Reading comprehension is the ability to understand written text.  It’s the ultimate goal of the reading process. The reader must be able to accurately read the words in the text with an appropriate rate to ensure that comprehension is not hindered by inaccurate, labored reading.  Your child’s teacher can help you select books that are at an appropriate level for your child’s current reading abilities.

A reader also needs to use a variety of comprehension techniques to gain the most understanding from the text.  The following are suggestions that a parent can do at home to help his or her child increase comprehension during story reading.

• Questioning- Before, during, and after a reading session, discuss with your child what he or she is reading about.  Here are examples of questions you might ask your child while reading a story.
  
  • Prior to reading:
    
    • “Based on the cover illustration and title, what do you think this story could be about?”
    • “Who do you think the characters might be in this story?”
  • During reading:
    • “What has happened in the story so far?”
    • “Who are the characters in the story?”
    • “What is the story’s setting?”  “Where does this story take place?”  
    • “What problem in the story needs to be solved?”
    • “What do you think will happen next?”
    • “Do you have any questions about the story at this point?
  • After the reading:
    • “What was the main idea of this story?”
    • “How was the problem in the story resolved?”
    • “Who was your favorite character?  Why?”
    • “What were important events that happened in the story?”

• Inference- Making an inference requires a student to “read between the lines”.  The questions asked do not have answers found directly in the text. Instead, the reader has to consider what he or she has read in the text along with using background knowledge to answer an inferential question.  An example of an inferential question is: “Why do you think the girl was walking her bike home?”
• Vocabulary-  Help your child understand the meaning of unknown words in the text by using context clues and analyzing meaningful word parts.  If necessary, use sources like a dictionary to help the student find the meaning. 
• Visualization-  Encourage your child to visual the events happening in the story.
• Retelling and Summarizing-  At the conclusion of reading a story, have your child retell the story to help him or her recall key parts of the story.  Key parts might include the story setting, characters, sequence of events, and the problems/solutions. Summarizing the story means telling the most important parts of the story condensed into a few sentences.  
• Monitoring or clarifying-   During and after the reading, ask your child if he or she has any questions or is confused by anything read in the text.  Additionally, discuss with your child any new information he or she has learned.

Use these strategies when reading with your child to increase understanding.  It is valuable for students of all ages to read aloud to an adult and get feedback about their reading.  Don't underestimate the value of reading complex text to children as well.  Reading only material that is "on their level" doesn't allow them to stretch and grow.  Harder material can be a successful learning experience (when supported) to expose children to a greater vocabulary and increase their comprehension skills.

Provide many opportunities for your child to read a variety of different genres.  Children enjoy reading informational texts as well as stories.

Resources

Vocabulary: Vocabulary development is key to improving reading comprehension.  Visit this page for information and resources on vocabulary.

Nonfiction Articles for Kids:  Links to free articles for all age groups.  Parents and teachers can create accounts to some of these article resources to assign to students, or students can search for articles on topics of interest.
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Reading Rockets Reading Adventure Packs: Free downloadable reading materials for parents on a variety of subject areas (a paired fiction and non-fiction text) with activities to build comprehension.

K12 Reading Comprehension Tips for Parents: An article by Pam Marshall about what parents can do to help their child learn to use comprehension strategies.

Adapted Mind: Choose the grade level to practice reading short stories.  There are some vocabulary words and comprehension questions included.  The audio for directions seems a little robotic, but the stories and activities can help students practice comprehension skills in an engaging way.

Comprehension Practice: Read stories and complete some comprehension exercises including answering questions, sequencing and filling in the blanks (similar to the DIBELS Daze test).

K12 Reader: Choose a grade level for comprehension worksheets.  Each worksheet has a short passage to read with some follow-up questions targeting comprehension skills.

K5 Learning: Free comprehension worksheets to print and practice reading and answering questions.  All grade levels.

Polk Brothers Foundation Center Passages: Scroll down on this page and find the one page passages in fiction or non-fiction.  These are excellent passages for practicing fluency and for building background knowledge.  Each story has a small question or short writing prompt to check comprehension.

IRCMS:  Reading passages for 3rd-5th grade.  Short quizzes follow each passage. The passages are mainly non-fiction and are 1-2 pages long.