Comprehension Grades K-2 Presented by: Sandra Harvey and Pamela Charity Reading Specialists My Child Can Read All The Words: Now What? April 3, 2014

What Is Comprehension?  Comprehension is being able to understand and discuss what is being read. If a child does not understand what is being read, he/she is not really reading.

Kindergarten Before:  Use pictures to take a “picture walk” and predict what the story will be about. During:  Use pictures to figure out tricky words. After:  Tell who it was about.  Tell where it happened.  Tell who the characters are.  Tell important events in order from beginning, middle and end of the story.

1 st Grade – Focus is mostly on Fiction Before:  Use pictures to tell what the story will say without reading the words. During:  Fix reading errors, especially when they don’t make sense. After:  Retell at least 5 events in order including character names, setting, problem and solution.  Make connections to better understand character feelings, choices they make, setting, problem, solution and story ending.  Determine the most important event or lesson of the story, and tell why it is important. Give a good reason.

2 nd Grade – Fiction and Non-Fiction After Reading a Page or Two:  Describe characters.  Predict what will happen in the middle/end.  Use text features, such as table of contents, to predict what might be learned. During:  Correct reading errors when they do not make sense ( Fiction and Non-Fiction ).  Use index/glossary/interpret maps, diagrams and other text features.

2 nd Grade After:  5 finger retell—Retell the story. Include the characters, setting, problem, important events and story ending.  Make connections.  Share at least 2 details from each section.  Locate information in the text to answer questions.  Tell the most important thing learned and why it is important. Fiction Non-fiction

S EARCHING FOR AND U SING I NFORMATION  Think about who is talking now.  What were some of the important events that happened? S UMMARIZING  Tell what you know so far in the story.  Tell what you read. P REDICTING  So now what are you thinking?  Based on what you know about _ _ _, what are you wondering?  Think about what you know. What do you think will happen next? I NFERRING  That is what the writer/character said. What did he/she mean?  How do you know _ _ _ has changed?  Why do you think _ _ _ did that?  Talk about what the character said or did. What does that tell you about the character?

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” ~Emilie Buchwald