Comprehension

Definition:

Comprehension is

"intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader" "Therefore, comprehension is the reason for reading" (NRP, 2000).

Comprehension integrates all five components of reading.

“My Child is below benchmark in Re-Tell Fluency (RTF).

What does this mean, and what do I do?””

Parent Tips:

Build Background knowledge: Do activities with your child that help to build their background knowledge. Becoming a good predictor requires regular discussions and interactions with others related to those experiences. "Based on the discussion we had in class yesterday about volcanoes, I predict that our homework will focus on why and how Earth's plates move. I bet there are certain places on Earth where volcanoes happen more often than other places. I wonder where those places are?"

Enhance background knowledge: Scan the text with your student before reading. Pay attention to pictures, headings, tables, and other information. Point out words that are important and that may cause the student to stumble. Ask your child questions that will help him/her make connections between the text and what he/she already knows.

Connect Print to Self: Refer to and make connections to books, movies and stories that you have shared (e.g., At a large family gathering: "This meal reminds me of 'Cheaper By the Dozen'").

Connect Print to Print: Watch different movie versions of a classic (Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol; old and new versions of A Midsummer Nights Dream). Compare the movies to each other and the original book. Discuss which you liked best.

Connect Print to the world: Broaden the use of television and movies by watching educational programs with your child. History reenactments, performances of classic works of fiction, travelogues, documentaries, biographies of famous people combine entertainment with education. Think about things you read and discuss the connection.

Learning how to read directions: Look at a box for a cake mix or pizza and search for directions on how to cook or for nutritional information with your child. Talk out-loud about where to find the information.

Visual represent text: Read the text ahead of time and construct a visual overview of the text. This should include both information directly from the text and related concepts to which the child may already relate. Discuss the visual organizer before having the child read the text.

Pre-questioning: Before seeing a movie or reading a book, ask questions about what it will be about.

Getting Focused making a plan: Script activation is similar to making a plan at home. Focus ahead on a goal in sports, such as team cooperation or personal skills.

Set Purpose: Setting different purposes before you act will change the outcome. For example when you go to the store, what is the purpose? To get out in 10 minutes; to get the best deal; or to buy specific items for a birthday party. Talk about your the purpose of your tasks with your child.

Talk about what you will be reading: When a child does not have much background knowledge about a topic, it can be difficult for him to understand a book or movie about the topic. The goal is for the child to see and hear about the topic ahead of time so it will make more sense later.

Strategic Story Content Preview - For the student who is having difficulty making sense of stories, the teacher may give students a story map ahead of time. The map shows the characters, setting, and plot. Over time, the teacher may have students make their own story map as they read. Parents can help their child complete a story map by asking questions such as What is going on? "Who?" "What is the problem in the story?" and How did it turn out? Show them how the answers to those questions can change the further they read and how to put their answers in the story map.

Get talking – Play around and have everyone talk at once sometimes…at the dinner table, in the car, anywhere. The goal is to get the child to express their thinking in a "safe environment" before having to talk in a more public way. For example, at the dinner table, everyone talks for 1 minute all at once about how their day went. Then, each person can talk one at a time. It gives everyone a chance to practice what they might say. It also can lead to a lot of laughing!

Non-Linear Text - Maps contain much information which is presented through charts, legends, symbols, numbers and pictures. On road trips, let your child be the map expert. Ask her assistance in calculating distances, finding exits, identifying towns, rivers, national parks, and historic places.

Schema-General Questions - Students need help navigating through unfamiliar narrative forms. When watching a complicated story with your child, discuss the characters and what motivates them, what problems do they face and how are the problems resolved.

Generating Questions - Before seeing a movie or reading a book, ask questions and predict what will happen. Afterwards, talk about the answers and how they differ.

Series, Time Order, Cause/Effect, Comparison/Contrast, a Definition, Combinations of Patterns - If the student needs help with linear sequencing, practice telling how to do something with using the words…first, second, next, after that, finally. Read directions on how to make something together and include words that let your child know it's time to move to the next step. As the student masters these skills, try different sequencing words that cue a comparison or contrast (e.g., Comparison: similarly, like, in the same way as. Contrast: however, by contrast, unlike). Work through a craft project or cooking recipe with your child. Draw attention to the signal words that connect and organize the steps (e.g. before, while, after, when, during).

Presentation of Text Features - Many do-it-yourself projects include following information that is presented in an easily read format. Help your child read a dress pattern, airplane model direction, skateboard kit or recipe. Pay attention to how the information is sequenced.

Guided Discussion of Expository Text Structure - Call attention to how information can presented in different types of formats. For example: some information is in the form of cartoons, some as advertisement, bulleted lists, articles, websites. Talk about connection between purpose, audience and the presentation.

Paragraph Structures - Students need explicit instruction in what makes a good paragraph. Practice identifying elements pf a good paragraph and explain your reasoning. This can help your child organize their thoughts. When your child tells you a story with a lot of details, ask "How could you say the important parts of that in just a few words?"

Visualization - Keep art supplies handy for your children to draw pictures of their reading.

Modeling Through Think Alouds - Think alouds are a great way to let your child "jump into your brain" and see how you think. When working on a project, talk about your thinking as you solve a problem. When reading aloud, you can [pause] in the middle and talk about what you are thinking as you read.

QAR (Question Answer Relationships) - Ask your child questions and then ask them to explain how they got their answer.

Stop and check - When you are reading to your child, ask them periodically to explain what just happened.

Question Generation During Reading - Questioning strengthens recall, but attention should be paid to what topic and/or information is targeted by the questions. Stop during reading and ask questions about characters and what is going to happen.

Mini Breaks - When your child is struggling to get homework done and is frustrated, interrupt the study with a moment or two of something your child likes to do. You want to distract the child from their emotional frustration. Then return to the work with a fresh perspective. When returning to the work, you may want the child to explain their thinking so far and where they are stuck. You may be able to help them get beyond their stuck place through the minibreak and explanation.

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review (SQ3R) - Before embarking on a joint cooking project with your child, ask him to skim the recipe for special ingredients or tools you might need. Ask questions before cooking, such as how much time it will take or if there are any pre cooking steps or set-up requirements. Look for the answers before cooking.

Assigned Perspectives - On vacations or in your own city, take the family to museums and historical exhibits that immerse the viewer in another time or culture. Exhibits about ancient Egypt, American Indians, pioneers, whalers or historic renovated houses display another perspective through artifacts, photos, architecture, journals, records and art. Ask questions of the student that challenges him/her to think from the viewpoint of a different person.

Imagery Through Drama - Encourage your child to participate in after school drama productions. Enroll in summer performing arts programs. Buy tickets to a live theater show or watch one on television. Discuss how the actors use imagery to communicate.

Graphic Organizers - You can help your child make sense of what they read by constructing graphic organizers with them. A graphic organizer is a drawing or graphic to help organize information. Some types of graphic organizers include webs, Venn diagrams, and categorical lists. You can create a graphic organizer before reading to organize background knowledge, during reading to keep track of information on-going, or after reading to make sense of what was read. HIGHLY RECOMMEND COMING TO A THINKING MAP CLASS AT SCHOOL. Mary Margaret will teach you the thinking maps we use as graphic organizers at the school. Look for the class to be offered or ask her to teach you independently.

Tape Assisted Reading - Read the same book at home that is being read in the classroom to bolster motivation and comprehension. Listen to the book on an audiotape to reinforce struggling readers or those for whom English is a second language.

Mnemonic Imagery - Mnemonic imagery is using a catchy phrase to remember something important. For example, the first letter in each word of "Every good boy deserves fudge" corresponds to the letters on the bars of the musical scale "EGBDF." "Never eat soggy wheat" can help you remember directions "North East South West." The mental image of someone eating soggy wheat reminds the student of what they need to recall. It can be a fun activity to see if you can create funny or memorable mnemonics to remember the important concepts when your student is trying to memorize information for school (especially in classes such a social studies and science).

Hierarchical Summaries - A hierarchical summary is an outline of information. Help your child to clarify what the main point of an article is after reading a complicated story in a newspaper or a magazine. Together, identify the most important ideas and the supporting information associated with each idea.

Content, Problem, Solution, Effect - This strategy is usually teacher-directed. If it has been selected as a strategy to use at home, you may want to consult the teacher for assistance. The strategy involved structured note taking related to four questions: 1) What was the problem? 2) Why was it a problem? 3) What was the solution? 4) What was the effect? These questions are helpful when making sense of stories, biographies, and history text in particular. As a parent, you can ask your child these questions as a way to check how well he/she is making sense of what is being,read.

Story Content knowledge - Re-enact stories you have read through puppet plays or skits.

Strategic Story Content Preview - While reading, stop periodically and predict what will happen next. Ask children how their predictions changed and how the story differs from their predictions. There are no "wrong" predictions.

Story Impressions - Preview a book by looking at chapter headings and illustrations before you read the story. Make up a story before reading the book and then compare with the actual plot.

Collaborative Strategic Rereading - Check out the same book your child is reading for English Class. Discuss the book at mealtimes or while driving to weekly appointments. Focus on identification of the most important ideas in the text.

Collaborative Summaries - Parent and child ask after a television show or movie, "What was that about?" Then discuss together.

Paragraph Shrinking - Tell the whole story of a movie or show in 10 words or less.

Direct Instruction of Written Summary Skills – Practice verbal summary skills. Tell me about your day, the game, etc. Try to have your child think about what they will say before they start talking.

Directed Reading Thinking Activity - Reading an advertisement, look at the picture or slogan, guess what it's about; then check.

CLOZE - Although CLOZE itself is not used to make inferences, the training of looking backward and looking forward in the text trains students in making inferences. This activity can be extremely challenging to language learners and younger learners. Play a story creating game in which you begin a sentence and let your child fill in the blank. Your next line builds on his answers. For example, "Once there was a princess, who lived in a castle." "She was very tall and wanted to live in a tree house."

Structured Prewriting / Post-writing - Before visiting a new place for vacation, find out about where you are going and things to do. After the vacation, talk over whether it was what you expected it would be.

Guided Practice with Inferential Questions - While reading or viewing materials, ask what the message of the author might be. "What does it really mean?"

Visualization / Imagery - Readers form mental images of things stated in the text, but rarely visualize things "not there" Ask your child what something looks like. Practice making mental pictures about things heard or read.

Use of Multiple Texts - Good readers connect and relate ideas to their previous reading experiences over time. Providing a rich reading environment allows students to make their own connections between ideas. Visit the library and check out a selection of books on a topic of interest to your child. Include picture books, different authors, and a variety of points of view, styles, etc.

Dialogue Journal - Have a journal handy on a trip or at home in which you write back and forth with observations.

Expository Inference - Practice "What if" questions. (e.g., "What if you lived in another time than now?")

Question Generating - When students begin to question texts and think about the ideas within them, they begin to construct their own knowledge. Questioning strengthens recall, but attention should be paid to what topic and/or information is targeted by the questions. Teacher and student text priorities often differ. Make your own questions as you read with your child. What more do you want to know? What does it remind you of?

Predictable Texts - Ask "what comes next?" when you are doing something you always do…going to school, washing clothes, setting the table. Help your child get good at predicting what is next.

Reading Aloud to One's Self - Struggling readers have better comprehension when they have the chance to read out=loud and not silently. Have your child read to a favorite stuffed animal, the family pet, to a neighbor or relative, even a baby brother.

Questioning the Author - Practice asking questions together, whether you are in the grocery store, doing laundry, or at the park. Challenging vocabulary can be good to include in the questioning.

Multiple Texts - Encourage interests of your child through internet searches, picture books, different authors, points of view, styles, etc.

Text to Text Connections - Talk about how one story is similar or different to another story. Make connections between the same story told in different ways (short story to a comic strip retelling).

Collaborative Reasoning - Ask your child what they would do differently about something you see or hear about. Ask your child, "Why do you think he did that?" and then talk about whatever your child says.