Learning to read and understand what we are reading is one of the necessary steps towards literacy. It is utterly important to get the meaning of what we are reading otherwise it would be meaningless. It will be like staring at words without knowing what it is about. Reading without comprehension is also like listening to a person talking to you without understanding what he or she actually wants to convey.
As early as possible, children should learn to read and understand what they are reading so that they will not find it difficult to learn various things in the future and throughout their life.
Here are some of the reasons why reading comprehension for 2nd grade and 3rd grade is important with what they are reading:
- Learning to comprehend what we are reading makes life easier.
- It gives children the foundation to future academic learning, not only in reading and writing but also in math, science, social studies, and other subjects as well. It also helps us enjoy the literary world.
- It will help increase their vocabulary knowledge which is strongly needed in reading comprehension thus, making them more confident in speaking and writing. It will also help them read effortlessly or more naturally.
- It will help them make predictions, arrange the sequence of the story, make clarifications on difficult or confusing parts of the texts.
- It will help them connect what they are reading to their life experiences and/or to their previous knowledge.
How can we attain this goal for our children? It’s not very easy but not very difficult either. We only need to expose our children to rich language and reading opportunities as early as possible. Their environment should be one that is supportive enough to the development of their reading skill. They should be given more chances to learn more vocabulary because many students fail to comprehend what they are reading due to poor vocabulary. As the children learn to read and understand what they are reading, they learn new information and develop new strategies to develop comprehension. It will help them explore the world of reading in a fun positive way.
Some books we strongly recommend for 2nd and 3rd graders:
- The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
- The Summer of Riley by Eve Bunting
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- The Pigeon Series by Mo Willems
- Ragweed by Avi
How can we help improve the children’s vocabulary? Parents or teachers can help improve the children’s vocabulary, a gateway to reading comprehension for 3rd grade by reading the child a story for several times, explain some difficult words and review some regular words.
At the end of each reading, ask some questions that would test the children’s comprehension. In this way, we are teaching our students how to comprehend a story being read. As they grow older, they will then be able to adopt such strategy or tool unconsciously when reading.
Another thing that parents and teachers should do is to keep giving the children more materials to read in order to practice, practice, practice. The key to develop reading comprehension is to keep practicing. It will also help develop the children’s love to read as they understand what the author conveys.
