In the Tompkins reading, I learned about the importance of reading activities to aid understanding. These activities can occur before, during, or after the reading. I found the most useful ones to be the ones that forced the students to think about the reading beforehand (predicting) and afterwards (recapping). Both of these tasks can be accomplished through a variety of ways, and to choose one would take a careful analysis of what works best for a certain classroom. I find that classroom participation works out best when students are put into groups or are given a set of pre-questions to answer. For the classroom I am in, a Kindergarten classroom, it is hard to get a higher-level of discussion going, but often the teacher will make a quick round through the students to get their predictions of what they think will happen based on a small piece of information, such as the title of the book, title of the chapter, or an excerpt from a certain section. This usually takes about 5 minutes and not only lets the children make predictions, but allows them to hear the ideas of others as well. I find it important to ask questions throughout the book as well, but not too often as I feel it will disrupt the flow of the book. A post-reading discussion usually works best with the Kindergarteners, and I find asking questions to the students about what happened during the reading a good way to recap.