What is Reading Comprehension?
Reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading! Skilled readers do not just read - they interact with the text.
For instance, skilled readers:
1. Predict what will happen next in a story using clues from the text.
2. Create questions about the plot, main idea or theme of the text.
3. Monitor understanding of the characters, sequence or context.
4. Clarify parts of the text that have confused them.
5. Connect the events in the text to prior knowledge or experience.
For instance, skilled readers:
1. Predict what will happen next in a story using clues from the text.
2. Create questions about the plot, main idea or theme of the text.
3. Monitor understanding of the characters, sequence or context.
4. Clarify parts of the text that have confused them.
5. Connect the events in the text to prior knowledge or experience.
Before, During and After Questions
Part of the literacy process is learning to think as you read. You can assist your child by asking the following questions during the reading process:
* What do you think will happen next?
* Does this story remind you of something you have read before?
* What was your favorite part of the story?
* What do you visualize as you read?
* What other information would you like to learn about this topic?
4 Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension
Scholastic for Parents states children need help retaining what is read - a critical skill, especially as they get older and need to gain important information from textbooks.
Scholastic for Parents states children need help retaining what is read - a critical skill, especially as they get older and need to gain important information from textbooks.
- Provide the right kinds of books. Make sure your child gets lots of practice reading books that are not too hard. He/she should recognize at least 90 percent of the words without any help. Stopping more often than that to figure out a word makes it tough to focus on the overall meaning of the story.
- Reread to build fluency. To gain meaning from text, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly - a skill known as fluency. Rereading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words quickly, therefore allowing your child to become more fluent.
- Supplement school reading. If your child is studying a particular theme, look for easy-to-read books or magazines on the topic. This will help to build background knowledge.
- Talk about what your child is reading. This "verbal processing" helps him remember and think through the themes and main ideas of the book. Use the 5 W’s to get started (Who, What, When, Where, and Why!)
Resource
Graphic organizers are a great resource to help students construct meaning as they read. Click here for a variety of graphic organizers from Scholastic.