New Reading Games + Three ACT Reading Strategies That Are Changing How Our Students Read
At St. Charles Tutoring Lab, we're always looking for ways to make reading instruction engaging while teaching the exact skills students need for standardized tests like the ACT, SAT, PSAT, and state assessments.
This week, our Reading Camp students practiced with two new interactive Blooket games:
These games reinforce vocabulary through context clues while keeping students engaged through friendly competition.
But the games are only part of the learning.
Three Reading Strategies Every Student Should Master
If I could teach students just three reading strategies before they take a standardized test, these would be them.
1. Understand What Each Paragraph Does
Many students finish reading a paragraph and can repeat details, but they can't explain why the author included it.
Instead of asking:
"What did this paragraph say?"
We teach students to ask:
"What was the job of this paragraph?"
Was it...
introducing the topic?
providing background?
giving an example?
explaining an idea?
presenting evidence?
transitioning to a new idea?
concluding the passage?
Understanding the purpose of each paragraph helps students answer questions about the main idea, author's purpose, organization, and supporting evidence much more efficiently.
2. Read in Chunks
Strong readers don't try to remember an entire page at once.
They naturally divide passages into manageable sections.
We teach students to stop after each paragraph and pause long enough to process what they just read before moving on.
Reading in chunks helps reduce cognitive overload and improves comprehension because students are building understanding one section at a time instead of trying to memorize every detail.
3. Create a 2–5 Word Summary
This may be my favorite strategy.
After every paragraph, students write a quick 2–5 word summary, sometimes called a Paragraph Key Point (PKP).
For example:
Desert seed survival
Farmers collect water
Cactus stores water
Frog survives drought
Ants store food
These short summaries create a "map" of the passage.
Instead of rereading an entire passage to answer one question, students know exactly where to look.
This is a tremendous time saver on tests like the ACT, where every minute matters.
Why These Strategies Matter
Standardized tests are rarely about memorizing everything you read.
They're about finding information efficiently, recognizing the author's purpose, and understanding how ideas fit together.
When students learn to:
identify the purpose of each paragraph,
read in manageable chunks, and
summarize each paragraph in just a few words,
they begin reading with intention rather than simply moving their eyes across the page.
Building Strong Readers One Strategy at a Time
Our goal at St. Charles Tutoring Lab isn't just to help students score higher on standardized tests.
We want them to become confident, thoughtful readers who know how to approach any passage—whether it's on the ACT, in a science textbook, or in college.
The confidence that comes from understanding how to read strategically often carries over into every subject they study.
Sometimes, improving reading isn't about reading more.
Sometimes it's about reading smarter.
We look forward to continuing to develop new games, activities, and strategies that help students become stronger readers while making learning enjoyable along the way. Happy reading!
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