Children reading with comprehension is unlocking a treasure chest of knowledge!

In 2021, 81% of Grade 4 learners were unable to read for meaning in any of South Africa’s 11 official languages, according to PIRLS data released by the Department of Basic Education.

Pronunciation, accuracy and fluency are important in reading. But they have no value without comprehension.

Children reading with comprehension is vital to early academic success.

COMPREHENSION is:

·       Understanding what has been read.

·       Making connections between what has been read and what they know.

·       Thinking about, processing, reasoning and remembering what they have read.

A child’s perspective:

Children will usually express their frustration with statements like “I hate reading!” or “This is stupid!”. But if they could, this is how kids might describe how comprehension difficulties affect their reading:

• It takes me so long to read something.

• I didn’t really get what that book was about.

• I’m not sure what the most important part of the book was.

• I couldn’t really create an image in my head of what was going on.

What you as a parent can do to help at home:

•  Ask your child questions about the book and try to connect the events to his or her own life. For example, say “I wonder why that girl did that?” or “How do you think he felt? Why?”

•  Teach them to continually ask themselves whether they understand what they are reading.

• Help your child to point out in the text where they found the answer.

• Discuss the meanings of unknown words.

• Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.

One of the many obstacles to literacy and reading with comprehension is the lack of age-appropriate reading material in schools.

In many schools, learners’ are taught to read aloud and pronounce correctly, but not to understand what they are reading and make sense of it for themselves.

Low-level high-interest Readers are the key – the reading material must have a high interest value for the child. It must have a story that is fun to read with engaging pictures. But the text must be low level, written to the child’s independent reading level so that they can read with confidence and enjoyment.

How can Climb into reading help your child?

 Abi and Kumo are beautifully illustrated readers that will improve skills such as comprehension, word recognition, spelling and sentence construction.

The wordlists were created by looking at the most common words found in the Foundation Phase classroom and needed for the Intermediate Phase classroom. This is a major intervention as the child is learning to read the words in the Foundation Phase that they will need to understand the content in the Intermediate Phase.

Go to www.climbintoreading.com to find out more as each book comes with a FREE set of comprehensions.