Reading Skills part 3

Helpful Comprehension Prompts : To help support your child at home, we have provided question prompts that could be asked to your child to assist them with the comprehension skills. These questions could be used with a book, article, or story of your choice.

Sequence of Events:

• • Talk about the most important events. Write a brief summary.

  • Label the order of the story. The first event will be labeled 1 , and the last event will be labeled 4.

  • According to the story, what happened first?

Text and Graphic Features: (informational text)

• • How do the images help the reader understand ________ (topic)?

  • Why did the author use the image on page __ ?

  • Which section (subheading) would a reader use to learn more about ____ (topic)?

Theme

• • A theme is a lesson about life. What is the theme or message, of the story?

  • What is the theme of the author is trying to teach? Use details.

Point of View

• • Authors choose a point of view for their stories.

  • What is the author’s point of view about ____ (topic)? Do you share his/her point of view? Why or why not?

Compare and Contrast

• • How are ______ and _____ (characters or events) the same? How are they different? Compare and contrast how each actions affect the story’s events.

Story Message

• • What message does the author of ___ (story) hope the readers will learn?

  • What message does the author want readers to understand?

Author’s Purpose

• • How has the author organized information? How does it support his/her purpose for writing?

Understanding Characters

• • Understanding characters’ traits, feelings, and motivations helps readers to better explain how characters’ actions contribute to the sequence of events.

  • Why do you think ____ (character) does ______ (event from the story)?

  • How does ____ (character) feel when ____ (event form the story)? How can you tell?

Formal and Informal Language

• • Authors tend to use formal language to describe characters and events and informal language for characters’ dialogue. Remember, quotation marks signal dialogue.

  • Which parts of the story sound informal? Why do other words or phrases sound more formal?

Writing Genre: Informative Writing

Reminder:

At the start of every “lesson” a parent letter will be sent home with your child. This letter will name the specific skills of practice for the lesson (Target Vocabulary, Phonics Skill, Vocabulary Strategy, Comprehension Skill, Comprehension Strategy, & Grammar Skills).