During the primary school years, grades K-3, children learn how to read, often with a focus on phonics. Starting in grade 4, children begin to read to learn, focusing on reading comprehension. This is often the age when reading grades start to slip, reading comprehension becomes an issue and teachers are often commenting to parents that their child needs help with reading.
Fluency Building Activities for Reading
The best way to help a child to read fluently is to simply have him read frequently. Teachers should require 30 minutes of reading per day for each child. A non-reader (a child who cannot read), can repeat lines that the parent reads to learn inflection and phrasing, and can listen to stories read to him.
Young readers can share the reading with the parent, switching every page or every paragraph or even every sentence. Re-reading books over again is another great strategy that will help teach expression and reading in phrases. The child should learn to pause at the end of sentences and put the correct inflection in his voice for exclamation points and question marks. A young fluent reader should be encouraged to read a variety of books and can read to a younger sibling.
Reading Comprehension Help for Students
There are three basic strategies that can help increase reading comprehension and improve grades.
Before Reading Strategies:
“Before reading” activities happen before reading a new book. Have the child predict what the book is about by looking at the front cover and doing a picture walk through the book. A picture walk is "walking" through the book, looking at pictures and talking about what is happening with out reading the words. Guide young children to use basic logic skills while looking at the pictures to form an idea of what the story will be about. This will help hone prediction skills and will give them a set of ideas about the story that they can use to help decode any unfamiliar words they come across while reading.
During Reading Strategies:
“During reading” activities happen while reading the actual text. Ask questions while reading the book. Questions can be as simple as “what did she say?” requiring simple recall, or as difficult as “why did she say that?” requiring an inference. Make sure children understand what is going on in the story and ask them what they think will happen next before turning the page. When asking a difficult question, show the children how to find the answer by re-reading a part of the story.
After Reading Strategies:
“After reading” activities occur after you have finished reading the story. See if the children can explain what happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the story. Have them identify the characters, the setting, the plot and the solution. Ask who, what, where, when, how and why questions. These questions should be appropriately tailored to each age group. Ask how the characters felt when something specific happened in the story, requiring the children to infer and connect to the text. Encourage them to look back in the story for answers they cannot remember and show them how to do so.
Reading is only half the battle when it comes to improving reading comprehension. Engaging children in the story when teaching reading can increase reading comprehension as well as improve grades. The more a child practices reading to improve fluency and comprehension, the better reader he will become.
Learn more tips for how to teach reading, and how to improve reading scores on state testing.
