Good readers do not just read a text. They think about it before, during and afterwards. They predict, connect vocabulary and meaning to prior knowledge, draw conclusions, see causal relationships, compare, contrast, and visualize. Wow!
There are things you can do to start good comprehension thinking habits in young children before they can read for themselves.
Anticipate – Before reading, look at the front cover and discuss what you think the book might be about. Then if you want, peek at the pictures inside and guess the story.
Read the story. Discuss words and ideas children might not understand. Help them connect words and ideas to things they already know.
After reading, discuss what you thought the book would be about and then what it really was about.
For beginning to intermediate readers a great exercise during or after reading is to make a diagram (“graphic organizer”) of what the story is about with a circle around the main idea in the middle and spokes around it, representing supporting details.
For free graphic organizers of different types go to http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer.
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