Building comprehension skills?

[Miss Information]

I'm having an email discussion with my first grader's teacher about keeping dd2 challenged with her reading.

Dd2 just told me this morning that two weeks ago, she was told by the school librarian that she couldn't check out a second grade level book because she was only in first grade.

Interestingly enough, the teacher ALSO had a conversation with dd2 about the kind of books dd was interested in today (before she picked up the email
), because she noticed dd2 only choosing easy books from the library.

I mentioned to the teacher that maybe she could help us find appropriate books for her. I asked what her reading level was.

She said it was down a little from last year because they assessed differently this year (I'm assuming because they are checking more comprehension and not simply ability to decode, right?). I think she ended K last year at a DRA level of 24, but started this year at a 20.

But, she said, on another assessment (she didn't say which one) she gave dd2, that she can read at a beginning forth grade reading level, but was missing some comprehension skills (like what a table of contents and a heading was for, but they don't cover higher level/abstract thinking skills in first grade so that doesn't surprise her).

So my question is how best to build some reading comprehension and vocabulary with her? I told the teacher I'd be willing to help out, but that I needed some guidance as to how.

Also, I figured I'd ask around here too, if anyone had any ideas on fun things to do.

[daytripper75]

I don't have anything too exciting to suggest just to point out the different parts of the book to her and ask questions about them. Maybe finding books with various formats and going through those. Non-fiction is a good place to find the different elements of books to explore.
I know I just ordered a book for a patron from the Critical Thinking Company about reading comprehension. Let me look it up next time I am at work.

[Miss Information]

Oh, well, I think I may have misunderstood the teacher...this is what she emailed me back

"I just want to say that her comprehension is excellent. With the dra test (or levels she was tested at) just expect more than what most first graders have been exposed too. For example, when I was testing her, a question was what are three questions you can think of that can be answered from the table of contents. She said she had no idea because this is something third and fourth grade teacher cover in their standards. If I could have given her a mini lesson during the assessment, she could have understood what to do, but unfortunately I've had to wait until after the test to do so."

Then she gave me some ideas to help.


"At home, if you want, after she reads ask her questions to interpret the story. Meaning, ask her what she thinks the author is trying to tell you in the story or what was the point of the author writing this story; or what do you think was the most important thing that happened in this story. Then have her find evidence or give support from the story to back her opinion. Also, before she reads a chapter book, have her look at the table of contents and read the titles of all the different chapters. Then ask her what she thinks the story is going to be about".

But yes, if you do have other ideas from that book, that would be great.

[Marissamom]

this isn't really going to help as much with the parts of a book, but I always suggest finding some classic children's lit for advanced readers. most of the books written for children now are dumbed down, in vocabulary, sentence structure, and in the complexities of storyline. kids books that were written even 20 years ago will build English skills much more than the books written now.

[jen in co]

We're going through a similar issue with our K DS. His teacher has done some quick DRA testing and she thinks his instructional level is around a 28 or 30 (so end of 2nd, beginning of 3rd). She says his comprehension is great, etc., but one thing we're anticipating as a problem is that he has very age appropriate fine motor skills and doesn't have the spelling or writing skills to pass the DRA test at those levels. Depending on which version of DRA your school uses, this may be an issue for your DD too -- the DRA2 Level 28 testing requires a pretty lengthy written response component. As far as some of the other questions they ask, they also require some specific approaches to answering questions (e.g. when the child is asked to retell a story, they can't go back and add in details out of order...they'll be marked down; they need to retell/summarize the story in order). Sometimes it just takes the kids getting used to the new method of testing.

As far as specific comprehension activities, our teacher gave us these laminated bookmarks when my older DD went through K. They have questions for parents to ask after reading for different stages of readers (Emergent, Developing, Beginning Fluency). Beginning Fluency is listed as DRA 14-24 and the questions are:

What happened in the story? - Ability to retell
What was the main idea of the story?
What happened in the (beginning, middle, or end) of the story?
Who were the characters in the story?
Who was the main character?
Why do you think (pick a character) acted like that?
What was the setting?
What was the problem in this story and how was it solved?
Does this story remind you of something you have done or read?

She also encourages us to stop the kids while reading to ask them to make predictions about the story and finally, she says to start trying to get them to discuss higher level thinking skills like inference...

I don't know if these questions are helpful, but we've been focusing on them with our little guy as his reading has skyrocketed over the summer and it seems to be helping. Also, your DD as a beginning 1st grader may not have the same issue we're facing with handwriting/fine motor skills, but it's common (at least at our school) to see kids stuck because of that level 28 writing response requirement and I just thought I'd mention that too...

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Marissamom

this isn't really going to help as much with the parts of a book, but I always suggest finding some classic children's lit for advanced readers. most of the books written for children now are dumbed down, in vocabulary, sentence structure, and in the complexities of storyline. kids books that were written even 20 years ago will build English skills much more than the books written now.

Really? I'm just curious as to whether there is evidence to support this.

Could it be that classic literature has stuck around because it's better written?

[Marissamom]

Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and the Bobbsey Twins are all series that have been re-written to simplify the language and grammar. I'm sure there were things written a while ago that were simpler, and there are things written now that aren't dumbed down. but some of the books in elementary school libraries make me cringe at how simple they have been made. Sometimes if you stick to the books written for early-elementary school kids today it's too easy for more advanced readers, but the stuff written for older kids the storyline is too mature. some of my favorite books for early elementary school advanced readers are the wizard of oz series and the little princess. I also love The Princess Tales series by Gail Carson Levine, which is more recent, but not dumbed down. It's not a problem with all children's books written today, mostly the mass-produced series that have about a million books written by formula. There were series like that before, they just weren't written as simply.

[Miss Information]

Originally Posted by jen in co

We're going through a similar issue with our K DS. His teacher has done some quick DRA testing and she thinks his instructional level is around a 28 or 30 (so end of 2nd, beginning of 3rd). She says his comprehension is great, etc., but one thing we're anticipating as a problem is that he has very age appropriate fine motor skills and doesn't have the spelling or writing skills to pass the DRA test at those levels. Depending on which version of DRA your school uses, this may be an issue for your DD too -- the DRA2 Level 28 testing requires a pretty lengthy written response component. As far as some of the other questions they ask, they also require some specific approaches to answering questions (e.g. when the child is asked to retell a story, they can't go back and add in details out of order...they'll be marked down; they need to retell/summarize the story in order). Sometimes it just takes the kids getting used to the new method of testing.

As far as specific comprehension activities, our teacher gave us these laminated bookmarks when my older DD went through K. They have questions for parents to ask after reading for different stages of readers (Emergent, Developing, Beginning Fluency). Beginning Fluency is listed as DRA 14-24 and the questions are:

What happened in the story? - Ability to retell
What was the main idea of the story?
What happened in the (beginning, middle, or end) of the story?
Who were the characters in the story?
Who was the main character?
Why do you think (pick a character) acted like that?
What was the setting?
What was the problem in this story and how was it solved?
Does this story remind you of something you have done or read?

She also encourages us to stop the kids while reading to ask them to make predictions about the story and finally, she says to start trying to get them to discuss higher level thinking skills like inference...

I don't know if these questions are helpful, but we've been focusing on them with our little guy as his reading has skyrocketed over the summer and it seems to be helping. Also, your DD as a beginning 1st grader may not have the same issue we're facing with handwriting/fine motor skills, but it's common (at least at our school) to see kids stuck because of that level 28 writing response requirement and I just thought I'd mention that too...

Ooh, I think these are great! Thanks so much. You know, I really don't know if she had a written component.

Marissa - we have some classics here at home too that I can start reading with her. Little House series, The Narnia series, the Little Princess, Charlotte's Web, Limony Snicket (is that an old one?), A Wrinkle in Time, Anne of Green Gables, oh, and the first four of the old Nancy Drew mysteries. My oldest loved me reading together with her, but dd2 was kind of weird about it.

She's just wasn't all that interested in reading too much last year, and she'd tire easily when she read out loud to me. She's kind of stubborn and rather than force her to read or read books to her she didn't want me to, I ended up not forcing too much on her, which is kind of why I wanted her to self-select books. Over the summer, we took a break - (though I'm sure she snuck in a book or few when I wasn't paying attention).

She's more apt to read them if it was HER idea. She's got a bit of perfectionist in her, not as bad as it used to be.

[Marissamom]

Lemony Snicket is very recent, but he went out of his way to make the books vocabulary-building. Really the best thing you can do is encourage a love of reading. If she spends 2 hours reading something less advanced over 1 hour of reading something more advanced, she'll probably get more out of it. Seems like a lot of kids don't read for pleasure anymore because it's so forced on them.

[joensally]

Originally Posted by Marissamom

this isn't really going to help as much with the parts of a book, but I always suggest finding some classic children's lit for advanced readers. most of the books written for children now are dumbed down, in vocabulary, sentence structure, and in the complexities of storyline. kids books that were written even 20 years ago will build English skills much more than the books written now.

Originally Posted by Marissamom

Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and the Bobbsey Twins are all series that have been re-written to simplify the language and grammar. I'm sure there were things written a while ago that were simpler, and there are things written now that aren't dumbed down. but some of the books in elementary school libraries make me cringe at how simple they have been made. Sometimes if you stick to the books written for early-elementary school kids today it's too easy for more advanced readers, but the stuff written for older kids the storyline is too mature. some of my favorite books for early elementary school advanced readers are the wizard of oz series and the little princess. I also love The Princess Tales series by Gail Carson Levine, which is more recent, but not dumbed down. It's not a problem with all children's books written today, mostly the mass-produced series that have about a million books written by formula. There were series like that before, they just weren't written as simply.

I think there's been an explosion of material being produced for kids - and the explosion is happening at the higher and lower ends of children's lit. I think it's all about market, and so more children's fiction is being produced of all kinds, but also book sellers/publishers are looking to recycle old ideas to broaden the market for various "franchises." I was curious, so I looked at Nancy Drew. It looks like the '50s/'60s versions were written at about a 4th grade level (according to lexile level), while the new Clue Crew version is written at about a third grade level, and Nancy's gone from age 18 to age 8. To me, this is clear expansion of the franchise to increase market share.

There is plenty of really high quality children's lit being produced. We have the good fortune of having a local children's bookstore and it's amazing just how much great work is being published these days. I think this is different from what you'll find in school libraries, where the selection process for the collection is being driven by the goal of attracting reluctant readers and satisfying the interests of the broad range of kids attending.

[Marissamom]

The original Nancy Drew books, have been re-written to change the word use. I have both copies that are from the first few printings and from 10 years ago, and there's a difference in the wording and reading level of the same book, not just the new Nancy Drew series that was put out. The original ghost writer (who wrote a lot of the first 20 books) talked about it in an interview too, it's been years since I read the interview, so I can't remember where I read it, but she was pretty displeased with how they re-wrote her work.

[staceychev]

Booksource is a great website to find books by interest and have information about reading level.

If you're inclined to read "teacher-y" books, Mosaic of Thought is a great book to talk about building the strategies that make good readers such good readers.

[Miss Information]

Hey, thanks Stacey.

My library system actually has that book!

[Miss Information]

Originally Posted by Marissamom

The original Nancy Drew books, have been re-written to change the word use. I have both copies that are from the first few printings and from 10 years ago, and there's a difference in the wording and reading level of the same book, not just the new Nancy Drew series that was put out. The original ghost writer (who wrote a lot of the first 20 books) talked about it in an interview too, it's been years since I read the interview, so I can't remember where I read it, but she was pretty displeased with how they re-wrote her work.

Aw, that's bad.

I know my mother used to have the set of Bobbey Twins and a few Hardy Boys books I used to read like 18 years ago. I'm hoping she didn't sell them on E-bay like she was selling other things...

[Marissamom]

my mom loved the Bobbsey Twins growing up, and was so excited when she found out they were being re-released. she was not so excited when she started reading the re-released version and found they had (in her own words) been butchered. I think her estimate was that they were taken down 3-4 reading levels.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by joensally

I think this is different from what you'll find in school libraries, where the selection process for the collection is being driven by the goal of attracting reluctant readers and satisfying the interests of the broad range of kids attending.

Another pressure on the school library is the outcry arising from controversial subjects. Some librarians are willing to take it on and deal with the challenges and demands for book banning. Others aren't up to it.

I have a friend who is a middle school librarian and she works very hard at maintaining a great selection for her students. I think she finds it harder to find the high-interest-but-low-challenge-yet-well-written books that will appeal to the struggling readers than to find challenging, well-written books.

Re: the Hardy Boys etc. It's not just the vocabulary of the books that's changed. I was a little surprised at the grammar in the older versions. I don't think you often find colons and semi-colons and sentences with clauses etc. in children's literature today. About 10 years ago, I was reading an older Hardy boys book (dating from the '60's maybe?) to DS and I noticed a nice sprinkling of grammatically complex sentences.

The problem with those books (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins) is the occasional offensive stereotyping that goes on in them. I still cringe at some of the stuff in a "Bobbsey Twins visit the Deep South" book and a "Bobbsey Twins visit Japan" book that I had when I was a kid.