Have you ever thought about reading comprehension strategies and teaching your kid to think about the book before reading it? Reading books in general is important from an early age and giving the kids the chance to expect the story of the book and the things they will experience in it.

Reading comprehension strategies is all about summarizing, sequencing, inferencing, comparing and contrasting, building some conclusions, problem solving, selfquestioning, relating the story to the background knowledge, knowing the difference between the fact and the opinion and eventually finding the main idea, the important facts related to it and supporting the whole story with some details. These are the different elements that every parent should think about and teach to his/her kids when it comes to homeschooling them and while they are giving them the chance to know how to read books, not just in learning to read and spell the words correctly, but in the way they are supposed to think about that book in general.

Kids love to hear some stories before they go to bed but at some point they should also love the idea of reading these stories to themselves at some point. To make the whole thing of reading a book interesting, the kid should think about it in a whole different way and that is what reading comprehension strategies are all about.

In this video, Michelle was teaching Aaron how to think about reading the story in a more thoughtful way; thinking about the name of the story and expecting the events from it, thinking about the main character and expecting its behavior through the whole story, asking himself whether the story will turn out to be interesting or not, etc. There are different things that the person could get about a story just from the cover it carries and this is one of the different things needed when it comes to a story and reading comprehension strategies.

When the kid connects between the facts that he/she already knows and those found in the story, it becomes easier for them to focus on the details and try to understand the story as it goes. When the kid is asked questions about the story even before starting to read it, he/she will also want to look for the clues and thus will want to read the story to find these clues. Inferencing is linking what the kid might already know with the things he/she is reading in the story without being stated in a straightforward way.

A lot of people think that teaching the kids to read books is teaching them how to spell the letters and the words correctly and making the right sounds they should give (   • What is Phonics? How Do I Teach My Ch...  ). Reading is also about knowing the alphabet because this is the base of reading the letters and knowing how to connect them with one another (   • Writing Letters | The ABC Alphabet fo...  ).

There are lots of interesting techniques used in teaching the kids to write letters, such as those used with play doh (   • PlayDoh Learning | Writing Letters w...  ) and this of course comes in addition to the ordinary techniques in writing the letters (   • Writing Letters | The ABC Alphabet fo...  ).

If you are searching for the different ways that you could teach your kids the alphabet through, this could happen through some of the different songs that are taught in schools or even through teaching them the names of the animals (   • Learn the Alphabet for Kids | Animals...  ). It is believed that kids find anything interesting when it is delivered to them in the form of songs, pictures and stories or else in the form of games and toys, these are the things that usually attract their attention and make them ready to learn something new.

Reading comprehension strategies are important and that is what teaching the kids to read books is all about; it is not just about the story but it is also about the strategies that the kids will consider before and while reading the books.

What do you think about reading comprehension strategies and about teaching it to your kids? Share with us your experience with reading for your kids and tell us how effective it turned out to be at the end.

Visit www.learningmole.com for more educational lessons and videos in Maths, English, Crafts and Cooking.

LearningMole focuses on educating children of all ages. We offer advice and practical, interactive ideas to help parents challenge, homeschool, teach and develop their children’s skills at home.

Help your child to explore the key concepts of number, counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in Maths. Spelling, reading, writing and grammar in English. Help them to develop their imagination and creativity with crafts and to explore a range of skills to cook, bake and create tasty treats and snacks.

Easy to follow activities will support you and your child to learn and practice new concepts as well as enjoy spending time together. Help your child to progress and explore and most importantly have fun!