Comprehension

Comprehension is understanding what you read. 

I asked the kids the other day, "How many if you enjoy going to the movies?"  They all raised teir hands. 

Then I asked "What if you went to the movies but when you left you couldn't remember what it was about?"  They all said that would be terrible. 

"Well, that's how you should feel after you read." 

"Oooooohhhhhhhhhh!" 

You may ask how you ca get your child to comprehend what they are reading? 

As your child reads, remember these strategies...

Make connections 

This is when readers are able to connect prior knowledge to what they are reading. 

Now, don't make this hard.  This can be simple things like, remember when we went to the zoo and saw the zebras? (When reading a book about animals or a fiction book where that animal is one of the character) or if you read about a child at a farm you could ask what they remember about their field trip to the farm.  

See, it's easy 😊

Visualizing

Create a picture in your mind while you read. 

Don't show your child the pictures. Let them draw you what they think the page should look like.  Easy enough , right?

Questioning

Not the comprehension questions at the end of a story or even the basic things like who is the main character.  When you read to them ask questions while reading.  This shows them what good readers do.  Stop at the end of a page and say things like "I wonder why the character would do that?" , "why would they do that?", " what do you think will happen next?"  

If they see you do this, it will come naturally to them.  

Inferring

This is a fancy word for using what you have read to figure out something in the story.  Sometimes the author doesn't come right out and say something but you can figure it out.  That is inferring. 

😊 happy reading!