Comprehension Guides for Students

Why Should I Create Comprehension Guides for My Child?

As students progress in school, the type and level of required reading increases in difficulty. As a result, your son or daughter may have trouble transitioning away from narratives into more complex textbook passages. To ease your child's experience, you can create at-home comprehension guides that test critical skills and are designed to focus solely on problem areas. Ideally, the guide should include several sections and activities, along with space for your child to add notes, write questions and brainstorm ideas.

Three Comprehension Activities

Tough Vocabulary Review

Sometimes, students struggle to comprehend what they read because they don't understand the vocabulary. On the comprehension guide, you can test your son or daughter's knowledge of these terms by asking for a definition in his or her own words. Although this task might be hard for some students, it can be beneficial because it requires them to think on their own rather than repeat what they read.

Nonfiction Comprehension Passages

Reading nonfiction texts can be very challenging for students as they advance in school. The text in social studies and science textbooks tends to be at a higher reading level than the writing in novels due to the difficult vocabulary.

Since there is no narrative in textbooks, many students have trouble remembering all of the information, but you can create a graphic organizer for your child to fill out while he or she is reading. Additionally, several websites offer free, nonfiction comprehension passages and questions that you can print for your child.

Text Recap

Writing and reading comprehension go hand-in-hand, so you can use this exercise to test your child in both. Once your son or daughter has read a required passage, whether it be a narrative for English class or a chapter for social studies, ask him or her to write a brief summary, highlighting the key points. As a result, your child will be prompted to actively engage in the text from the start.