Classroom Implications

Children need opportunities to learn and apply comprehension strategies as they reflect upon and think critically about what they read. Written language offers new vocabulary, new language patterns, new thoughts and new ways of thinking. Comprehension depends on the ability to identify familiar words quickly and automatically, which includes fluent reading, as well as the ability to figure out new words. But this is not enough.

Comprehension also depends upon the understanding of word meanings, on the development of meaningful ideas from groups of words (phrases, clauses, and sentences) and the drawing of inferences.  It also depends on the demands of the text (its concepts, its density) and the knowledge the reader brings to the text. The discussion of good books with their friends and classmates will help children appreciate and reflect on new aspects of written language and on the wide, wonderful world of print.

Students discuss the meanings of everything they are learning to read - words, sentences, and stories - with each other and with their teachers and other adults. They learn comprehension strategies as they engage in storytime discussion, journal keeping, wide reading, and purposeful writing.

As they read various kinds of books and other materials, students learn and practice comprehension strategies, sometimes on their own, and sometimes with direct help from their teachers.

Use interesting stories to develop language comprehension. Children benefit from stories that the teacher reads to them by building the children's oral language comprehension which ultimately affects their reading comprehension.  These story-based activities should be structured to build comprehension skills, not decoding skills.