Book for a first grader? My DD is struggling in reading comprehension and I want to purchase a workbook to work on at home with her. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
I think you could use any book. Let her read to you and/or let her read even paragraphs to herself and you read along with her (to yourself) and then ask lots of questions. You could even ask her what she just read and you might prompt her with questions. Details are great but guess what? Lots of times when you have comprehension problems you miss main ideas/main characters etc. while focusing on small, less important details even. You can even practice with her by taking a coloring book picture (with no colors on it)and asking her to her to tell you about the picture. I know this sounds silly but trust me...lots of times they'll tell you all kinds of details about the picture (ie. He has a beach ball, he has a surfboard, he is wearing flip flops and a bathing suit) but they will not tell you there is a boy in the picture or it is Mickey Mouse in the picture etc.) When they skip details like this, they also skip it in stories, paragraphs and even sentences. They need to be able to tell you the main idea of a story or be able to tell you a good title of the story. Do you remember having to do that on tests and things? I do and it was always the hardest question...mainly because I had trouble with comprehension. Often they are great readers and good listeners. If you read it to her, it might be a lot easier for her to answer the questions etc. It happens when you read it yourself, imho--you often do not "see the movie in your head." And THAT is important! You might read the words for what they are--house, grass, barn, blue sky, cow, farmer but as you are reading you need to see what you are reading--"see the movie in your head." It is the difference between reading the words and reading them and seeing the whole thought. For some reason, IMHO, it is easier to see that movie as someone else is reading the story to you. You know how people read a book, see the movie at the theater and then say, "That's not how I had that pictured at all? I would not have chosen ___ (actor) for that role?" Well, I never did that or said that until I got help for my comprehension trouble. Help her now as much as you can because as a 1st grader she is learning to read but as a 3rd grader she starts reading to learn. Big difference and it will help her all through school if she enjoys reading, comprehends, and can answer because of all this. A teacher may have better info but this is what helped me. I was 40 years old when we discovered the reason I disliked reading was because of my comprehension issues. It wasn't fun at all for me to read--it was a lot of work. Now, I love to read. I have had teachers tell me that comprehension is the #1 missed literacy problem. Good luck. So this is so long and I hope it makes a bit of sense. It is something I am very passionate about. I feel I was robbed of a huge world out there--the World of Books and stories.
As you or she reads stop every so often, maybe every page or so and ask her what was that page mostly about (main idea). Also ask her who was in the story(characters), where and when it is taking place(setting), if there was a problem what it was and how it was solved. To extend comprehension ask her how she would have solved the problem. At the end of the story ask her what happened in the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. For non-fiction ask her for some facts about the topic. for writing practice fold a piece of writing paper in thirds and label the beginning, middle, end. Have her write/illustrate one thing or event from each part of the story. My first graders are almost able to do this on their own now.
Go to http://www.bookadventure.com and sign up for a free account. It is a program from Sylvan Learning Centers, and it asks reading comprehension questions similar to the Accelerated Reading questions that a lot of schools use. I also second the idea of reading the books together and asking questions about what has happened. Be mindful if her school DIBELs. I am wary of the program because the kids are taught to sight read words out loud as fast as they can. A lot of them learn to read really, really fast, and they can generally call out the words correctly, but a lot of them are so focused on reading as fast as they can that they fail to attempt to comprehend what they've read. And they are so proud that they've read fast, too! (The research says that reading fluency -- being able to read it correctly out loud -- is supposed to help improve comprehension, but if you neglect to work on the comprehension because you want speed and accuracy, then what good does that do?) Just find books about things she's interested in, read together, ask questions about what was read, and tell her she's doing a good job. As she gets older, have her read by herself, then tell you about what she read. And you can try out that website I listed and see if it works for you.
I use Raz-Kids with my sped kids. It is an online subscription. They read a book and take a comprehension quiz.
I love Raz Kids. Florida Center for Reading Research has some great activities for reading comprehension. If you go to their website, look on the right side of the page and click on Instructional Materials for Teachers. Click on the grade level you want (in your case K-1). Scroll all the way down to Book 2, Comprehension activities. You will need to print out the activities and assemble them (only the ones you want to use of course), but I find it is well worth it. This was a recommended website in one of the reading classes I took, and I use it all the time with my special education students. The retell wheel is really good. I like using the sequencing activities too. My school uses DIBELS, so I understand the concern parents have with the program. Teachers share those concerns, but until administrators share the concerns, DIBELS is here to stay in many schools.
Try the Amelia Bedelia books. They are very funny and you can usually tell right away if your child is picking up on the comprehension. I tutored a second grader and we used a regular reading book for the first 45 minutes and then Amelia Bedelia books for the last 15 minutes of each session. She loved it. It was a little treat and I knew she was comprehending when she would laugh at the appropriate parts. Turned out to be the best part of the session and I gave her a couple of the books when she was done.
