The finish line

Comprehension: What is it?

You did it. You set a strong reading foundation, your child can sound out words, read fluently, and accumulate new words, and now we have reached the end game: comprehension. This is the ultimate goal of reading: to have fun with a story, be entertained, learn something new, be persuaded, and get about the world. Comprehension starts as early as when a child can listen to a story and ends as late as when they read correctly each time. Asking your child what their favorite part of the story is is a form of comprehension. We’re asking questions here, lots of them, and often.

Why does it matter?

Comprehension, as mentioned before, is the end game of reading. If we can’t understand what we read, it really is kind of a huge pain in the A** to learn, right? So we read to understand, to be changed, either by story or understanding. If you go deep into the understanding in a nerdy way, reading is how you jump to survival. Outside of reading for fun, reading helps you not to be manipulated by the world. Either by reading about who you will vote for, or a contract about being sold to the Yankees (Rookie of the Year, anyone?) Reading is important, truly the scary side of reading is when kids get to the age of 10 or 4th grade, the teacher doesn’t focus their time on teaching your child to read, they focus their time on USING reading to learn. Think of handing them a history article, then giving them a quiz later. They have to regurgitate what they read with proficiency. This is a big deal because prisons are full of illiterate people. (about 70%) A child is more likely to give up on school and choose a life of crime if they can’t read. This is scary, of course, if you are here on a reading website, this likely is not your child’s story. However, the point of reading is to be able to talk about what you read, and really understand it’s meaning.

What can you do?

Asking questions is hugely important, this also means talking about the text. We need to teach our children to stop and ask questions while reading. Ways to do this yourself and with your child are to place Post-its in different areas throughout a book and have a list of general questions about the text. HERE is a list I’ve created for you. Connecting to emotions is key. A child isn’t going to be interested in the difficult part of reading if they truly don’t connect to the text.

Now, we’ve all been there, trying to read a book we hate, trying to connect, and then really wanting to give up. So find a way to connect your child to the text. Do they identify with the bad guy more than the good guy? We’ve all been there. Is there a part of the book that is similar to something they’ve read or ignites a memory they have? Have they ever felt similarly? Would they have handled that problem differently? What new facts have they learned? If they love non-fiction, what new facts did they learn? Do those facts contradict other facts they know?

If they are little, have them just retell you the story. Place of the story, characters, problem, and solution. These are the best ways to get a simple understanding of their knowledge of the text.

How do they connect to the text deeply??

Books are deep, for the most part, so how can they connect your child to the text, emotionally, from memories, to their life, to what they want out of their future?

What are some interesting questions you’ve asked your kid, and what hilarious answers about the text did you get?