How to Improve Reading Comprehension in the 4th Grade
Reading comprehension is a key factor in academic success and fourth grade is the year when students really begin concentrating on it. There are many ways to engage students in reading that will improve their comprehension.
Things You'll Need
- Fun books at and below fourth grade level
- Play building blocks
- "Strategies That Work" (book)
- Dictionary
Instructions
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1
Read the book "Strategies That Work," by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. It's an excellent description of reading strategies and comprehension ideas.
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2
Have students understand how important comprehension is. Give everyone a set of directions for building something simple, such as a block structure. Write the directions so they are decodable (easy to sound out) but make no sense. Have a discussion about lack of comprehension as all the students' block structures keep falling important.
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3
Emphasize vocabulary. Teach students to identify and note words that they don't know the meanings of, in their reading. Then teach them to use the dictionary to find the words' meanings.
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4
Improve fluency. The more fluent students are, the easier it will be for them to focus on comprehension. Allow students to become more fluent by letting them reread books, read books that are very easy for them to decode, record themselves reading and read to younger classmates.
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5
Model comprehension strategies while reading aloud. Introduce and practice these strategies when reading aloud to the class: making connections, visualizing, questioning, inferring, synthesizing and determining importance.
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6
Allow students to practice the effective comprehension strategies of making connections, visualizing, questioning, inferring, synthesizing and determining importance with their own reading.
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Tips & Warnings
Show them your thinking as you comprehend what you read. Talk about how you comprehend.
Some students who have found reading easy up to this point, such as those very good at decoding, may struggle with higher level comprehension.
