{"id":1215,"date":"2023-03-10T20:33:09","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T20:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2025-10-31T14:58:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:58:03","slug":"6-strategies-to-improve-reading-comprehension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2023\/03\/10\/6-strategies-to-improve-reading-comprehension\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Try these tips to help your child develop stronger literacy skills.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>Originally published by Scholastic Parents on August 30, 2022<br>Versioned for Scholastic Canada<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Developing reading comprehension skills is incredibly important for early readers, starting as early as <a href=\"https:\/\/classroomessentials.scholastic.ca\/en\/search?prefn1=bookType&amp;prefv1=Picture%20Book&amp;prefn2=itemType-cec-ca&amp;prefv2=N&amp;prefn3=languageCode-cec-ca&amp;prefv3=English%7CFrench&amp;start=0&amp;sz=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">picture books<\/a>. As school-aged children get older, it will help them understand textbooks, newspapers, and other more complex texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scholastic offers plenty of grade-appropriate reading comprehension <a href=\"https:\/\/classroomessentials.scholastic.ca\/en\/search?prefn1=formatSW&amp;prefv1=Activity%20Kit%7CActivity%20Book%7CLearning%20Activity&amp;prefn2=itemType-cec-ca&amp;prefv2=N&amp;prefn3=languageCode-cec-ca&amp;prefv3=English%7CFrench&amp;start=0&amp;sz=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">activity books<\/a> that can help your child practise, but in addition, here are six tips to sharpen reading comprehension skills in your early reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Have them read aloud.<\/strong> This encourages them to go slower, which gives them more time to process what they read and in turn improves reading comprehension. Plus, they&#8217;re not only seeing the words \u2014 they&#8217;re hearing them, too! You can also take turns reading aloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Provide books at the right level.<\/strong> Make sure your school-aged reader gets lots of practice reading books that aren&#8217;t too hard. They should recognize at least 90 percent of the words without any help. Stopping any more often than that to figure out a word makes it tough for kids to focus on the overall meaning of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your child needs help transitioning from picture books to chapter books, try Scholastic&#8217;s Branches books, which are designed to bridge that gap for growing readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Reread to build fluency.<\/strong> To gain meaning from text and encourage reading comprehension, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly \u2014 a skill known as fluency. By the beginning of 3rd grade, for example, your child should be able to read 90 words a minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rereading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words quickly, so they&#8217;ll become more fluent in their reading comprehension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Talk to the teacher.<\/strong> If your child is struggling with reading comprehension, they may need more help with building their vocabulary or practising phonics skills. (These phonics boxed sets \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/classroomessentials.scholastic.ca\/en\/-pok%C3%A9mon%3A-phonics-adventures-boxed-set-\/18110202-cec-ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pok\u00e9mon Phonics Adventures Boxed Set<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/classroomessentials.scholastic.ca\/en\/-gabby%27s-dollhouse%3A-phonics-fun-boxed-set-\/42744215-cec-ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gabby&#8217;s Dollhouse: Phonics Fun Boxed Set<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/classroomessentials.scholastic.ca\/en\/-fly-guy-phonics-boxed-set-\/3142841-cec-ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fly Guy Phonics Boxed Set<\/a> \u2014 are fun ways to help your child build necessary phonics skills.) A teacher can weigh in on the best next steps to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Supplement their class reading.<\/strong> If your child&#8217;s class is studying a particular theme, look for easy-to-read books or magazines on the topic. Some prior knowledge will help them make their way through tougher classroom texts and promote reading comprehension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. Talk about what they&#8217;re reading.<\/strong> This &#8220;verbal processing&#8221; helps them remember and think through the themes of the book. Ask questions before, during, and after a session to encourage reading comprehension. For example:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Before:<\/em> &#8220;What are you interested in about this book? What doesn&#8217;t interest you?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>During<\/em>: &#8220;What&#8217;s going on in the book? Is it turning out the way you thought it would? What do you think will happen next?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>After:<\/em> &#8220;Can you summarize the book? What did you like about it? What other books does it remind you of?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Try these tips to help your child develop stronger literacy skills. Originally published by Scholastic Parents on August 30, 2022Versioned for Scholastic Canada Developing reading comprehension skills is incredibly important&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[5,6,14,7,11,48],"class_list":["post-1215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reading-tips","tag-book-clubs","tag-book-fairs","tag-books","tag-parents","tag-reading-fluency","tag-teachers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension | Scholastic at School Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scholastic.com\/parents\/books-and-reading\/reading-resources\/developing-reading-skills\/improve-reading-comprehension.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Strategies to Improve Reading Comprehension | Scholastic at School Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Try these tips to help your child develop stronger literacy skills. 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