Kindergarten Reading?
My kindergartener is reading second grade, third quarter level, however, he is having to work at comprehension. Does anyone know of a website where I could download and print some sort of template that he could fill out when he is finished with a book? Something where he could list characters, settings, and beginning, middle, end events. I could go ahead and make one myself, but if there is something I could download, that would be helpful. Also, he really enjoys non-fiction. Any sort of template that could be filled out after reading a non-fiction book would be helpful.
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/wspages/…
Look at story maps and reading logs.
I don’t know of a website to work on comprehension, but to have a kindergartener reading at the third grade level is amazing. My aunt teaches kindergarten and she works on what does the (insert letter) say.To have a kindergartener reading at a 3 grade level is more than fine. I would let nature take its corce. he is alredy above normal. in time he will comperhend.
There is a computer program called accelerated reader. A child reads a book and then answers comprehension questions on the computer about the book. Find a book that your child can answer the questions you ask after reading it. That will tell you his pleasure reading level. On harder more challenging books, ask him to tell you what he has read on each page. If he covers the material well, go on. If he tells very little, give him direct questions to answer. As he gets more adept at answering your questions, or retelling the story, move up in reading levels. I teach reading and there are many more strategies available. Try these, I think they will help.
Comprehension can be developed by reading to your child and discussing the book as you go.
Schools are largely going towards more comprehension strategies. One book that might help you is Strategies that Work by Harvey and Goudvis.
Comprehension is much more than just being able to retell details from the story. Your kindergartener might enjoy doing a variety of responses to what he reads. A great website with a variety of responses is readwritethink.org, a joint venture of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA).
But I urge you to rethink doing just written responses. Something different happens in the brain when students talk about stories…something that seems to happen during the shift from mental to oral. Students with oral retelling experiences have shown to become better at reading comprehension. Plus, retelling is fun. Your child can use puppets to act out parts of the story, retell the events of the story to a younger sibling, or point to pictures from the story and explain the events that they show.
Don’t forget to address every reading stance. Imagine that the book is like a vase on a table. You can go around the table and look at the vase from many different perspectives, or stances. Retellling fits into Global Understanding, or getting the big picture. In Developing Interpretation, the reader makes connections between texts, explains causes and effects, and looks at details as they relate to main ideas. In Personal Response, the reader puts himself in a character’s shoes. Would their reactions have been different? Finally, Critical Stance takes the critic’s view. What choices did the author make? Which are effective? What could have been done differently?
For more on understanding how children read, find “Mosaic of Thought” by Elin Oliver Keene. It’s very readable and will give you a solid grounding on what’s going on inside his head.