Comprehension practise for Year 2-Year3 reader

[noramum]

We have a problem. DD is in a year 2 on White band. She can read very fluently but lacks vital comprehension skills and the teacher obviously is reluctant to move her up.

We have to problem since last Summer term in Y1 and the school only half-hearted tried to solve it by giving her 1/2 term extra support with similar children but fails to explain properly to us how we can help DD. She was moved reluctantly from purple to gold and then to white as she got very bored with the reading material in school. When she gets bored she only reads faster.

We get explanations like "she needs to read between the lines" but this doesn't help a lot. That the school also provides books like Rainbow Fairies for white level is no help as you read one and you know the storyline of all of them.

Does anybody uses any websites or worksheets to help with practical examples we can work with DD?

We know she can concentrate and read properly if she wants but the school only reads in groups and she gets distracted. At home she reads a lot more difficult books and when we talk about it she mostly gets the idea. But we feel she needs to do practical work instead of just talking to us. And we need to know what questions to ask.

We will speak to the school again but I just feel not a lot will come out of it and from September she will be in a Junior school with less support.

I think you are right to think along the practical lines - eg exploring activities surrounding the books. There are lots of websites that have these, including the publishers in many cases these will help to guide you in the right direction.

Try activities such as;

Drawing the characters - using words from the book to inform are great if she likes art.

Design the front cover and blurb for a book she enjoys.

Acting out a film version of certain scenes is great too - Ipads are awesome for this.

Cartoon strip of favourite scene

School report for main character

Make a scene from the book - like a diorama - in a shoe box!!

These will help draw her attention to the finer details.

However, I feel this is a common problem with readers who develop quickly and they do catch up.

I would also explore books that tune into her interests more, as yes she could be just switching off from the Rainbow Fairies because she is finding them dull ... hence she is just reading for the sake of getting from beginning to end rather than out of curiosity sparked by the storyline.

Have a look for Fortunately, the Milk & The Claude series ......