Comprehension is one of the most crucial skills of becoming a well-rounded reader and one that we continuously work on with our students at Teton Literacy Center. Indeed, what fun is reading if you cannot understand the text!? Last month we gave you Seven Strategies to Teach Students Text Comprehension! and this month we are going to delve deeper into one of those strategies—questioning texts.

One of the key strategies in assuring that students are understanding the texts they read is questioning. Questioning is effective in that it helps students take the time to think about the words they are reading and what those words mean together. Further, questioning is an easy tactic for parents to implement at home—all you have to do is take a short bit of time discuss and question what your student reads!
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What kind of questions are most effective you ask? Read on to find out questioning points proven to aid in comprehension!

• Summarize: Ask your student to summarize what she has read. This can be at the end of a reading session, chapter or book or it can be at the start of a new session with the same book. Examples of questions that will prompt your student to summarize:
  • What was the book about?
  • What was your favorite part? Why? Least favorite part?
  • Tell me what happened.
  • Do you remember what happened when we read last night?
• Predict: An easy follow-up to a mid-book summary, ask your student to predict what she thinks will happen next. You can also prompt predictions at the start of a book or in the middle of a reading session. Examples:
  • What an interesting title/cover/etc! What do you think this book will be about?
  • What happened last week? What do you think is going to happen next?
  • Wow! This is getting so exciting! What do you think will happen to this character?
• Key Details: Closely relating to summaries, ask your student about the key details of a text, or what the most important parts of the text are. Key details are a primary focus of Teton County School District and bringing the concept up at home is a great way to reinforce it for your student! Examples:
  • What were the most important parts of the story? Why were they important?
  • What key details helped you understand that character? Or situation?
  • When did you know things were changing in the story? Or for the character?
  • How did you know what the problem was? When did you know the problem was solved? What key detail let you know?

Summer is the perfect time to learn together as a family. With the end of school right around the corner, it is important to start thinking about how your children will stay engaged this summer.

The best way to prevent “summer slide,” or losing knowledge gained over the school year during the summer, is to engage in learning activities every day. Some simple activities to try…

• Cook a new recipe each week as a family. Choose recipes from faraway places or passed down by generations. Have your child read the recipe, write it down to share, convert measurements and experiment with flavors. This is a fun way to build vocabulary, numerical fluency and read in an authentic way all summer long.
• Read a nonfiction book together as a family every week. Challenge your children to learn more about the topic by researching it at the library and presenting their findings to friends or family. Choose nonfiction books based on your children’s interests to keep motivation high.
• Read a classic fiction book as a family over the summer. I still remember my father reading crazy science fiction stories to us from the 1940s. I used to read my little brother the Harry Potter series. I also recommend the Jurassic Park series, Lord of the Rings, or any classic children’s novels. TLC and the library have books you can borrow all summer long!
• Volunteer. Summer is a great time to volunteer together as a family. Clean up your street, pick up recycling, or even read aloud to kids hanging out at the local park.
• Explore. Summer is such a wonderful time to explore together as a family. Go to museums, on hikes, over to a friend’s house, or look for bugs in your own backyard. Exploring what is around you, writing journal entries about it, discussing it as a family or reading books that connect to the topic, are all ways to engage the brain. Need ideas on what to do? Talk to our staff!

--Ms. Kristin