Part of reading comprehension, according to Education.com, has to do with the ability to predict the outcome of the material being read, based on the story's context and other elements. Prediction proves the reader understands what is taking place in the text, well enough to make assumptions about the ending.
To enhance reading comprehension skills, give your fifth-graders a prediction project. Pass out three-quarters of a short story. Once they have read the material, students write the remaining quarter of the story based on what they believe will or should happen. This exercises comprehension skills because students must pay attention to what they read, and they must apply their comprehension to construct a meaningful ending.
Being able to draw what you read is a sign you comprehend the material. For an in-class comprehension project, have your students read a short story and then recreate visual images of what happened. You might ask students to portray this visualization in the form of a comic book story line, or through a series of drawings. The images that students draw or paint should tie back to the story to show that they comprehend the plot, tone, characters and mood. This can be done by using particular color schemes and images in the drawings. For instance, recreating a picture from a mystery story should incorporate dark colors, such as gray, black and blue. A cheery, funny story would have lighter colors, such as yellow and orange. Look for these to make sure students are capturing the important parts of a story.
Because fifth grade is a time where students begin doing more research-writing, it is appropriate to assign them a writing project for reading comprehension. Come up with an assignment that challenges students to think critically and comprehensively while reading a story. The assignment is a series of questions about the story that students must answer in the form of an essay or report. The questions should be linked to reading comprehension questions, such as inquiries about the protagonist, antagonist, the plot, the tone, why characters made certain decisions, why characters feel a particular way, and why the ending does or doesn't fit the story. Then, students put everything together to make it into a report or essay that demonstrates their levels of comprehension.
Fifth-graders can summarize what they comprehend about a story by working on a news report project. Put students into small teams and give each a role. One person plays a news reporter while the others play the subjects of a news report. Each team re-enacts a particular part from a story that you assign them, by reporting on it.
The reporter begins by introducing the situation to the viewers in front of the class. Then the story is turned over to teammates who act out the events from the scene taken from the story. For instance, if the story section is about three brothers who are running away from home, the news reporter will draw viewers' attention to the three team members who will portray the brothers running away. Students practice their comprehension skills by taking what they know from the text and applying it to a skit.