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If you have children in Pre-Primary to Grade 2, this video may provide you with helpful tips as you support your child with reading the books they bring home from school.  

If you have children in Grade Primary to Grade 6, you may wonder why it is important to read aloud to your children. This TEDTalk demonstrates the power of reading aloud to children of any age. 

To support your child with comprehension, it's important to ask open-ended questions before, during and after reading a book. An open-ended question prompts the child to share their thinking, instead of a one-word answer (i.e. yes or no).

Here are some examples:

Before:

• What do you think this book might be about? What makes you think that?
• What might the problem be? Does that remind you of anything?
• What will we learn about when reading this book? Do you know anything about _______________?

During:

• If your child stops to share their thinking and/or ask a wondering question, engage with them and make sure their thinking is connected to the book.

After:

• What were you thinking while reading this story? (take me to a place in the book where you did some thinking)
• What were some important things that happened? (i.e. problem; the solution, etc.)
• How did the character feel throughout the book?
• Did you think the ending was good? Why or why not?
• What did you learn?
• Did any of your thinking change when reading this book? How?
• What surprised you in this book?
• What would you have added to this book if you were the author?

One or two good questions should be enough to start a conversation about a book. If it is not, prompt them to say more (i.e. tell me more about that...).