Grade 3 • Language Arts • Comprehension

Grade 3 Language Arts

Comprehension

Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what they have read.

Comprehension Tips

Talk about books before, during, and after reading.
Ask what might happen.
Think about the characters and events.
Discuss words and pictures the author included that made reading fun or interesting.

Comprehension Strategies

Predicting

Proficient readers make ongoing predictions about text as they read and then confirm or disconfirm their predictions as they continue to make meaning throughout the reading process.

Ask your child...

What did you preview in the story or text?
What do you predict will happen in the story or what will happen next?
After you read, what did you find out?

Questioning

Proficient readers ask questions of themselves, the authors, and the texts as they read. Proficient readers use their questions to clarify and to focus their meaning.

Inferring

Proficient readers use their prior knowledge (schema) and textual information to draw conclusions, make critical judgments, and form unique interpretations from the text.

Clarifying

Clarifying, sometimes called comprehension monitoring, is the process of knowing that what you are reading is not making sense and then having some plans for overcoming this problem.

Summarizing Strategies

Someone Wanted But So Then

Read-Cover-Remember-Retell

This strategy assists your child in reading more carefully and taking responsibility for focusing on remembering information in the text. The Read-Cover-Remember-Retell approach stops readers frequently to encourage them to think about the meaning of what they are reading.