Comprehension Skills

Joyfullyread.com
Her name is Michelle Corbin.
She is fantastic!
Please get ahold of her.

do you read out loud with her daily? at 8 having her read out loud to you is really helpful and have her stop and ask questions about what she doesn't understand, also you ask questions as you go along in the reading.
let her pick the book even if it seems too young or too old. if its too young you will get through it fast and on to the next book! if it is too old it, it is still her choice and will inspire her to want to work more on her comprehension. often the comprehension is more about focusing on what the kid is reading.
my husband has dyslexia and always struggled in school, then he found reading materials for role playing games with some friends in high school and he couldn't stop reading before that it was like pulling teeth to get him to read his mom said. He's now an avid reader and it just amazes me to hear his stories of how much he struggled. his parents didn't take the time to read with him or help him find something he loved to read, he did that with friends much much later than your daughter.
there are a lot of great books and materials available, my personal favorites are from Usborne Books and more. I signed up as a distributor with them I loved them so much, I pretty much just use my discount at this point. :) but I like how the reading books all look the same on the outside so even if your child is reading at a lower level the book looks just like the higher level reading books. they have kid kits that are geared to having fun with math and science as well as just fun ones, I like them because the activities in the kits require that the kids read and follow instructions. There are story books from all over the world too. if you want more info on the books, my old website www.celestsbooks.com has a link to a website that is active where you can browse the catalog and read the reviews and suggested reading ages, etc. there is a program called 10 terrific weeks that has everything you need for 10 weeks of learning on different topics including princesses and fairies, to human biology. I like them because it gives the parent a break down of any supplies needed and basically a lesson plan for how to use the materials. great for christmas break and summer time. I use mine with my almost 4 year old just now and then when we are looking for something to do.
anyway, if you have questions you can pm me on them. by no means are they the only books out there that can teach all of this stuff, but maybe even looking through what they have can spring board you to some ideas of what you want to use. I just love books and reading and my husband for obvious reasons feels strongly we have books in our home. I fell in love with the Usborne books. we all have. I don't do much with my distributorship right now since my husband is gone so much, but I do use the discount I get, I know that on the friday after thanksgiving they will be having some HUGE sales online. maybe look and see if there is anything you are interested in then go back that friday and get some stuff online.
Good luck.
I work with host kids from Korea right now (international students) and fore comprehension I have them read out loud to me each night. it is making a world of difference for their language skills and comprehension. and once they picked their own choice for materials it has gone SO much better!! that is why I suggested that--
C.

Hi K.,

Try a computer game called Reading Detective. You read the story first and then it asks you questions about what you read. You get to earn points and then spend them at the archade. My son loved this. You can purchase it at any homeschool store or your local book store might have it. I believe it comes in different levels too. Good luck and happy reading.

One of the big things we do in school is to model reading comprehension for the kids. What this looks like is you read a passage to the kids (NOT the whole book!) then stop and discuss what that passage means to you. In our school, we do six steps:
1) Background knowledge (what does this remind you of)
2) Images (what picture do you see in your mind)
3) Questions (what are you wondering about)
4) Predict (what could happen next?)
5) Sensory (what would we hear/feel/smell)
6) Recall (what just happened?)

You have to do this for the child several times first (using new and novel text) before asking them to try ONE of the steps for themselves.

Good luck!