Helping Your Child To Understand Their Reading

Heswall Primary School

How to ask appropriate questions to extend your child’s reading.

Dear Parents,

Here is a short guide that you may find useful when reading with your child.  It is a common misconception that reading is simply about decoding the words on a page.  Whilst this is a huge part of reading, it is not the only aspect.  There are seven different areas that school staff must consider when assessing children’s reading.  In the link below, you will find each of the seven areas and examples of questions that will develop each area. 

 

We try not to race children through reading schemes as we need to ensure they understand what they are reading.  We also question them about the way a page is set out and whether children can identify things like speech bubbles and other features.

Conversations about reading are incredibly valuable and will prepare your children to develop appropriate comprehension skills required for future assessments. 

The wide range of question types on the right hand side of the page will help you to engage your child in a deeper conversation about the book they are reading. They are just examples and you will probably think of many more together.

It is not advisable to try and ask all the different question types each time you read. Ask a few each time. Over a week or two you should easily cover all the different areas.  You will find that some pieces of writing are easier to ask certain types of questions about than others.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mr J Lawrenson, Headteacher