As mentioned in an earlier post, SO many parents ask me how to get their children more involved in the books they’re reading. Easy comprehension questions do just that, and also start building memory & critical skills.
The easiest thing to start with is to simply ask your little one which page was her favorite and why. Have her go back through the book, find the page, and give you a reason. This gets her into the habit of remembering what she read (or heard/ saw) and teaches her to formulate supporting information (reasons/ evidence).
Another easy thing to do is to simply ask who the characters are, what the setting is, what the problem is, and how it’s solved. Using this vocabulary early will pre-teach or reinforce vocabulary used in school (and also help your little one practice recalling & gathering information).
One question the kids I work with often love is: What do you think happened with these characters after the end of the story? While some little ones LOVE this question from the get go, sometimes it frustrates others the first few times you ask. However, it is an excellent way to get the little ones to apply information from the story and make it their own. As a result of this question, I’ve actually had several students take it upon themselves to begin making up further stories & adventures for the characters (hello, future fan fiction writers!).
To get you started I’ve provided sample questions for 2 books by author/illustrator favorite Mo Willems:) In the event you can’t get the actual books, you can often (safe) search for read aloud videos of them on youtube, download ebooks from the library, or Scholastic BookFlix (animated versions of both the Pigeon & Edwina books are on BookFlix).
Happy Reading!
