Reading Comprehension for Children

Video Transcript

" Hey, I am Debbie with ExpertVillage.com and we are talking about reading with young children and reading with your child. One of the things that we need to talk about is promoting comprehension, we all know that comprehension is a very important part of reading and you can start cultivating that skill of comprehension at a very early age. When you are reading to your child talk about what you have just read, ask them questions about what they see, ask them what they think is going to happen next – making predictions, ask them about – look at this picture and what do you think this page is going to be about? There is a little moon, there is a tree, there looks like there is an egg – I wonder what is going to happen with that egg? Have them get excited about what is happening next, there is a caterpillar – caterpillar let’s read it, keep going, that is a very hungry caterpillar. On Monday, he ate through one apple, but he was still hungry. On Tuesday, he ate through two pears but he was still hungry. What did the caterpillar eat first? He ate the apple. How many did he eat? One. What did he eat second on Tuesday? He ate two pears. How many did he eat? Two. So keep going to like that asking questions, encourage your child to ask questions. Why is that caterpillar coming out of that hole? What is he doing? What is going to happen to the caterpillar? Is he going to get fat? I bet he will, let’s keep reading. So keep asking questions all of the way through. When you are finished with a book, let your child retell the story to you. And then talk about what do you remember that happened at the beginning of that book? What do your remember that happened in the middle? And how did that book end? What happened at the end? You are teaching sequencing skills, remembering and comprehension, super important skill and you can start teaching it at a very young age. "