Year 4 student struggles with comprehension.

[Tead]

Hello
we are preparing for the 11plus for my son.

a few weeks ago my son visited a tutor who gave him a small test. He scored well on some areas but his comprehension was very, very poor.

His reading is ok, he has always been reading a year ahead of his age range but he has struggled with some of the more complicated comprehension work, in particular where the reading extract is more complex and requires greater concentration.

I have been focusing on his reading and making sure he reads everyday. I thought this would be enough but obviously it’s not working.

it doesn’t help that he reads mainly diary of a wimpy kid type books

any suggestions how I can improve his comprehension skills. It’s the one area where I think we can get the most improvement for life, not just his 11+.

he reads mainly diary of a wimpy kid type books

Here is part of your answer!

He needs to read all kinds of texts - not just fiction either. Instructions, explanations, factual information, short stories, rhymes, poems, etc. He needs to actually USE his reading. Can he follow a recipe without your input with the reading? Can he read a TV schedule on eg a Sky TV screen? Can he answer questions about what he’s just read? Not ‘what does it say’ but ‘what does it mean?’

Get him child-friendly reading matter. Nat Geo Kids, The Week Junior etc. Ask him to read cooking instructions on packets. Get him to read road signs. Ask him what they are telling him. He needs to understand that print is all around him and gives information.

And restrict screen time!

Thanks will start getting him the week Júnior.
we have started reading Harry Potter together. We have read together twice but he is asking me questions about the meaning of words. It’s early days but I think reading aloud will stop him from sacnning the text to really reading and understanding.

Try to read aloud from a chapter book to him every day, but not when he is sleepy. Pick something exciting with a good plot - then drop in your own comments and questions in a natural kind of way, which characters you like /dislike, what might happen next, why is the author telling us about x , see how quickly he notices if the book is set in the past/future or Uk/elsewhere.

With vocab I assume you keep a notebook? Good to write down new words, teach him how to look them up in a dictionary and use a thesaurus.

If he is picking books below his ability level speak to his teacher. He should be struggling with about 4 words per double-page spread and if he’s not the book is too easy and his teacher should be guiding him to harder books. Also take him to the library and let him choose some non-fiction. There must be a topic he is enthusiastic about - there’s bound to be something tricky for him to read that will interest him enough to engage in it.

My son is in year 5 and is an avid reader but I find a good way of doing things is to find a film based on a book (eg Harry Potter, Percy Jackson etc) that he wants to watch then tell him he needs to read the book first. It gives him the added incentive to do so.

If your boy is a good reader then diary of a wimpy kid books are well below his level. Although my son still will read these, particularly before he goes to sleep as they are light reading for him.

Maybe take him to the library so he can pick some books. Reading aloud is also so important, then you can discuss unfamiliar words etc and make sure he understands what he is reading.

A wide variety of texts is excellent such as poetry, Shakespeare, classic books.

I think some dc are just naturally better at comprehension. My ds reads Diary of a minecraft zombie books and comic type books mainly. But the teachers say his comprehension is really good. They do give him comprehension reading/writing homework once every other week. I let him do that on his own. He has also read some kids national geographic books as well. He is year 4 so I have decided to start getting him to read some proper chapter books and not just minecraft zombie diary books lol. But, his comprehension was fine only reading those books. I think it is important to get your dc reading books they love and to make sure they understand what they read. I had the problem growing up, I could read something without paying attention to what I was reading. When I paid attention my comprehension was 100%, but when my mind was wondering while I read (even could do this reading out loud), then my comprehension was not great.

We had this a bit in Y3 and Y4. School weren't particularly great and just said that many kids struggle with inference. We went all out on reading at home - a real effort to read high-quality books every night, watched the BBC Bitesize videos, and also did the CPG comprehension books once a week. The key thing was sitting down and talking them through it. Made a huge difference.

https://toe-by-toe.co.uk/product/stride-ahead-manual/

You might find this useful? It's terribly boring but really works. It's the comprehension equivalent to toe by toe.

Thanks everyone for the advice and kind words