How to boost reading comprehension

This article discusses how reading comprehension is about vocabulary and cultural literacy. People develop back ground knowledge and learn about new words through their experiences. For students that live in low income areas it is even more vital that they have access to a broad range of topics to boost their vocabulary. This can be through using resources that teach social studies and providing a variety of books and allowing students to choose what they read. Other subjects such as science and art could be useful but only if they are text -based  and provide a rich vocabulary.

In primary school there is usually an  "emphasis on “doing” science and art—hands-on, and project-based—as opposed to reading about them. Social studies instruction is likely to be more text-based and to draw broadly from the full range of human experience, exposing children to other lands and cultures, and contributing rich vocabulary and background knowledge, which are the wellspring of language proficiency." Robert Pondiscio (2020) 

source: reading comprehension is not a skill

This year I have been developing my own knowledge about teaching and learning literacy.  I noticed that my students struggled to listen to a shared story. I had to regularly stop and explain the writers use of words and what they meant. I tried a few different strategies and by the end of the year I was using a variety of digital tools. 

My students loved using EPIC, was a great equaliser. Students who were reading at 5 year old level could read along and the device read the book to them and students who were reading at a higher level could find stories that interested them. In the last few weeks of the school year I found a series of books they liked and over time we read the first two books together, before the students begged to be able to read the third one to themselves! Another great thing about this site is that students can click on unfamiliar words and find out what they mean. I loved that all of my students discovered the joy of reading for their own enjoyment. 

In Term 4 we also focused on learning about economics and New Zealand History. We had a market day so students covered many different aspects of the curriculum. They wrote their inquiry plans, they conducted surveys, they created posters to advertise their products. They worked together to make their products, they found instructions or recipes or printed resources / labels

and then they traded (bartered) or "sold" them. 

During this time we also explored early trade in New Zealand and we discovered Waka Hoe. This led to an activity about te ao maori, art and geography.