Break down the five Ws and one H of a local newspaper story.

To the Moon! – A little cause and effect to get your afternoon started off right.

Caring For Your Teeth – Time to sequence what you read into the proper order.

The Ride of Paul Revere – Piece these together for Paul's famous ride.

The Assassination of President Lincoln – What was Booth's motivation for killing one of the most influential leaders in history?

Human Interest Stories – Search a newspaper or magazine for a human interest story. Then answer the questions.

TIME PERIODS IN HISTORY: The Great Depression – Explain how the stock market crash caused The Great Depression.

Uncle Tom's Cabin – Why did Harriet Beecher Stowe write Uncle Tom's Cabin?

The King and the Page – Pretend a friend has asked you whether or not Frederick, King of Prussia was a good man. Answer the question, using what you just read as evidence for your answer.

In the Kitchen – Pretend you are helping a friend in the kitchen. You have already measured out your ingredients.

Getting Ideas Stuck Into Your Head! – Read the text twice, to make sure you understand it. Now set the text aside.

How Microscopes Work – Explain to your parent or guardian what the project is, what you need in order to do it, and what you are hope to accomplish.

Get the Scoop! – A well-written news story answers six questions: Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why? and How? Search a newspaper or magazine for stories in each of the categories below.

Paper Airplane – Use numbers to put the events in the correct order. Then write a short essay explaining how to fold a paper airplane.

The Boston Tea Party – Read each sentence. Decide whether the underlined text is a cause or an effect.

How Do You Explain What You Read?


Reading is an art that does not seem much difficult to do without putting in much effort once a student crosses middle school. However, explaining what you have read to someone else in an easily understandable way is a skill that never comes naturally to anyone. Rather, one must know some tips and tricks to explain whatever he/she have read to someone else.


In order to develop good speaking and communication skills, you must learn to explain the text you read. It is a great practice to improve your learning. Here are some tips that will help in explaining what you read:


Read with Purpose


One of the most important tips while reading is to evaluate the purpose of the work. Otherwise, it is easy to forget what you just read. You will not be able to remember it properly for a long time. If you know that you will be explaining what you are reading, then keep it in your mind while reading. This way, you will be reading with more attention. It would also stay in your mind for a long time. You will be able to explain the content in a more expressive way.


Understand the text


In order to explain something to someone else, you must have a firm grip on the topic yourself. Otherwise, you won't be able to succeed in explaining what you read. So, when you are reading, try to learn the meaning of every word thoroughly. Make sure that you understand the words in the right context. Define the important terms in the text to yourself first, so that you can get a clear view of the message that is being portrayed.


Make Notes


No matter how well you think you have read a text, you can never completely remember it while you are explaining it to someone else if you do not take notes of the important points and keep them by your side while reading. Try writing a sentence or two about the most important points in the text you have read and make sure that they are in a proper sequence so that you can explain them to anyone without any discomfort.


Use Simple Language


Regardless of how difficult is the level of vocabulary and sentence structure that has been used in the original text; your job is to simplify it as much as possible for the purpose of explaining it further. Try explaining the main points and only the most relevant details in as simple words as possible.


Explain the Aim of the Text


When you are explaining the text that you have just read to someone else, you can start by explaining the aim of it. By explaining the aim of the text, your listener will develop more interest in your explanation. It would provide a sense of meaning to your explanation. Nobody pays attention to meaningless things. It is always advisable to add some essential meaning to your explanation to make it interesting. You can start by telling why the writer felt the need to write it down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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