Comprehension

1. How can I assess children's comprehension skills?

Asking children the questions provided in the Story Lessons allows you to informally assess their skills as they read. Each question has a label identifying the comprehension strategy or skill it addresses.

2. How can I give children additional comprehension practice?

The Meet the Superkids Library and Superkids' Club Libraries include decodable books to supplement each Student Book. Children can read the book after completing the Student Book. In addition, you can build children's listening comprehension by reading books aloud regularly—see the list of book recommendations included at the beginning of each Teacher's Guide—and by having children listen to the recorded versions of the read-aloud story for each unit.

3. How can I help children who are struggling with comprehension?

First take time to identify why they are having difficulty understanding. You may need to spend more time building background and vocabulary for some children, especially English-language learners. If children are having trouble understanding stories they read themselves, it's probably because they are not yet decoding words smoothly. After they have decoded the text word-by-word, read back to them the sentence, paragraph, or page they just read so they hear and understand it as connected text. Then have children read the text again. As you continue working with children on blending and fluency, their comprehension should improve.