Reading is a cumulative process.  As each school year passes, your child builds the knowledge and skills that are necessary for becoming a better reader. Reading with your child and helping him or her practice specific reading skills will dramatically improve your child’s ability to read.

     What follows are ideas for grade 6 reading comprehension activities that you can do with your child to build the skills he or she needs to become a good reader. As a parent, you can help your child want to learn in a way no one else can. That desire to learn is a key to your child's future academic success.  Try to incorporate any or all of the following grade 6 reading strategies at home.  For the following strategies, you can use your child’s favorite books, sign new ones out from the library, or purchase more for your home collection. 

How Can I Help My Grade 6 Child’s Reading Comprehension?

·        Have your child read a variety of texts such as: myths, legends, short stories, fantasies, classic novels, and non-fiction text such as reports, editorials, and rebuttals.

·        Show your child how an introduction and conclusion are related.

·        Have your child ask meaningful questions while reading in order to attempt to gain a better understand and improve reading comprehension.

·        Have your child determine the cause and effect of the main events of the story in chronological order.

·        Show your child that stories have an underlying theme or moral.

·        Have your child summarize the book or story in his or her own words.

·        Have your child express to you how his or her background knowledge helped him or her understand the story on non-fiction text more clearly.

·        Have your child describe another point of view that is not represented in a non-fiction text

·        Show your child how to synthesize a non-fiction text by combining his or her reading strategies to develop a new outlook/summary of the text.

·        Have your child read pictures, lists, and tables in information texts to identify and determine important ideas.

·        Help your child identify bias in text.

·        Have your child summarize ideas and themes from brochures, pamphlets, ads, plays, and news articles, and epics.

·         Have your child compare and contrast specific information from non-fiction text.