Reading Comprehension Kids Learning is Fun www.kidslearningisfun.com.au

Reading Comprehension Comprehension is the understanding of what you read, that is making meaning from the text. In order to make meaning your children should understand what they read, be able to talk about it and reflect on it.

Reading Comprehension When reading with your children it is important that you talk and discuss the book before you start reading, during the reading process and after reading the book. The questions you ask your children about the book will help you determine your child's understanding.

Reading Comprehension Before reading with your child, look at the book and ask them to predict what they think the story will be about - look at the cover and the title. Ask a couple of questions about what they know about that topic - bringing in what they know about the topic and their experiences (this may help them when they read the story). Once predictions are made it is time to read.

Reading Comprehension After reading the book, get your child to talk about what happened in the story. It is a good indicator of your child's understanding if they can retell the story back to you with as many of the details as possible, in other words, their ability to sequence the events in the story correctly.

Reading Comprehension As well as retelling you can discuss characters or discuss any issues or messages from the book. Sometimes this may be a good opportunity for you to have a discussion with your child.

3 Types of Questioning for your child’s reading comprehension There are different ways of questioning that will help you see what understanding your child gained from that book. 

Literal questions The answers are right within the book they are reading. These are about the meaning of the story/book - what it was about.

Inferential questions These questions require a bit of thinking and searching for the answer. Children can find clues to the answers in the book but also need to think themselves.

Evaluative questions These questions are there to make the children think about why the book was written? The children need to take what they have read and apply their own knowledge of the world to answer the question.