This article describes a descriptive study utilizing a picture protocol technique that integrated the use of photographs of good readers and children's representational drawings with informal conversations about their habits and behaviors before, during, and after reading. The research participants included 228 children in kindergarten through 5th grade from 15 elementary schools in southwestern and southeastern United States. The purpose of the study was to investigate elementary school-age children's developing metacognitive awareness and knowledge of appropriate strategies for efficient comprehension and to determine if differences in levels of metacognitive awareness among the students existed such that a developmental sequence could be proposed.