Reading for Every Child Comprehension

The goal of reading instruction is to produce good readers who enjoy reading. A good reader not only reads the words in the text correctly, but also makes meaning from the text. Good readers have personal interactions with the author by relating the text to his or her own personal experiences. Making meaning and relating personal experiences are essential parts of reading comprehension.

Reading comprehension is one of the hardest things to teach because there are so many components involved. This book breaks down the different skills used by good readers. It contains activities which can be used to lay the foundation necessary to build the following comprehension skills: finding the main idea, recognizing story structure, sequencing, predicting, drawing conclusions, and recognizing the relationship between cause and effect.

Reading comprehension strategies can be taught and learned before children can actually read. They can be used when the children are listening to stories that are being read out loud. Using these strategies while listening to text helps lay the foundation necessary for future success in reading comprehension.

Reading comprehension skills can be practiced all day long. This book is designed to help facilitate lessons or activities that introduce or lay a foundation for comprehension strategies. Each section contains an introduction to the comprehension skill as well as graphic organizers, a skill worksheet, journal prompts, a writing activity, listening comprehension activities, a reading record sheet, a game, and activities to be used during math, science, social studies, and fine arts. All of these activities are openended and can be used as a supplement to any unit or prescribed curriculum.

With the help of these activities, teachers will find sneaky ways to introduce reading comprehension skills throughout the day!