How to Improve Children Reading Comprehension
- 1). Guided reading. Use a pre-selected book to help your class during the reading process, pausing at different points to interject questions and comments as well as answer any questions the students may have.
- 2). Shared reading. Students should follow your lead in choral fashion. The best books for this type of reading are those that have predictive texts (at least one line of text repeated on each page). This helps students make predictions and anticipate what's coming on the next page. Shared reading is also a good way for quieter students to participate. They may feel comfortable reading along with peers instead of by themselves.
- 3). Literature groups. This is an effective learning tool for readers in grades 3 to 5. After students have read a story in class, you can organize groups based on who likes mysteries, biographies, or fiction. Have the groups find a book that has similar characteristics to the story that the class read. They can read the book during group time, taking turns reading aloud and stopping to discuss plot and other details. This is a great time to have the students practice predicting, questioning, and summarizing.
- 4). Independent reading. This is when children read on their own or with a partner of your choosing. This can also be a time of silent sustained reading when students have to apply strategies they have learned without the guiding presence of the teacher. This is a great comprehension tool because students usually need to re-read text to remember important information. Independent reading is most effective with fluent readers who won't struggle with decoding and accuracy.
- 5). Oral language expression. Have students talk to you about what they read. After you have covered the main ideas and factual information, move to the more complex skills of synthesizing the text. Ask open-ended questions that require critical thinking. For example, you could ask, "How would you feel if this happened to you?" By thinking about texts in this way, students are able to apply what they already know from prior experience, combine it with information from the text, and improve their overall comprehension.