Reading comprehension is one of the most difficult things to teach a child. Eventually, most children understand how to read and learn to read allowed fluently through decoding the words and mimicking tone and inflection that they have heard others use. But how do you teach a child to understand what they have read? That is more difficult.

Breaking the text down into chunks and discussing or asking questions about each section can help some children to analyze as they read. When a child can’t answer a comprehension question a teacher will ask the student to look back into the text to find the answer to teach the child how to skim and re-read text for specific content.

I plan to teach these concepts on a first grade level to my 6 (soon to be 7) year old by using matching, file folder, and pocket chart games. One game that I recently created is called ‘Three Little Monsters‘. This set includes 24 colorful printable game pieces and a printable 9 page activity booklet to help children practice reading comprehension in a fun way.

The Three Little Monsters game asks beginning readers (Kinder., 1st, Second Grade) to decode a sentence then to find the key elements in the sentence to create a match. The booklet asks the student to read a sentence, find the picture of the character in the sentence, and create an illustration that demonstrates understanding of that sentence.

Starting comprehension questions at a ‘one-sentence-at-a-time’ level and making it fun through game play is just what beginning readers need to gain a fundamental understanding of the techniques used for reading comprehension. Check out the game on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store or by following this link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Three-Little-Monsters-Reading-Comprehension-Game-and-Activity-Book-849003