Simple Strategies to Make Reading More Meaningful
Leah Valentine
Students need to develop many skills to become proficient readers. They need phonological awareness, decoding skills, and sight word knowledge to recognize and read words. While recognizing words on a page is an important part of reading, the ultimate goal is understanding what they read so they can learn and enjoy gaining new knowledge. Reading for meaning is reading comprehension, and it’s the whole purpose of reading! As students develop their reading skills, there are easy ways we can support their ability to comprehend the many written texts they encounter. Before students are proficient readers, we read to them, and they use listening comprehension to process the meaning of a story or text. Listening comprehension builds reading comprehension, so whether your child is an independent reader or not, you can help them develop their ability to comprehend new information. Here are three easy ways to help your child comprehend books that they are reading or listening to:
- Support their understanding of the vocabulary in a book.
- Build their background knowledge related to the book.
- Help them connect to the text.
If you were to read The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires to your child, look through the book first and get a general idea of it. Talking about a book BEFORE reading it is very helpful. Choose some words in the book that your child may not understand and explain them ahead of time. Tell your child about the story before reading to build anticipation, connect to the characters, and help them understand the big idea.
You could say, “This book is about a girl who wants to build something magnificent. Magnificent means really impressive, like the big LEGO building we saw at the store. Her dog helps her; he is her assistant. She keeps trying to make it great, but she doesn’t get it right, so she gets upset and feels frustrated, and then she explodes! Let’s read it and see if she figures out how to make something magnificent!” While reading, point to the illustrations to help reinforce vocabulary words and recognize where the story takes place. “She tinkers by trying to fix the parts with her tools. It looks like they are on a sidewalk in a city, just like where Aunt Lexi lives.”
After reading, help your child connect to the text by recalling a time when you or they tried to do something but didn’t get it right, got upset, but kept trying, just like the girl in the story.
Rereading a book is very valuable; your child’s comprehension of the story strengthens each time. Even days or weeks after reading any story, you can discuss it while driving or shopping and build connections to the characters or content. “I couldn’t get the printer to work in my office today, and I got so frustrated just like the girl from The Most Magnificent Thing book, but I did not give up and figured it out.”
If your child is independently reading, you can support their comprehension in similar ways. Reading the book yourself would, of course, help you explain it, but a quick internet search can give you the information you need to help your child comprehend it. An internet search will summarize the book, explain the setting and theme, and provide a list of vocabulary words from the book.
Talk about the book before your child reads it, previewing vocabulary they may not know. Discuss where and when the story takes place and explain the setting to build your child’s knowledge before reading. For example, Flight of the Moon Dragon by Tracey West takes place in the deserts of Egypt. Make sure your child understands where Egypt is and what a desert is like.
While your child reads, check in to ask what they think of the book and help them connect with the story. If they are reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, a quick internet search will show that Roz the robot is stranded on an island, and the animals that live there think she is a monster at first, but then she befriends them. Ask where they are in the story and help them connect by discussing how Roz befriends the animals and learns to communicate with them.
After your child finishes a book, talk to them about the ending and how any problems were solved. Connect book resolutions to their own life or to similar situations that they are familiar with. If they have finished reading The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, talk about a time they had a disagreement with a sibling or friend, or a time when someone they know sold something to earn money.
You don’t need special materials or much extra time to help build your child’s reading comprehension skills. A few thoughtful conversations can help them become interested in a book, get ready to read it, and connect with it in a meaningful way. Most importantly, these conversations can help your child understand and enjoy what they read so that they want to read more!
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