Very simply, comprehension is understanding a text. However, comprehension is not simple at all! It is the culmination and weaving together of all the parts of reading we practice in reading support. Once students have a strong hold on phonics and fluency, comprehension gets easier. There are many ways to practice reading comprehension, but here are 3 simple ways you can work on comprehension at home.
Discussion - During this strategy, you read together with your child. This can mean they read to you, you alternate reading pages or paragraphs, OR you read to them. As you read together, stop and say out loud what you are thinking about the text. Ask questions, give thoughts and opinions. Here are some discussion starters/examples.
I forgot what we read about last night. Where were we? What happened in the last chapter? (skill: retelling)
That was so exciting. What do you think will happen next? (skill: predicting)
Woah, that was an interesting choice. Why do you think the character did that? I would have... (skill: character analysis and making connections)
What do you think the author is trying to tell us? (skill: theme/moral)
Oh man, that reminds me of... (skill: making connections)
Oh wow, I think the author is leaving us clues. Did that make you think differently about what's going on? Did you just figure something out? (skill: inferencing)
Visualizing - In reading support, we use an intervention called Visualizing and Verbalizing (V+V). In this intervention, students work to create detailed pictures in their head while reading. This helps with understanding and memory of text. The basic prompt you can ask is "What do those words make you picture?" As you read together - it can be a story, paragraph, or sentence - ask your child that question. Draw out as many details from your reader as you can. You can describe size, color, number, shape, where, movement, mood, background, perspective, time, and sounds. Make it fun and silly! Alternatively, your reader can draw a picture about what they were visualizing as they read.
Vocabulary and Background Knowledge - If you understand the words and the context, you understand the text. Do what you can to build your child's vocabulary and understanding of the world. This means getting outside, building exposure to different experiences, going to museums, watching documentaries, reading a variety of books or articles, going to the library, watching informative and educational TV shows, listening to podcasts, etc. Talk about what you're doing and seeing, and answer as many questions as you can. If you don't know something, look it up together!