Comprehension guides for read alouds

[Emmy]

I am browsing for books in the Veritas Press catalog and I see quite a few comprehension guides for books like Alice Wonderland, Homer Price, Treasure Seekers, Chronicles of Narnia, etc. What is the purpose of a comprehension guide?

 

I'm curious if this is something I should be incorporating.

 

When I do read alouds with my boys I read, then we talk about it - sometimes in detail, sometimes not. Sometimes they will tell DH about the story and that's enough for me. If we do "discuss" it's not terribly directed - I might ask things like:

 

- what did you think of this chapter?

- did you learn anything new from what we read?

- what do you think is going to happen next (or some variation of that question)

- or sometimes I ask them to tell me what happened (narrate)

 

So - at the ages of my children (sig line) is that fine or am I missing something that the comprehension guides might offer?

[Emmy]

anyone?

[Beth in Central TX]

I tried a few of those comprehension guides when my oldest son was in 3rd & 4th grade. They were okay, but I really didn't see any added educational value over just narrating what he was reading. In addition, the guides seemed like busywork at times, so I sold the ones I had and continued with narration. I think the system you have in place now is great, and I wouldn't make any changes.

 

HTH!

[Susie in CA]

I think you are doing fine! I know some people like those guides, however they really can take the fun of reading out.

 

We pretty much do what you described. This school year I started to have them write down a narration and draw a picture for our reading notebook. I do this only with books on the WTM Reading list. In our case, this is the 4th grade list.

 

I read the book aloud.

We talk about it.

They tell me possible narrations.

They write and draw.

I read and check.

Done.

 

Sometimes, if the book seems difficult for them we work on the writing together. Sherlock Holmes seemed hard for them, so we did the writing together and then they copied.

 

I hope this helps.

 

My boys are 8 and 9, btw.

 

Susie

[Emmy]

Thank you! I just wasn't sure. :)

 

Susie - you rock with your reading notebook, I haven't done anything like that. I might have to try adding that in for my oldest. Thanks so much!

[Woodland_Mom]

I like the guides for the project and activity ideas they offer. They're also handy when one of your kids is reading a book and you haven't had a chance to read it too! The answers to the comprehension questions are in the back!

 

My kids are 8 and 6, so we don't do many of the questions, but I have also used the comprehension books to help guide their narrations.

 

I agree with a previous poster, written question/answer take the fun out of reading. Since we're one on one with our kids, we KNOW what they know and we are usually aware if they are actually comprehending what they're reading and understanding the material.

[Karen in CO]

We are using the Alice and Wonderland guide right now. My dd wanted to read Alice I remember not liking it when I read it as a child, so I wanted something to guide us through it better. She is enjoying the comprehension questions. There are some really interesting writing projects in there - like retelling a story told be one of the characters that was told in a poem. There are recipes that she loves.

 

I don't think that you are missing anything by not doing them for the books when you are covering them as read alouds, but don't dismiss them as simply busywork. Those guides are really good for helping a child handle difficult piece of literature.

[Emmy]

We are using the Alice and Wonderland guide right now. My dd wanted to read Alice I remember not liking it when I read it as a child, so I wanted something to guide us through it better. She is enjoying the comprehension questions. There are some really interesting writing projects in there - like retelling a story told be one of the characters that was told in a poem. There are recipes that she loves.

 

I don't think that you are missing anything by not doing them for the books when you are covering them as read alouds, but don't dismiss them as simply busywork. Those guides are really good for helping a child handle difficult piece of literature.

 

Thanks for your comments Karen, good food for thought.

[Peela]

I find these guides suck all the joy out of reading books with my kids, unless we just sit together and go through the questions orally and informally. The guides which take passages out of context and then ask tricky questions about the passage, are much worse, I find, than guides which use questions to help you get more out of a book.

However I did find recently during some testing that my kids were not so good at answering those questions the way kids in schools are trained to- full sentences, complete answers etc- so I have bought them a "comprehension" book each, but it is specifically designed so that the passages are not excerpts , but are complete essays unto themselves. But my kids are older and I am only doing this so that they learn how to take tests, really. Their comprehension is otherwise good.