Anyway, Henry has consistently done badly on a particular kind of assignment. It is a worksheet with a paragraph (or more) at the top and discussion questions about the paragraph at the bottom. These worksheets are always done in class so I don't see them until they come home in his Tuesday folder with all of his other work. He had three of these in his folder last week (the second week of school), and they were grades 74, 79, and 75 or something like that. The rest of his graded papers were fine.
I have no idea how to help him improve that skill. Or what skill it is. It would be Meltdown City here if I tried to get him to do practice ones at home. [Ah, remember the good old days when he loved doing worksheets? :sigh] Last year, I asked his teacher how he could get better at that, and she didn't have any good suggestions.
How do I figure out what he isn't "getting"?
I've started back reading with him every night at bedtime just because I wanted to rekindle his love of books. I'm hoping that may help some.
that is a hugely important skill b/c almost all language arts sections of standardized tests involve a large portion on reading comprehension.
i don't work with elementary aged kids, but i'll try to do some research and see what i can find to help. i'm sure that libby and some of our other teachers might have more advice.
one thing i would suggest off the top of my head is to practice this skill aloud with him when he's doing his fun reading. so when he's about to read chapter 2 of his new book, maybe you could read it first, break it into 3 smaller parts and come up with a few questions you could discuss when he's done with each of the smaller parts.
i find that SO many kids have trouble retaining what they read in high school. having the chance to practice at his young age could be a huge, huge help to him later on.
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
i'll keep trying to come up with some more ideas.
Those are both really good ideas. Thanks for the input so far!
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
i'll keep trying to come up with some more ideas.
Those are both really good ideas. Thanks for the input so far!
i'm not sure what his reading level is but this website has a lot of good practice sheets.
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
i'll keep trying to come up with some more ideas.
Those are both really good ideas. Thanks for the input so far!
i'm not sure what his reading level is but this website has a lot of good practice sheets.
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm
I was just thinking of posting a separate post about reading levels.
Henry's STAR test came home yesterday (for Accelerated Reading), and he is right smack in the middle of 4th grade reading.
If you know about AR levels, it said he was between 3.0 and 4.5 (I think).
Haven't checked your link yet; will do it right now.
I've been having the same problem with Kyle, but I've changed tactics this year and it has made a huge difference so far. Part of Kyle's problem was he had absolutely no interest in anything so I have tried to make it more interesting for him by commenting on things and connecting the information to things he does like. Also, asking questions when I read to him makes a big difference, too. He thinks it's just 4th grade stuff that's more interesting, I know it's just in the way I'm presenting it that's making the difference.
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
i'll keep trying to come up with some more ideas.
Those are both really good ideas. Thanks for the input so far!
i'm not sure what his reading level is but this website has a lot of good practice sheets.
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm
I was just thinking of posting a separate post about reading levels.
Henry's STAR test came home yesterday (for Accelerated Reading), and he is right smack in the middle of 4th grade reading.
If you know about AR levels, it said he was between 3.0 and 4.5 (I think).
Haven't checked your link yet; will do it right now.
Robin, do you know what his fluency level is in reading? Like does he read 150 words a min? Have they ever told you? They may tell you this in 4th grade. I know they test kids in 4th grade for this at our school. Maybe you can find that out and see. I am not familiar with the 3.0 system. I only know words per min. Maybe ask the teacher how that level is obtained. Maybe that is how they get that level for AR by finding out what they read per min.
Have you tried reading a book first and then letting him read it. Then ask him questions from the chapter her read? See how he does that way. Then maybe you can pinpoint where he is having the issue. Boys tend to race through work at that age. He may just be rushing.
i still have horrible reading comprehension. i think a lot of it comes from my undiagnosed ADD i just cannot pay attention to something if it bores me. even if i try really hard, sometimes i will have to re-read something several times. if it is interesting to me, i don't have the problem. but, if it is boring, i just cannot remember what i read at all.
It definitely sounds like a reading comprehension problem. It can stem from so many issues. If his fluency is really high, then he's able to read so fast that it's not sticking.
I always taught my students to ask themselves:
Does that look right? Does that sound right? Does that make sense? Could I tell someone what I just read?
Before they begin to read they also looked at the title did some skimming and then made educated guesses about what they story was about. Or if is was non-fiction, then they talked about what they already knew about the subject. It's called activating prior knowledge.
It's all a part of self-monitoring. I also had them read with post its. They put post-its on parts that weren't clear to them and they could also write questions they had about the reading on the post-its while they read.
I think you have some great advice. I also think April hit the nail on the head. When I was working with my students that had trouble with what you have discribed, I made sure they knew what they needed to watch out for. This is also a great test taking skill for math word problems. And like April said, mark the things that are important.
One thing you might want to do to give you a better idea if it's a comprehension problem or a problem of being able to write his thoughts down, is to read something ahead of time. Then make up three or four relevant questions. Let Henry read the book or passage the ask him the questions. If he can answer them correctly then it may be he is having difficulty in writing his answers.
Another thing that I did with sticky notes (and the kids liked this) is to let kids write notes about something important that happened and put it on that page. It only has to be a couple of key words. When he is done reading the book, he can go back and review in order the main events that happened. Sometimes retelling the story orally helps comprehension too.
Also do you know what type of learner he is? Does he do better listening, seeing, doing? That might give you a clue on how to approach it too.
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
i'll keep trying to come up with some more ideas.
Those are both really good ideas. Thanks for the input so far!
i'm not sure what his reading level is but this website has a lot of good practice sheets.
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm
I was just thinking of posting a separate post about reading levels.
Henry's STAR test came home yesterday (for Accelerated Reading), and he is right smack in the middle of 4th grade reading.
If you know about AR levels, it said he was between 3.0 and 4.5 (I think).
Haven't checked your link yet; will do it right now.
I use to be obsessed with reading levels. Stephen was having so much trouble in first and his teacher said he was at a 4 and needed to be at 16 by the end of first. This is different then AR levels. He would read books to his teacher and then answer questions and this was how they got his level. It wasn't until we moved during first and his reading teacher showed me the books then I finally understood where he was at and what we needed to be reading at home.
robin, i googled "elementary reading comprehension" and got a TON of hits on practice worksheets.
one thing that i do with my students is to teach them that it's ok to write on the passage itself - circle words they don't know; underline key ideas; etc.
you could practice doing that with him on a few worksheets at home that you have read ahead of time to teach him.
another good tip is to teach them to read the questions first. then they have an idea of what to look for when they're reading. that might help henry too.
i'll keep trying to come up with some more ideas.
Those are both really good ideas. Thanks for the input so far!
i'm not sure what his reading level is but this website has a lot of good practice sheets.
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm
I was just thinking of posting a separate post about reading levels.
Henry's STAR test came home yesterday (for Accelerated Reading), and he is right smack in the middle of 4th grade reading.
If you know about AR levels, it said he was between 3.0 and 4.5 (I think).
Haven't checked your link yet; will do it right now.
Robin, do you know what his fluency level is in reading? Like does he read 150 words a min? Have they ever told you? They may tell you this in 4th grade. I know they test kids in 4th grade for this at our school. Maybe you can find that out and see. I am not familiar with the 3.0 system. I only know words per min. Maybe ask the teacher how that level is obtained. Maybe that is how they get that level for AR by finding out what they read per min.
Have you tried reading a book first and then letting him read it. Then ask him questions from the chapter her read? See how he does that way. Then maybe you can pinpoint where he is having the issue. Boys tend to race through work at that age. He may just be rushing.
I wonder why WPM would matter and how it is used? I've never heard of that used in reading instruction before. A kid could read really fast and not comprehend any of it.
Well, here's the response I got from Henry's teacher:
Open book tests always present a challenge to our students at the beginning of the school year. They have been accustomed to “filling in the blank” on a test with information that has been memorized. We (4th grade) use open book tests to encourage our students to “research” the book to find the answer. Students often do not go back to the book or article to “look” for the answer, and many of the questions can be tricky. The students are now learning to really use the book to complete tests, and in the beginning, it is not uncommon to see poor grade. It will improve as time goes on. I appreciate you looking over Henry’s work with him, and it might be beneficial to have him bring home the book and find the correct answers. If he has to do this a couple of times, he might be more willing to “search” the book for the answers. The same is true of the Comprehension worksheets that we color code. The color coding forces them to go back to the article to prove the answers. I don’t believe it is a comprehension issue at this time; it’s more an issue of using the book to prove his answers. Let’s continue to encourage Henry to use his book or the article to prove his answers, and at the same time, we will continue to monitor his progress.
What do you think? It sounds pretty similar to a response I got from Henry's teacher last year, and he never got much better. Henry always makes A's and B's on his report cards, and now I'm starting to wonder if it is just because he is well-behaved.
Robin- you got some great info from the other ladies. I am not fully awake, but I will come back to this post this weekend after I go back to work tomorrow. I will look through my materials for advice for you.
Just a thought though - he has to be able to actually understand the types of questions being asked. To make it simple for the students we call them right there questions and think about it questions.
Right There Questions are directly answered in the text. Example - Questions that have to do with sequence
Think about it Questions are questions that do not have answers directly in the text. Students can find clues in the text to figure out the answer. Example - Main Idea is usually not directly stated, but figured out through the events
There are basic reading skills that are usually questioned. Just some that quickly come to mind... Main Idea & Details Sequence Making Inferences Fact vs. Opinion Figuartive Language Identifying Story Elements (character, setting, problem, solution)
There is a cool website that I found that I am going to use with my class this year. You should check it out to use with Henry.
http://www.bookadventure.org/
Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning.
robin, i don't teach elementary, so i don't really know what to say.
idu them not understanding how to use the book to find answers.
i'm sure elementary teachers would have better input about that than i would.
Re: red. I thought that was amusing because some of my teacher-friends' children just started 1st grade, and they were discussing how they found it impossible to help their own children with their homework.
Look out when Em and Jake start regular school.
Anyway, the kids have never had to look up anything in a book ever before in their lives. The teachers would read the chapter to them in class, and for homework they would have to read the chapter themselves. But the teacher ALWAYS went through the test questions and answers the week (or day or whatever) before the test. So the kids learned/memorized the answers that way.
I think now the teacher ISN'T going over the questions and answers at all, and I don't know if she's reading the chapter with them or not.
You also reminded me (and I know this may sound horrible), but when I was student-teaching in second grade, I was helping a boy read a book called "Hats for Sale". It's about a hat salesman who has to deal with a bunch of monkeys in a tree that are wearing his hats and copying him. This kid kept answering my question, "Why are the monkeys acting like that?" with "Because they're mad at the hat man." I really thought the kid was soooo dense but it never occurred to me that he wouldn't know that the monkeys were just copying what the man was doing.
i just cannot pay attention to something if it bores me. even if i try really hard, sometimes i will have to re-read something several times. if it is interesting to me, i don't have the problem. but, if it is boring, i just cannot remember what i read at all.
