Supplemental reading comprehension for 1st grader, suggestions?

[JDG]

I do not homeschool, but I do supplement my first grade son's education. I am looking for suggestions to help my son improve his reading comprehension. In school he has not been moving up reading levels because he has not been able to answer the comprehension questions. They use the guided reading program, he is on level G, having only moved up one level this year, after going from A-F during Kindergarten. At home he easily reads higher level books to me.

 

For example (this is as reported by him) he read a story about a boy with a pet fish. After his baby brother was born, his parents started looking for a larger place to live. The boy said the fish didn't want to move. The parents found a larger apartment in the same building, so it was okay. One of the comprehension questions was Why did the boy say the fish didn't want to move? My son answered "Because the fish didn't want to move". I assume the correct answer is because the boy didn't want to move and he was projecting his feeling onto the fish.

 

He has a full day of school (with no recess) and 1/2 hour of homework a night, so I want anything I use as a supplement to be fun. My personal issue around this is that while I love to read, and have always read lots of books, fast, but I hated analyzing literature, and never did that well in English classes, and it turned me off reading for awhile. I think that my feelings around this emotionally block me from asking him questions about what we read, because I don't want it turn him off reading. Our current bedtime reading routine includes a chapter of LoF (to supplement math, he verbally answers the questions, and loves it), then he reads a book to me, and I read to him (chapter books, fairy tales, last year we read all 48 Magic Tree House books). He often asks me questions while I read, and sometimes I ask if he as any questions for me after we read. If we are reading a chapter book, I often ask him to summarize what has happened so far before I start reading.

 

Going through the threads here, the closest thing I could find was http://www.amazon.com/Homework-Building-Reading-Comprehension-Fluency/dp/0439616565 but I am not sure if it is going to work on the skills he needs, and seems too much like homework. Maybe a book of short stories with questions at the end? I am really not sure what would help him.

[blondeviolin]

We don't do any type of reading comprehension formally. I read aloud to my kids regularly. With certain things, I will ask questions at the end and then require them to narrate at the end. My kids come by this naturally, but I have read and heard SWB talk about issues with this (check out her lectures at peacehillpress.com, the section on writing in the WTM and if you can, Writing With Ease). If it is a struggle, her suggestion is to ask the questions after shorter passages. At some point you may be shortening the passages to one sentence at a time and asking a question if necessary. Gradually lengthen it as he gets good at that. You could also tell him the questions you'll be asking BEFORE you start to read so he knows what to tease out as the important parts of the story.

 

The first Writing With Ease workbook is pretty comprehensive with the narration sections (two a week) and are fairly easy and quick to complete. On the flip side, he could practice this same narration technique with Story of the World (and if you get the accompanying activity guide the questions and sample narrations are already there). That could be a bonus because not only would you be focusing on narration with each section, you would also be learning about history!

[LynnG in Arizona]

My 1st grade daughter does the Evan Moor "Reading Comprehension" workbook daily. It's something constructive to do while I'm working one-on-one with her little brother. There is a short reading (maybe 3 brief paragraphs, on average) on a variety of fiction and non-fiction topics, then 3-4 comprehension questions afterwards. If you did that with your son, it would take literally about 5-10 minutes per day. If nothing else, it's giving my daughter just a bit more reading practice, plus getting her used to the type of reading comprehension questions she is likely to encounter on standardized tests.

 

Hope that helps! :)

[blessedmom3]

Narration is better than comprehension workbooks . Just ask him to tell you about the story he reads, asking him if necessary, who,what,where,how,when questions. I did this for the last two years with my boy who was very delayed in comprehension ( according to the public school) and now in second grade he is reading and comprehending very well charlie and the chocolate factory,which I think it's about a 4th-5th grade level book.

 

So just enjoy reading and discussing the book should be enough for this age.

[Pen]

I think for actual comprehension reading and discussing is best. Amelia Bedelia books, the little girl who takes everything literally might be a help also in entering a discussion with him that there are sometimes hidden meanings to things like saying the fish does not want to move.

 

But, also, test taking is its own other thing, and you might want to get something to work on test type questions and strategies. Some of the practice books for standardized testing have reading comp sections, for example. Or you could get a workbook just for reading comprehension. If you really think there is a problem, then there are special programs for reading comp, and you might want to post in Learning Challenges forum, but it doesn't sound from what you wrote that there really is a problem with his reading.

 

Talking with his teacher might make sense too.

 

 

 

Or you might want to homeschool ;)

[SilverMoon]

Regular narration will help more than any reading comp workbook. You need to be familiar with what he's reading, by reading it yourself ahead of time or reading it aloud to him. Then ask him questions and have him retell the story to you.

 

Here's an article that may help.

[lorisuewho]

If the school is using Guided Reading in the traditional way, retelling is done at the end of the story. The student is expected to be able to tell what happened at the beginning (including setting and characters and problems), what happens in the middle, and then how it concludes. Usually the child is also expected to be able to make a personal connection form the story to his/her own life or to another story he has read. Some comprehension questions might be asked to help guide the students through the ability to retell.

 

As homeschoolers the key word is not "retelling" it is "narration" which in the end is basically the same thing.

 

I agree with Silvermoon, that you should focus on having your child read good stories and then retell or narrate the story back to you. Asking leading questions may help him focus. It may also help to draw a stop light or something visual to have as a reminder of how to retell a story. The green light reminding him to tell of how the story starts out, the yellow light of the middle, and the red light of how it concludes. Being able to think about these things as he is reading and to think of them after he reads will naturally help him be able to answer any comprehension questions he may be asked.

[alisoncooks]

I like using things like this for comprehension...

[Five More Minutes]

He has a full day of school (with no recess) and 1/2 hour of homework a night, so I want anything I use as a supplement to be fun. My personal issue around this is that while I love to read, and have always read lots of books, fast, but I hated analyzing literature, and never did that well in English classes, and it turned me off reading for awhile. I think that my feelings around this emotionally block me from asking him questions about what we read, because I don't want it turn him off reading. Our current bedtime reading routine includes a chapter of LoF (to supplement math, he verbally answers the questions, and loves it), then he reads a book to me, and I read to him (chapter books, fairy tales, last year we read all 48 Magic Tree House books). He often asks me questions while I read, and sometimes I ask if he as any questions for me after we read. If we are reading a chapter book, I often ask him to summarize what has happened so far before I start reading.

 

It sounds like you're already doing some good things to help his reading comprehension: reading together, discussing the book, sharing questions, summarizing (narrating) the story. I think you're wise to stay away from anything like a worksheet or set of questions for this, because it sounds like he has a really full day already.

 

If you are concerned that your feelings about asking questions about literature are getting in the way, then you might consider picking up Deconstructing Penguins by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. In a very fun way, it walks through a group's experience in analyzing a half-dozen kids' books using a common discussion-based framework. I highly recommend it.

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

I use the Mcall-Crabbs quizzes twice a week. Each quiz takes 3 minutes.

[JDG]

Thank you for all of your great suggestions. I think I will try a few short comprehension passages with questions and see how he likes it. Otherwise I guess I just need to work on him recounting the story for me. If your's don't seem to get the nuances (like in the story in my original question) do you correct them, and if so, how do you do it?