Activities to Promote Reading Comprehension

I come from a family of readers. For us, there is not much that is better than curling up on the couch and losing ourselves in a good book. I would be very happy if all the children in my world also learned to love reading and had good reading comprehension.

Strategies and Activities to Promote Reading Comprehension

It’s never too early to start helping children learn good reading comprehension strategies. As soon as children have acquired language you can start asking questions about what you are reading together. Encourage children to ask questions as they read and make connections with other stories and situations. Make understanding what they are reading and encouraging them to make connections part of your reading time together. Our reading comprehension strategies are easy to implement and lead to many delicious conversations with the kids. Sharing time and stories together will make an impact and help them be successful in school.

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You can do a simple activity related to the book. For instance, if your child likes to read The Magic Treehouse books do a companion activity before reading the book.
Talk about what the book is about. Take some time to look at the cover and different parts of the book.
Preview any new or difficult vocabulary words.
Talk about structure words: Who, What, Where, Size, Shape, Number, Mood, When, Color, Why and How.

While You Read:

Use the structure words to ask questions and guide the child’s answers.
Guide the child to pay attention to keywords, such as sequencing words or words that repeat in the text.
Ask questions as you read. Start with simple questions that are easily answered by the text that was just read. Move on to inference questions like, “What do you think will happen next?”, “How would you feel if that happened to you?” or “Why do you think the character did that?”
Ask the child to sequence the events as you read.
Ask the child to summarize what has happened so far in the book.
Talk about cause and effect. What caused the problem or situation? What was the reaction?
Have the child draw pictures about what they are reading.

After You Read:

Make a story map. Include the beginning, middle, and end in the story map.
Have the child retell the story in their own words.
Do a companion art activity.
Ask the child what the author’s purpose is for this book. Is it informative, persuasive or entertaining?
Have the child review the book. Did they like the book? If so, why and what parts were their favorite? Is there something that they would change about the book?
Act out a scene from the book.

We are so fortunate to have a wealth or reading comprehension resources available online!

IRCMS has free reading passages and comprehension questions for the third, fourth, and fifth grade.

Wordville offers a plethora of reading comprehension worksheets for grades kindergarten through seventh grade.

K5Learning offers comprehension worksheets for first grade to fifth grade.

English Worksheet Land has, as their name suggests, a ton of worksheets for Kindergarten through Middle School that are aligned to the Common Core.

We made a printable READING COMPREHENSION TREASURE HUNT GAME that the kids think is magical. The biggest problem that I had is that the kids wanted me to make more games like this one. Your kids will love this interactive reading comprehension activity!

DabblingMomma found a fun way to combine movement with reading comprehension. I always find that getting the kids moving while they learn is a very effective way for them to learn.

Little Life Long Learners created a fantastic reading center tub full of goodies that will help foster good reading habits.

Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans introduced me to Bloom Balls. I found a free template and a video that explains how to make them.