In our school there is a Whole School Approach to
learning comprehension using the strategies from
Martin Gleeson’s ‘Building Bridges of Understanding’.
The following games will give you an idea
of what many of these strategies involve
and will give your child a little practice.
Though some of these strategies are not
taught formally until the middle and senior
classes, it is good to give your child practice.
You might like to concentrate on
one or two strategies a week
from the list of those being covered
in First and Second Class
and gradually build up your child’s skills.
1. Prediction:
Prediction game from Phil Tulga.com
2. Visualisation:
Visualizing activity from Blue Ribbon Readers
3. Making Connections:
Making Connections from Blue Ribbon Games
4. Questioning:
The Questioning Cube from Blue Ribbon Games
5. Monitoring Comprehension
by clarifying and ‘declunking’
(‘Declunking’ is the process of breaking up a word
into syllables in order to pronounce it correctly and
understanding its meaning.)
The Fridge Game from Blue Ribbon Readers
requires students
to identify confusing words (by monitoring)
and replace them with words
that make sense of the sentence (clarifying)
6. Determining Importance:
Blue Ribbon Readers – The Hamburger Game
7. Inferring:
Inferring using riddles from Phil Tulga.com
and The Detective Game from Blue Ribbon Readers
8. Synthesis is a complex process
and is taught in Senior Classes
but here is a simple game that
introduces it from Blue Ribbon Readers
You can read more about comprehension strategies here.