In order to understand what we read, we must first be automatic with Phonemic, Phonic, and sight word skills!
Comprehension begins with:
Listening to and following directions
Having conversations and staying on topic
Telling about something that happened in a clear way, often beginning, middle, end
Discussing and retelling stories read aloud
Connecting content of stories read aloud to one’s own life.
Visualizing a picture for words like cat or mom
Making Mental Images during stories
Talking about what you see, hear, smell feel etc. while reading a story
Comprehension continues with:
Summarizing/Main Idea
Monitoring comprehension (notice when something does not make sense)
Using prior knowledge
Making connections to own life, experiences and knowledge
Generating, asking and answering questions
Making inferences, including cause-effect
Establishing a purpose for reading
Creating graphic and semantic organizers
Recognizing story structure
Evaluating and Synthesizing