At the end of first grade it is critical that students are not only decoding and reading with appropriate fluency, but they should also be comprehending the story they are reading. For Orlando comprehension is a challenge. Even looking at main idea, Orlando struggles to answer a basic comprehension question. With this in mind the team has suggested three different strategies that may be used to help him meet specific instructional goals in terms of his comprehension. These goals are discussed in a collection of STAR Sheets.
To begin the team feels that Orlando should be able to use the strategies of predicting, summarizing, and questioning. To predict the teacher might choose to use the “story title, a scanning of pictures, of from past experience with the topics, themes, or characters in the story” (The Iris Center). Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas (2011) feel that some of this strategy instruction can be done through the interactive read-aloud. By inviting students to turn and talk to discuss what they believe will happen next and activating background knowledge during the book introduction, Orlando may see the skill modeled before he is expected to do it on his own (p.119).
When it comes to summarizing The Iris Center advocates for teaching students how to shrink a larger paragraph or story into either a sentence or 10 words or less focusing on the “who” and “what.” Pinnell and Fountas explain that readers of all ages think within the text, think about the text, and think beyond the text. At the within text level students are expected to “remember important information and carry it forward” (p.137). This is something Orlando is struggling with. While it is important to teach this skill to him with instructional level books, he can also benefit from listening to his teacher model summarizing and having the opportunity to summarize books when they are read aloud (p.138). The first STAR Sheet also talks about questioning (p.14). Orlando will need to answer who, what, when, where, and why questions about the books he is reading.
Another suggestion to support Orlando that resulted from the consultation with the reading specialist was to use additional graphic organizers. The organizers would provide an opportunity to retell the story in multiple ways. This could be according to transition words, story markers, or story elements. No matter what type of organizer is chosen it is critical that Orlando is explicitly taught how to use it. This should involve modeling and opportunities for guided practice before he is expected to use the graphic alone (STAR Sheets p. 15).
Below is another type of organizer that might be beneficial for Orlando to work on the problem and solution in a story. The book Speak Up! By John Lockyer is a level F guided reading book that follows a pattern. All of the characters want to know what the weather is like up high with the giraffe, but he cannot hear them so he asks them to “Speak up!” Eventually they solve the problem by standing one on top of the other until they reach high enough the ask the giraffe the question. While the graphic organizer may seem very simple, the arrow that flows from problem to solution indicates an important relationship that will exist throughout books. 
The authors of the STAR Sheets document also discuss “us[ing] imagery to create a mental picture of the story. This reminds me of Jodi G. Welsch’s article “Playing Within and Beyond the Story: Encouraging Book-Related Pretend Play,” and her discussion of using “play around stories to encourage the development of critical comprehension skills” (p.138). While this isn’t exactly the same as retelling, the students constructed meaning from a box of objects that related to a story that they had read. This type of retelling may also benefit Orlando as he works towards increased reading comprehension and ability to summarize and discuss the stories he is reading.
Finally the authors of the STAR Sheets advocate for using repeated reading to increase fluency. By becoming a fluent reader, Orlando will be able to "spend more of his energy on comprehension and less on decoding" (p.29). This work can be done in partner reading or group repeated reading. Whatever strategy is chosen it is important that the procedure is modeled explicitly for Orlando and that he is uses passages that are short and interesting. Since his largest academic challenge at this moment is comprehension, repeated reading will pave the way for him to have more space in his working memory to focus on his primary reading goals.
Finally the authors of the STAR Sheets advocate for using repeated reading to increase fluency. By becoming a fluent reader, Orlando will be able to "spend more of his energy on comprehension and less on decoding" (p.29). This work can be done in partner reading or group repeated reading. Whatever strategy is chosen it is important that the procedure is modeled explicitly for Orlando and that he is uses passages that are short and interesting. Since his largest academic challenge at this moment is comprehension, repeated reading will pave the way for him to have more space in his working memory to focus on his primary reading goals.
