Here is a fun activity you could do at home to help improve reading comprehension and ensure that your children are understanding the meaning of the text.

As I've mentioned before, we are taking part in the MeMeTales Readathon 2012. This week the theme for the Read-a-thon is Animals. The specific animal books are available free on the website this week so once you've joined up you'll be able to read them online. 


We read the Donkey and the Wolf and based this fun activity around that book. You can use any story you want though!

Hello funny donkey

What to do:

Pick a story you've read before or just read.

Explain to your child that you are going to re-enact the story. Have the book (or electronic device with book) on the table where you are going to play.

Set the scene.

This is a really fun bit. You can make the set up as simple or as elaborate as you want. We kept it pretty simple. Some felt for the "meadow" and our characters made out of play dough. We found that adding little googly eyes really brought our characters to life.

Re-read the story & act it out.

Read the story with your child. After you have read each page use your play dough characters to re enact what has just happened on the page. Use this time to also talk about any words or concepts that your child may not understand.

What a scary looking wolf (haha)

 Our characters ready for the story to begin

Watch out Donkey, here comes Wolf!

Donkey has spotted Wolf!

What is happening here? You'll have to read the story to find out ;)

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by setting the scene and making the characters yourself. Then, with your child, help them re-tell the story using the props.

- Extend this activity by having your child make all the props themselves. 

- Mix it up. Once you've re-told the story as it's written, have your child come up with a new story using the same characters or have them change the ending. You can help them do this by asking some leading questions, ie "What do you think would have happened if......?" "Can you show me with your characters what might have happened?" etc.

- Encourage creativity by letting your child know that they can base the characters, etc. on their own interpretation. They don't have to look exactly as they do in the story. You can mix around the scene as well. For example, the book may not picture trees in the meadow, but if your child wants trees, go with it!

- Interest. So, how do you get your child interested to do this if they don't appear to be leaping up at your suggestions? Easy, start playing yourself. Show your children the fun they are missing and I'd be very surprised if at the very least they don't come over and watch you re-telling the story. Also.. this isn't rocket science but make sure there aren't other distractions like TV going in the background.

- Talking and Reading together will help your child develop their language skills, not to mention the incredible bond you create with them.

- Read more about Reading Comprehension for kids here and why it's as important a subject as learning how to read (decode text).

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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 Reading Comprehension for preschoolers and beyond.

5 Steps to help your child understand the meaning of text at home.

I often feel as though much of the focus on young children is about learning to "read." And by that, I mean learning to "decode text". In order to read you have to be able to decode text but sometimes the focus is too heavy on decoding the text, and not enough on understanding the meaning of the text.



Before children can read independently it's important they work on their reading comprehension. Lucky it's so easy to help your child. Here's how:

1. Start with the front of the book. 

Read the title and ask your child, "What do you think this book is about?" "What do you think might happen in the story?" etc.

2. Understand the characters. 

When characters are introduced to the story, make sure your child knows who they are. Sounds very basic but you'd be surprised how often children aren't aware of who is being talked about. Especially if there are multiple characters. This is as easy as asking, "Who is Wolf?" "Can you point to Wolf" "What does Wolf look like?" etc.

3. Check for understanding of new/different words. 

While children are still developing their vocabulary, they will be presented with new words all the time. When reading these words, it's a good idea to check if your child knows what they mean. If you've just read, "Donkey was relaxing in a beautiful meadow" for example, you might want to check if your child knows a) what "relaxing" means and b) what a meadow is. Explain the meanings if they were unaware and re-read the sentence.

4. Question the text.

While reading the story you can gauge your child's understanding by asking conceptual questions. For example, if you have just read "Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared looking very hungry!" You could say, "Oh no! What do you think is going to happen?" or "The wolf is hungry. I wonder what he might try and eat?" Once your child has responded, you could say, "Let's find out" and continue to read the story.

5. Review and Retell the Story.

When you and your child have finished reading a story, the easiest way to test for comprehension is to ask your child to tell you what happened in the story. You may need to remind them of certain details etc. 

Asking leading questions like, "What was your favourite part of the story?" or "Did you like that story? Why/Why not?"  "What happened to the wolf in the story?"etc. is also a great way to see how much of the story your child is understanding or retaining.

The more you practice this with them the better they will get

.. and the earlier you start, the better :)

Click here for a fun activity to help with reading comprehension.

MeMeTales have a great FREE app that comes complete with 20 free eBooks!  Download the free app for your phone, tablet or kindle and you can read the books on there. 

Happy reading,
Debs :)

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