How to improve reading comprehension for yr2

[mynameissal123]

Hi there. My nice natured ds is struggling at school. One problem is his reading comprehension. In his teachers words he reads beautifully & with ease but can't answer questions about what he's read. With SATS coming up I wondered if anyone had any suggestions on ways to improve this that isn't the usual just bombarding him with questions when reading. Something fun to engage him more would be great but my brain can't think of much! Thanks!

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

What is his spoken comprehension like?

Can he answer simple retrieval questions e.g. what colour is Max's dog? If not, that's probably the place to start.

I know you didn't want bombarding him with questions, but asking fewer questions about it might be easier for him. Especially if you prepare him for the sort of information you will be looking for i.e we're going to be reading this to find out what Max's dog is called.

[user789653241]

www.readtheory.org/ This site is free and very good.

[mynameissal123]

Thanks to both of you for replying. Thanks for the suggestions as well. I will definitely try asking questions 1st rather than after to start with & will have a good look at the website. His speaking comprehension I think is ok & the teacher says he's v good at their 'carpet time' when they discuss what they're going to do & he'll frequently join in. It's just when left by himself to go through the work and fathom out what needs to be done. He did have speech problems when he was younger but these have been rectified but perhaps it was the sign of an underlying problem.

[user789653241]

My ds had speech problem when he was younger. He was a great decoder, so no problem at reading books, but we had to work hard on comprehension. We started using the site end of YR1 and done that everyday, now his comprehension has improved so much in YR3. Also maturity matters, I think.

Other recommended comp. website:

mrnussbaum.com/readingpassageindex/

web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/

www.readworks.org/ This one is not interactive, but great site.

[mynameissal123]

Thanks Irvine. It's nice to hear that with perseverance that you can make a difference. My ds too is a greater reader. I could probably put a book suitable for a 10 year old in front of him & he'd read it perfectly. He wouldn't know what it was about though! I think maturity is also right. He's not 7 until July so he's much younger than his friends.

[tobysmum77]

I think practising reading to find something out, rather than pointless questions about boring biff and chip books. It changes the mindset of reading, my dd who is apparently very strong in comprehension automatically skims through pages to find the right answer.

So cook with him - ask him how much sugar to put in the cake, what he wants from a menu, which rides there are at the theme park, how big the whale is, what the biggest planet is etc etc.

[mynameissal123]

Thanks tobysmum. I'll try that as well.