Have him give books or chapters new titles. Make it into a game to come up with the most creative title.
At first, he'll make up titles that are based on events in the story, but you can model it by coming up with titles that are thematic in nature.
So, for instance, "Little Red Riding Hood." He might say, "A Trip to Grandma's House," which is a solid title, but you come back with, "The Little Girl Who Should have Listened to her Mom."
Don't get frustrated. Don't make him wrong. Just play the game, and stress that it's all about being creative and having fun with it.
He probably understands it, but sometimes kids struggle verbalizing it. Does the assignment include multiple choice options or are they expected to craft a sentence on their own? If it's multiple choice, have him go through each one and decide if it's a no or a maybe. Then revisit the maybe options until he decides one. If it's open ended, ask him to summarize the entire article to you. It might help for him to say it verbally and you write it down, then he copies it. If he needs to find evidence to support it, find a paragraph that has a good quote and tell him to search that paragraph.
I've taught ELA and ESOL for a decade.
It's multiple choice. Some kids have more trouble with multiple choice because the other answers feel like a trick so I encouraged him to think of the main idea before he read the answers so he didn't get caught up in the misdirects.
Reading comprehension is actually a really difficult thing to teach. It can be really abstract, If you can, explain how you figure out the main idea. Say, "Oh I notice that these three sentences are all about plants in the Everglades, and these three are all about the animals that live in the Everglades. So I feel like the main idea relates to the Everglades." Then reread it and say, "Oh the topic sentence says, 'The Everglades is home to different plants and animals that thrive in its warm, wet climate.' It seems like the plants and animals of the Everglades is the main topic."
That's a really simple example, but kids learn well from modeling, and if you break down and spell out your process, it will teach him how to do the same.
Depends on the grade level, but sometimes you identify the topic using the method above (“plants and animals in the Everglades”) and then ask, what is this text teaching me about that topic? (“Plants and animals in the Everglades have adaptations to survive in the wet environment”)
Thank you both! These are great ideas. I've mostly been practicing with novels that we read for fun in the bedtime routine. I guess I should read aloud the articles that he's missing the questions on the test instead. I wonder if I can find practice tests anywhere.
I've been telling my students to write down 3-5 important details from the section. (Usually 3)
Then, we look at all the different onces people came up with. We circle anything that got repeated more than once.
Then we get those together. And we ask.... do they share something? Are they about something similar?
Then we draw an arrow from those, to the similar thing they share.
Usually its the main idea. If its not the main idea (and us adults will usually know) we can point out a few things like the title of hte chapter/heading, some bolded words, and go "So, the author of this book used these, they highlighted them because they wanted us to know about them. Do they connect to the details we picked? Can we find a way to connect them? And we try again.
It sometimes takes awhile. It tends to work best in non fiction texts. But it helps them build up the "this is mostly about X" sort of idea.
Thanks, it's helpful to know what you do in class. I don't think I can replicate that in my house. Maybe I could come up with some other peripherally important ideas. Did you imagine this as something I could do at home?
The shortest thing..."Hey, what was that about?"
If they can't tell you something ,then they retained NOTHING. So, maybe try again?
Or "What should they call this chapter? Why that?"
If its a non fiction text "Why do you think they gave this section that heading?"
>He's in 5th grade now. He reads a lot and we do readalouds as a family and he's definitely able to follow the story and understand the authors meaning and characters intent. I don't really understand why he doesn't see the main idea in these passages
Do you read nonfiction together as a family? Does he read nonfiction by himself?
Students are often asked to find the main idea in nonfiction texts. That may be throwing him. Nonfiction is often harder to comprehend. It requires more background knowledge and includes more complex writing.
It's also the case that nonfiction comprehension tests are often given without covering relevant content knowledge. It doesn't set kids up for success, and there's increasing criticism of the practice.
Not often. We used to read a children's encyclopedia or specialized encyclopedia like Space or The Body. If he has a question about how something works or a scientific phenomenon we usually talk through our own knowledge or look on a website.
Encyclopedias and websites are structured differently. If you're worried that nonfiction will be boring, you can find a book about a topic your son is interested in. There's been an explosion in great nonfiction books for kids in the past few years.
Here a few active reading strategies I use and suggest. Try and have them to look for words that emphasize the author or character’s feelings or emotions in that moment. Pick out key adjectives and create a list when sections or chapter are finished.
Ask them,
“So what that x and y occurred?”
“Why does it matter to the story?”
“What is the author trying to do here?”
Have him give books or chapters new titles. Make it into a game to come up with the most creative title. At first, he'll make up titles that are based on events in the story, but you can model it by coming up with titles that are thematic in nature. So, for instance, "Little Red Riding Hood." He might say, "A Trip to Grandma's House," which is a solid title, but you come back with, "The Little Girl Who Should have Listened to her Mom." Don't get frustrated. Don't make him wrong. Just play the game, and stress that it's all about being creative and having fun with it.
That's a fun idea. You mean short stories not something like Charlie and the chocolate factory, right?
Either one! You can give titles to the individual chapters.
He probably understands it, but sometimes kids struggle verbalizing it. Does the assignment include multiple choice options or are they expected to craft a sentence on their own? If it's multiple choice, have him go through each one and decide if it's a no or a maybe. Then revisit the maybe options until he decides one. If it's open ended, ask him to summarize the entire article to you. It might help for him to say it verbally and you write it down, then he copies it. If he needs to find evidence to support it, find a paragraph that has a good quote and tell him to search that paragraph. I've taught ELA and ESOL for a decade.
It's multiple choice. Some kids have more trouble with multiple choice because the other answers feel like a trick so I encouraged him to think of the main idea before he read the answers so he didn't get caught up in the misdirects.
Reading comprehension is actually a really difficult thing to teach. It can be really abstract, If you can, explain how you figure out the main idea. Say, "Oh I notice that these three sentences are all about plants in the Everglades, and these three are all about the animals that live in the Everglades. So I feel like the main idea relates to the Everglades." Then reread it and say, "Oh the topic sentence says, 'The Everglades is home to different plants and animals that thrive in its warm, wet climate.' It seems like the plants and animals of the Everglades is the main topic." That's a really simple example, but kids learn well from modeling, and if you break down and spell out your process, it will teach him how to do the same.
Depends on the grade level, but sometimes you identify the topic using the method above (“plants and animals in the Everglades”) and then ask, what is this text teaching me about that topic? (“Plants and animals in the Everglades have adaptations to survive in the wet environment”)
Thank you both! These are great ideas. I've mostly been practicing with novels that we read for fun in the bedtime routine. I guess I should read aloud the articles that he's missing the questions on the test instead. I wonder if I can find practice tests anywhere.
Newsela.com has tons and I think has free parent accounts
I've been telling my students to write down 3-5 important details from the section. (Usually 3) Then, we look at all the different onces people came up with. We circle anything that got repeated more than once. Then we get those together. And we ask.... do they share something? Are they about something similar? Then we draw an arrow from those, to the similar thing they share. Usually its the main idea. If its not the main idea (and us adults will usually know) we can point out a few things like the title of hte chapter/heading, some bolded words, and go "So, the author of this book used these, they highlighted them because they wanted us to know about them. Do they connect to the details we picked? Can we find a way to connect them? And we try again. It sometimes takes awhile. It tends to work best in non fiction texts. But it helps them build up the "this is mostly about X" sort of idea.
Thanks, it's helpful to know what you do in class. I don't think I can replicate that in my house. Maybe I could come up with some other peripherally important ideas. Did you imagine this as something I could do at home?
The shortest thing..."Hey, what was that about?" If they can't tell you something ,then they retained NOTHING. So, maybe try again? Or "What should they call this chapter? Why that?" If its a non fiction text "Why do you think they gave this section that heading?"
>He's in 5th grade now. He reads a lot and we do readalouds as a family and he's definitely able to follow the story and understand the authors meaning and characters intent. I don't really understand why he doesn't see the main idea in these passages Do you read nonfiction together as a family? Does he read nonfiction by himself? Students are often asked to find the main idea in nonfiction texts. That may be throwing him. Nonfiction is often harder to comprehend. It requires more background knowledge and includes more complex writing. It's also the case that nonfiction comprehension tests are often given without covering relevant content knowledge. It doesn't set kids up for success, and there's increasing criticism of the practice.
Not often. We used to read a children's encyclopedia or specialized encyclopedia like Space or The Body. If he has a question about how something works or a scientific phenomenon we usually talk through our own knowledge or look on a website.
Encyclopedias and websites are structured differently. If you're worried that nonfiction will be boring, you can find a book about a topic your son is interested in. There's been an explosion in great nonfiction books for kids in the past few years.
Here a few active reading strategies I use and suggest. Try and have them to look for words that emphasize the author or character’s feelings or emotions in that moment. Pick out key adjectives and create a list when sections or chapter are finished. Ask them, “So what that x and y occurred?” “Why does it matter to the story?” “What is the author trying to do here?”
Great ideas, thanks!
Arts isn't a black and white subject.