| looking for ways to help your child improve reading | | | | preschool can practice this by drawing pictures of |
| comprehension? Here are 8 key reading strategies | | | | different parts of the story. |
| used by elementary school teachers nationwide for | | | | - Visualize what is happening in the story. Find |
| improving reading comprehension. You can support | | | | descriptive words in the text to help your child |
| your child’s learning by practicing these | | | | make a mental picture. This can also become a |
| comprehension activities at home. | | | | drawing activity, if your child illustrates scenes from the |
| Encourage your child to: | | | | story. |
| - Ask questions about the text. Provide opportunities | | | | - Reread difficult passages to clarify ideas. Your child |
| for them to research unanswered questions online or | | | | will need help learning to do this. You can model this by |
| at the library. | | | | thinking aloud while reading to your child: That part |
| - Make predictions about the text based on prior | | | | was confusing for me. I should go back and read that |
| knowledge and by looking at the pictures. Make sure | | | | again to help me understand. |
| your child checks to see if his/her predictions were | | | | - Think about how the text makes him/her feel: Did |
| correct. | | | | your child enjoy the story? Why or why not? If your |
| - Make connections: Does the book remind your child | | | | child could rewrite the story, what would he/she done |
| about something he/she has personally experienced or | | | | differently than the author? Why did the character |
| read about before? | | | | behave a certain way? Would your child have done |
| - Compare and contrast characters in the book. | | | | the same thing or made different choices? These are |
| Encourage your child to think beyond surface-level | | | | higher level, analytical questions that promote a deeper |
| observations and compare the actions and motivations | | | | understanding of the story. |
| of different characters. | | | | Good readers use these reading strategies without |
| - Summarize what happens in the beginning, middle, | | | | thinking about them, but young children who are just |
| and end of the story. This is a key comprehension skill | | | | beginning to read need to be explicitly taught how to |
| that will later allow your child to organize thoughts into | | | | understand what they read. |
| paragraphs and essays. Children as young as | | | | |