Making Pictures in Your Mind

Use the author's words to picture what is happening.

Good readers make a movie in their heads while they read. This is called visualizing. Authors give you describing words so you can see what they see. Read: 'The old gray dog lay by the fire, his nose on his paws, his tail thumping slowly.

' Can you see it? An old gray dog, lying down, nose resting on its paws, tail moving slowly. The word 'old' tells you he moves slowly. 'Thumping' tells you the sound. If you can't picture a part, reread it and look for the describing words.

• 1Visualizing means making a picture in your mind.
• 2Describing words help you see the scene.
• 3If you can't picture it, reread.