Margaret Watkinson

If the purpose of reading is to comprehend something, to gain insights, new information that connects to previous knowledge and learn how to think more critically, systematically, creatively or ..whatever, just differently, we need to have some ‘strategies’ to help our kids connect to what we are reading. Remember, first connections are text-to-self, then text-to-text and then text-to-the world.

Questioning

Ask questions you don’t know the answers to because this leads to authentic interactions. Simple yes/no or labeling questions “do you see the duck?” or “what shape is this?” are ok to encourage a very young child to attend to the illustrations, but as kids get more sophisticated with language and read aloud, it’s a time filler more than anything else.

As a minimum of three question types. Heres a list that you can consider with your read aloud

factual detail: where does this story take place? What is the name of the baby goat?

Inferential: Why did the boy run back home? Why do mice avoid snakes?

opinion: What do you think they should do? Do you think they like that snack?

bridging to experience: Have you been on a road trip? Have you felt sad when someone took your toy?

I will list the others here, without examples, but you get the idea.

Predicting, focusing on text structure (ie: what’s the problem for this dog?), labeling (not my favorite, but can be useful technique), linking to another book/story, link to a writing or drawing project, change the ending (if you were the author…..)evaluative (what do you find sad/funny?), pointing out details, explaining (usually a vocabulary concept), summarizing (very tricky for most kids, they tend to hone in on details so wording such as “what is the whole book about?” is helpful.

Think Aloud– Very, very effective particularly for kids with lower language skills or experience (younger, or perhaps delayed). It is also effective for all genres. Stories and fiction, non-fiction. You think about the text aloud, modeling your thought process. For example, you come across the word “Lug” and the child may not have ever heard that word, but they are familiar with carrying something heavy, maybe even dragging it so you connect the action to the word.

Ask yourself: Does stopping to use these strategies let children into the text of keep them from attending to the text. Be open and adjust your approach to the particular child or group that you are reading with.

Genre Studies– Many children are exposed (mostly or exclusively) to non-fiction stories. Children can and do enjoy lots of genres! Biography, non-fiction how to, natural science or design books, poetry, music books, chapter books etc….Point out the features and structure of the genre. (Look, these are headings and the heading tells us what this part is about, or this book about cats is about real cats and how they live. It’s different from “the Cat in the Hat”….”) This is most effective with one genre at a time so kids can compare the features. Some authors only write in one genre, so maybe an author ‘study’ or have lots of books in the same genre about the same topic.

Vocabulary studies– Comprehension is the process of linking new ideas and concepts to previous, already existing ideas and concepts. Expanding language is pivotal to expanding ideas and concepts. Providing language and vocabulary experience and connections assists no only in processing concepts/language meta-cognitively, but also will play a positive role in the other essential aspect of reading, decoding of text.

These are some specific ‘how to’ strategies to include in your read aloud experiences with your young child. Some you undoubtedly are already doing, others may be less familiar. All will contribute to your child’s increased enjoyment and understanding of reading all sorts of texts with you, and you will find experiencing this growth and your child’s application of these new ways as they expand their world through their books and stories fascinating process.