Reading Comprehension

Have you ever read something and afterward realized that you have no idea what it meant? What did you do about it? Did you read it again? Did you look up some unfamiliar words?

The need to read is everywhere–books, magazines, newspapers, menus, grocery labels, road signs, and instruction manuals–but, understanding is the key.

Here are some early signs that indicate preschool children are comprehending what they hear and see as you read to them:

• they know to turn the page to see what comes next,
• they can "read" the story as well as you and scold you if you hurry or leave something out,
• they enjoy retelling or acting out parts of their favorite stories,
• they ask questions as they read with you.

It is possible for children to "go through the motions" of reading–just saying the words–without being able to talk about or question what they read. If you observe this with your child, consider talking with his or her teacher about it. Early intervention is critical to minimizing the effect of reading difficulties.

There are many ways to think about and analyze reading materials in school.

   Basic parts of comprehension

The most basic parts of comprehension are plot, setting, and characters. Your child needs to follow the sequence of events and notice each step along the way as the plot–or storyline–unfolds. Most stories that children this age are familiar with, such as fables and folktales and other storybooks, do have a clear and simple plot structure.

Second and third graders can also begin to appreciate how the setting–where and when the story takes place–affects the story. This is a good time for an imaginary journey! Encourage your child to picture settings in his or her mind.

Thinking about why characters speak and act as they do is key to making sense of any passage. Asking your child questions such as "What kind of person is so-and-so?" or "What do you think he or she should have done?" is a good way to focus attention on characters. Even as an adult, finding characters that grab your interest because they seem like you, or intrigue or amuse you, spurs your reading–and the same is true for your young reader.

Friendship, pets, and community are often the topics of reading in these grades. Children should be able to identify the main idea (or big idea) of their reading materials and point to some details that support the main idea they selected.

If your child is able to summarize, or state the main idea of a passage and briefly tell a few important points about it, then you have a good indication that he or she has understood the material.

After reading a story, your child should be able to talk about it or answer questions about what happened. This skill is known as drawing conclusions–using the details provided in the story combined with the child's own understanding or experience to make logical conclusions about the action or characters.

For example, if the story mentions that a boy is blowing out nine candles on a cake, your child could reasonably conclude that the boy is nine years old.

One popular technique used with this age group is stopping the story just short of the ending to encourage children to predict events or outcomes. Readers can learn to use word clues, descriptive statements, and their own experiences to make predictions about actions and endings accurately. Just ask your child, "What do you think will happen next?"

In second and third grade, stories about talking animals and magical worlds start to take a backseat to realistic stories. Children learn to distinguish realitic stories from fantasies by identifying things that could or could not happen in real life.

Readers this age also learn to distinguish between fact and opinion.

George Washington was the first president of the United States. Fact or opinion? Fact, right? A fact is a statement that can be supported, or proven. How about this? George Washington was the best president. Which is it now? Opinion, definitely. Opinions are based on what someone thinks or feels.

A type of thinking process, known as critical thinking, is being promoted throughout reading instruction at this age. Critical thinking requires the readers to think about what they've read with a critical eye. It involves skills like drawing conclusions, making judgments, and predicting. Consider how often you need to think critically as an adult in other life situations. Then surely you understand that it's never too early to encourage children to develop these skills.

Research has shown that children who have been read to from an early age, read better when they are older. So read on!

Practice shared reading with your second or third grader–where each of you take turns reading out loud–so that the child can show you what he or she has learned and so that you can model good reading habits.

 

Taken from www.kz.com