Reading Comprehension Strategies Explained
Here is a quick guide for parents or new teachers to understand how reading comprehension works and reading comprehension strategies that teachers actually use.
The enjoyment of reading really comes in the understanding of the text. The strategies we already know as adults can easily be encouraged in our children. We need to give them that natural sense of wanting to dive deeper into the words of the book. Encouraging the natural curiosity in children paired with these strategies will give them a love of books and reading for life.
The following comprehension strategies work a little like the new word strategies. Just like different tricky words will require different strategies for figuring them out, different books will create different strategies for the best way to dive deeper, though most all the strategies will be used whether you are aware of using them or not.
Easy to Remember Reading Strategies Explained
When working with children I like to give analogies and help make connections for students when they are learning reading comprehension strategies. I often give them a visual example of the big concepts we are taking on.
1.The Crystal Ball is for looking into the future just like predicting. – I like to get kids thinking from the minute we pick up a book. We look at it’s cover and begin by Making Predictions. Ask your reader what they think it’s going to be about. Throughout the book, stop a few times and ask what they think will happen next. It’s quite fun to turn the page and find out what happened NOT to see if they are right or wrong, but if they were right or if the author SURPRISED them.
During the reading your child will find some things that are familiar to them because of whatever experiences they have had so far in their young life. Partner that background knowledge with new ideas they get from the book and that’s how your child can practice making inferences about characters or events in the story that the author didn’t write specifically, but lead the reader to these conclusions.
2. Retelling is the ability to tell the story in detail and in order from start to finish. The more details the reader can remember, the better the retelling.
3. The Linking Chain – Making connections is how we relate to everything around us. When we connect a personal experience to something that happens in the book we are making personal connections. Readers can also make book connections when they can identify the similarities and differences between book characters or events.
More Reading Comprehension Strategies Explained
4. The Magnifying Glass – Visualizing is what readers do when they just picture the story in their mind.
5. The Question Mark – Asking Questions is what good readers do as they wonder about the topics the writer is raising.
6. The Heart – Giving opinions is just that. Giving their opinion about their favorite part, favorite character, event, or subject raised by the author. Following giving an opinion, encourage a reason why your child has that opinion. Giving reasons and explanations helps your child become a better thinker.
7. The Lightbulb – New Learning is what happens when the we use what do when we partner our background knowledge with what we have learned from the author’s story.
Comprehension Strategies Defined
Reading Comprehension Strategies support a child’s deeper understanding and meaning of what is being read.
- Make Predictions
- Infer
- Retell
- Making Connections
- Visualize
- Ask Questions
- Give Opinions
- Make Predictions – taking clues from the text and making a smart guess about what will happen
- Infer – using clues from the text and adding them to background knowledge to form new learning
- Retell – ability to remember and retell out loud the events of the story
- Making Connections – thinking about how the text is the same and different as personal life events or other books that have been read
- Visualize – making a picture in your mind about what is happening in the text
- Ask Questions – ability to wonder about things in the story throughout the reading
- Give Opinion – ability to think about own opinions about questions and ideas raised the the text
Thanks to DeeDee Wills and her reading comprehension strategy resources! She created these great ideas with similar visuals to help kids remember each strategy!
