I’m looking at what I’m doing with some of my kids for reading comprehension activities, and feel like I’m stuck in a box and can’t get out. I know there are thousands of good activities out there that go beyond reading a story/paragraph and answering questions, but I’m having trouble coming up with them. I’m looking for things on main idea and answering factual and inferential comprehension questions, for kids who are very concrete, struggle with inferential comprehension, and also have receptive and expressive language issues. Does anyone have any ideas or web sites I could try??? Thank you!!
Jenn
comprehension strategies
I really like Question-Answer Relationships (QAR). You teach kids that there are different types of comprehension questions (inferential included) and you teach them how to find those answers (in the text or in their heads). There’s a good graphic that goes along with it that kids really seem to “get.” The key is to teach the strategy using very short, simple (and of course, decodable) paragraphs. Eventually, I have kids practice writing their own questions after reading, sort of “playing the teacher.” Also, Reciprocal Teaching is a well-structured lesson plan that asks kids to predict, summarize, make up and answer questions, and clarify confusing information. They also get to play the teacher here, too. Check out books on comp. instruction by Michael Pressley and the book “Teaching Reading: A Handbook of Strategies” by Jerry L. Johns, et.al., for tons of ideas for teaching comprehension.
they have a program to help teach inferences, the main idea, etc. The stories start simple and move their way up. Also the visualizing and Verbalizing program of Lindamood-Bell can help with reading comprehension…
You can also use video’s of cartoons or even the sunday funnies or political cartoons. You may want to check out Linqui Systems as they also have free worksheets you can download off their website, and Scholastic.com has stuff you can access as well for free.
hope that this helps you.