Nov 06 2009
Reading Comprehension
Dear Families, I have started parent conferences and a few of you have expressed an interest in having comprehension questions available to ask your child as they read at home nightly. I hope the following helps.
If you can, set a goal of pages or chapters for your child to read nightly. If you are able and willing, after your child reads, you should read the same material. Afterward, ask them some of the following questions to check their comprehension. If they are unable to answer the questions, reread the material together and stop along the way to ask the questions. I realize this requires more of your time, but the benefits in helping your child to increase their comprehension is immeasurable.
1) What was the main idea of this chapter?
2) Where did this chapter take place or what was the setting?
3) What was the problem in this chapter?
4) Why do you think (name a character) did (select something from the chapter) what they did? This calls for the children to put themselves in this characters place and is a critical thinking skill.
5) What do you think will happen next in the story? Why? This is prediction, which is another critical thinking and comprehension skill.
6) What happened at the beginning, the middle, the end?
