How to Use Picture Books to Aid Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the level of understanding gained from reading a text. This is a skill that must be taught to young children and must be continued throughout young adulthood. Teaching comprehension strategies focuses on prediction skills, higher-order thinking skills, questioning, meaningful connections and summarizing. This process should begin with non-readers through reading aloud and continue as children learn to read independently. Using picture books to teach these comprehension skills is fun for students of all ages and allows children to make meaningful connections.
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Instructions
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Prepare for the reading lesson by becoming familiar with the book. Create a list of higher-order thinking questions to ask during the presentation of the book. Higher- order thinking questions require more than a simple right or wrong answer. For example, consider the following questions: "Did the character handle himself well during the confrontation with the bully?" and "What could the character have done differently during the confrontation with the bully?" The first question lends itself to a yes or no answer and does not encourage discussion. The second, however, requires a higher level of thinking and requires explanation when answering.
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Ask students to use predictions skills prior to reading the book. Begin by leading the students to predict what the book will be about by examining the cover and then taking a "picture walk." A "picture walk" allows the students to make predictions about the book by browsing through the pages, looking only at the pictures. Encourage students to share their predictions by sharing aloud in a whole group setting, with a partner or in written form.
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Read the picture book aloud, stopping in intervals to ask higher-order questions to determine the level of comprehension.
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Ask students to make connections to the events in the book by sharing events in their lives that remind them of the events in the book. When relevant, meaningful connections are made to text, student comprehension is increased.
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Ask students to summarize the events in the picture book. Summarizing can take many forms including: written summaries, drawn pictures, storyboards, sharing with a partner or sharing with the whole class. When students are able to accurately summarize what they have read, comprehension skills are strengthened.
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Tips & Warnings
When reading nonfiction picture books, it is important to call attention to text features, such as captions and subheadings.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit little girl is sitting and reading a book image by Ivonne Wierink from Fotolia.com
