Reading Comprehension - Missouri City,TX

Find out what his interests are and buy books that fit them. Hopefully this will spark an interest and he will pay more attention to what he is reading. Let him start using a dictionary to locate words he cannot pronounce. He can keep a dictionary of words he has learned. You could get a folder with prongs, put 26 sheets in it for every letter of the alphabet. He can see how it grows. As he gets older you could start a prefix, Grrek/Latin, and suffix folder. He would learn the definition of a prefix and maybe write two or three words to go along with them. For example maybe he learns re means to do again. Therefore he could write repay and redo. Some words come fromGreek or Latin origin such as semi. He could write semicircle, etc. I use this with my 4th graders and they are enjoying learning new words. He could take this on into high school and beyond. I hope this helps.

If he's scoring 100's on math, history and spelling, it sounds like he is comprehending what he is reading. That is, unless he's an auditory learner and picking up the information he needs from his teacher's lectures.

Of course it's always good to read read read with kids that age. But before you put your son into a reading comprehension program, could you have him retested? At 6 years old, there are a number or reasons he may have scored low - distraction, fatigue, not understanding the directions but being too quiet/shy to ask for clarification.

That was my son's problem when he took the state tests in 2nd grade. He scored in the bottom 2 percentile in reading! But he knew how to read and had excellent comprehension. When I got the scores and asked him if he had trouble in that section of the exam, he said he didn't understand the testing format, raised his hand to ask the proctor but couldn't get his attention because they had put up cardboard dividers around each student to discourage cheating. And my son, being a quiet kid, just gave up. I paid out of pocket to have my son retested individually and his scores were in the 80 + percentile. Which is what I would have expected.

If you read and discuss nightly with your son, you are probably already doing the best thing for him. If your son is quiet and lacks confidence, learning to read, process and verbalize is a good skill for him to have. He's only 6. Give him a chance to grow and learn at his own pace. Once you determine that he doesn't have a learning disability, just continue to have fun reading and interacting with him.

My son has a similar problem, I think he doesn't really want to talk to the teacher about the book as he is quiet. Is your son tested verbally or in writing or both? If they use the DRA they ask questions like "what does this book make you think of?" Have your son practice linking the book with something in his life, if a child swims in the book, talk about your son's experiences swimming, If a child gets lost, he could talk about getting lost, his sister getting lost, could be about a dog getting lost, etc. He needs to be able to talk about why he liked the book, and retell the book in detail, in order. If they use a different test find out the name and google it to learn more about preparing your son.

I am getting my doctorate in reading and taught first grade for 17 years. It is Normal for comprehension to lag in first grade. They are just learning the mechanics of reading and the other will come.
Just keep doing it and keep it fun. I am confused about him just being put in a reading group last Friday???? What does that mean? Is this some sort of remedial thing? He should have been in a reading group all year in his classroom daily. They make everything so stressful and complicated now. I will tell them to back off and stop treating him like something is wrong.

look into raz-kids.. it is online.. you have to pay for it. our school district buys it for k-3rd grades.. the kids read the book online and then they immediately answer questinons about tghe book.

it has helped my son with comprehension.. however.. my son is very immature for kinder..so if there is a question about why someone in the book did something.. or what they were thinking.. he does not get it.. my son is not able to infer from the text.. I think for my child it is developmental and will come in time.. as he matures..

We are going through the same thing right now! The school went ahead and placed her in a reading program. She has been in the program for 2 weeks and has already made an improvement. Ask your school if they have such a program.

My daughter likes the idea of reading and loves to be read to, but gives up when it comes to reading.

Today we have done a few pages from her Scholastic Success with 1st Grade workbook (ISBN 13:978-0-439-56969-9). It has a great section on reading comprehension. You read a short story (I made her read it) and then she has to answer the questions.

At first she didn't want to read, lost focus, was doing handstands in the chair, and may have picked her nose a few times. I was a little harsh on her and made her cry, but we got past that. I let her know a few things. I have a 40 year old cousin that didn't have anyone to sit with her and help her study when she was in school. She dropped out of school in 6th grade because it became too hard and she was too far behind. She cannot write in cursive and interchanges capital and small letters in her words. Then I told her about someone I know (my daughters cousin) who posts things in FB all day, but no one can understand what he means because he does not follow the rules of the english language. Therefore, no one knows what he means. I have seen kids comment, "Dude get a dictionary" and "This reminds me of preschool". At that point she started to cry and said I was making her sad. Then I told her it can be done, it just takes hard work because I have another cousin who was born mentally retarded, which means she is slower and can do things, but it takes more work. She finished high school and writes perfect english and posts in FB all the time too. It just took her longer to learn, but she did it. Then I followed up with reminding her that practice makes perfect and her ice skating is a perfect example. I reminded her that she started out using a walker on the ice and still went tripping all over the ice and now she is beautiful on the ice. With that, we went back to work and she was so proud of her reading after that.

I know not everyone will agree with making her sad with the truth, but I believe sometimes you have to be a little harsh and give a little push. It is better to tell her this with love rather than have a school tell her with a big fat F or have kids make fun of her and call her names. I will remind her how beautiful and smart she is throughout the day. As well, she will be beautiful on the ice in a few more hours. As a little reward, I am taking her to Kid to Kid and she can trade in some things for something new to her...her choice.

Good luck and best wishes!

My son (now in 4th grade) was behind in reading comprehension as well but he could not tell me what we just read. If your son is able to tell you what he just read, I would suspect that either the books you are reading aren't at a first grade level (might try Junie B Jones books or other 1st grade chapter books) or the school might be testing "reading comprehension" in a way that is confusing to him. If that is the case, maybe they could give you some practice tests to work with him.

Reading clicks in kids at different ages. In Scandinavia they do not even teach reading until the kids are seven and they beat us in all the education comparisons. My BIL didn't learn to read (at all) until late in first grade and he has a PhD from Yale. Keep reading to him and make sure it is fun - NOT work. He will get it when he gets it. Next September is a LONG way away. I would not worry about next year for a long time. They should not even be testing 6 year olds.

Keep reading and keep it fun. Visit the library often so he has lots of books that he has not read before.

I agree with Nancy that, if it were me, I would ask my child their opinion about that portion of the test. What did they like or not like about it. Were the instructions clear. Were there any distractions during the testing period. (maybe he had to go to the bathroom and was watching the clock willing the time to go by faster so he could get a bathroom break... you never know).

Barring anything that he can remember about it, I would continue reading with him nightly. Keep it fun. You said you discuss what you are reading about, but weren't really specific about that process. Do you stop during the story and ask him what he thinks might happen next? Or are you waiting until after the story to discuss it. Or maybe asking him after he read a page what he thinks about what he just read? Those are good to do also, but I would ask questions about what he expects to happen next BEFORE he reads it. (This obviously requires reading stories he isn't necessarily familiar with.)