Reading Comprehension
The most important thing to remember about reading is that it is supposed to be fun!
Whether you are interested in reading story books, fairytales or comic books (what we call fiction) or whether you prefer to read about real people, places and things (what we call non-fiction) all reading is good.
Our goal, of course, is to get you to be a strong independent reader. This takes time, practice and patience.
It also requires you to engage in different kinds of reading experiences:
Shared Reading: This is where the teacher (or your mum or dad) reads a story while you look at the text being read and follow along. During this time you may learn about 'print conventions' (like where the title of the book is), vocabulary (new words) or learn about other reading skills (like making predictions).
Choral Reading: This is where the whole class reads the same text aloud. Usually, the teacher decides how fast you will go. Choral reading helps us to read sight words and builds our fluency and pace (clarity and speed).
Modelled Reading: This is where the teacher (or your mum or dad) reads a book aloud which is a little above your reading level. You may or may not have a copy of the book with you to follow along. The purpose of modeled reading is to show you a new skill or strategy that you can start to copy and use on your own (like using your reading finger to follow words along so you know where you are in the book).
Guided Reading: Guided reading helps you to become a good reader. The teacher works with you in a small group with other readers as you learn to use various reading strategies to read a new text. The more strategies that you develop and use, the more independent you will become as you attempt to read on your own.
Fluent Reading: A fluent reader reads quickly, smoothly and with expression. They have a large store of sight words and automatically decode unknown words. They know when they have made a mistake and are able to self-correct their errors.
It is VERY important to note that while you may become a fluent reader very quickly, this does not mean that you are a fully independent reader...yet. An independent reader is often considered to be someone who can read 96-100% of the words that they come across on their own correctly. This shows strong decoding skills, which is terrific!
However, a truly independent reader must be able to comprehend what they are reading. It is not enough to simply decode the words of a text - you have to be able to understand, interpret and use reason to explain the significance of the ideas that the words, together, represent.
Quite often, students become independent in decoding books; you are able to read increasingly more difficult books with ease - books that have more pages, more words, less pictures, chapters, etc. They want new and harder books at a faster rate because they feel that things are just too simple for them.
However, comprehending what we read takes time because we actually need to do a bit of living and experience life in order to be able to identify with what we are reading, regardless of whether it is fiction or non-fiction. Furthermore, comprehension involves some pretty detailed skill sets that require you to think at increasingly deeper levels, such as: re-calling, re-telling, following directions, drawing conclusions, predicting outcomes, explaining cause and effect and inferring meaning.
When you add comprehension into the reading game, that simple text that you were reading is suddenly not so simple afterall.
Resources
Here are some good resources to help you to work on your reading comprehension skills. You can print these off and use them at home or at school.
Getting started
If you want to begin to develop your reading comprehension skills, click on the following aspects of reading comprehension for more information and materials:
Whether you are interested in reading story books, fairytales or comic books (what we call fiction) or whether you prefer to read about real people, places and things (what we call non-fiction) all reading is good.
Our goal, of course, is to get you to be a strong independent reader. This takes time, practice and patience.
It also requires you to engage in different kinds of reading experiences:
Shared Reading: This is where the teacher (or your mum or dad) reads a story while you look at the text being read and follow along. During this time you may learn about 'print conventions' (like where the title of the book is), vocabulary (new words) or learn about other reading skills (like making predictions).
Choral Reading: This is where the whole class reads the same text aloud. Usually, the teacher decides how fast you will go. Choral reading helps us to read sight words and builds our fluency and pace (clarity and speed).
Modelled Reading: This is where the teacher (or your mum or dad) reads a book aloud which is a little above your reading level. You may or may not have a copy of the book with you to follow along. The purpose of modeled reading is to show you a new skill or strategy that you can start to copy and use on your own (like using your reading finger to follow words along so you know where you are in the book).
Guided Reading: Guided reading helps you to become a good reader. The teacher works with you in a small group with other readers as you learn to use various reading strategies to read a new text. The more strategies that you develop and use, the more independent you will become as you attempt to read on your own.
Fluent Reading: A fluent reader reads quickly, smoothly and with expression. They have a large store of sight words and automatically decode unknown words. They know when they have made a mistake and are able to self-correct their errors.
It is VERY important to note that while you may become a fluent reader very quickly, this does not mean that you are a fully independent reader...yet. An independent reader is often considered to be someone who can read 96-100% of the words that they come across on their own correctly. This shows strong decoding skills, which is terrific!
However, a truly independent reader must be able to comprehend what they are reading. It is not enough to simply decode the words of a text - you have to be able to understand, interpret and use reason to explain the significance of the ideas that the words, together, represent.
Quite often, students become independent in decoding books; you are able to read increasingly more difficult books with ease - books that have more pages, more words, less pictures, chapters, etc. They want new and harder books at a faster rate because they feel that things are just too simple for them.
However, comprehending what we read takes time because we actually need to do a bit of living and experience life in order to be able to identify with what we are reading, regardless of whether it is fiction or non-fiction. Furthermore, comprehension involves some pretty detailed skill sets that require you to think at increasingly deeper levels, such as: re-calling, re-telling, following directions, drawing conclusions, predicting outcomes, explaining cause and effect and inferring meaning.
When you add comprehension into the reading game, that simple text that you were reading is suddenly not so simple afterall.
Resources
Here are some good resources to help you to work on your reading comprehension skills. You can print these off and use them at home or at school.
Getting started
If you want to begin to develop your reading comprehension skills, click on the following aspects of reading comprehension for more information and materials:
Following Directions
Predicting Outcomes
Drawing Conclusions
Cause and Effect
Reading Between The Lines
Text Structure
