Retelling the events that occur in a story is an important part of reading comprehension. Readers should be able to retell the events of the plot in sequential order. Help your students practice their retelling skills with a simple game. Photocopy images from the beginning, middle and end of stories that students have read, or draw your own images that represent different parts of a story. Offer children individual piles of pictures and encourage them to rearrange the pictures in sequential order. The first student to arrange the pictures in the correct order wins the game.
Being able to retell the events of a story in a brief summary is another important part of reading comprehension. Summarizing involves the use of several skills, including retelling, providing details, and making inferences. A game of charades allows children to put their ability to summarize to use. Provide a student with the title of a book and encourage her to act out a summary of the book. The first student to guess which book is being acted out takes the place of the current actor and performs the next round of the game.
Predicting what a story will be about or what will happen next in a story is yet another reading comprehension skill. This skill involves making text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections. Help your students hone their predicting skills with a simple game. Gather a collection of concrete items that relate to a story -- a winter hat, winter gloves and a picture of a snowman, for example. The first person to predict how the items relate to the story earns a point. The person who earns the most points wins the game.
Asking questions that relate to a book is a part of reading comprehension. Readers should naturally ask questions as they read, such as "I wonder what will happen next?" or "How will this affect the main character?" Asking students questions that relate to a story coaches them to ask their own questions while reading, thus increasing their comprehension. Read a book aloud to a small group of students. After reading a page, ask students a question that relates to the book. The student who answers the question correctly or responds with an accurate prediction earns a point. The student with the most points wins the game.