After reading a portion out loud together with your students or having them read it on their own, develop a mini-discussion after each passage to ask questions about the meaning behind what the students read. Start with general questions first such as, "What was that passage about?", "Did you like that part?" or "How do you feel about that passage?" and then progress to more detailed questions asking students about the setting, character, narration or subject matter of a specific passage. Allow students to ask each other questions in a group discussion and let them draw conclusions on what they think the reading assignment was about.
Assign your third-grade students a slightly more difficult reading assignment than they are used to. Give each student a highlighter and ask them to read the assignment quietly. As they read, instruct them to highlight a word or phrase they don't understand. Once your students have finished reading, go through the highlighted words and write them down on a dry erase or chalkboard. Work with your students to come up with synonyms and definitions for each word. Help them create a vocabulary list with a definition to memorize for homework.
Understanding a portion of a story through acting can help students visualize the text and gain a stronger idea about a reading assignment. Give your third-grade students a passage to read, and then break the students up into groups. Each group should then come up with a short skit acting out the main points in the story. Once all the groups have preformed talk about the similarities and differences of the skits and how they highlighted different aspects of the story.
Another helpful way to teach students comprehension is through the literal examination of the text after an assignment has been read. Give your third-grade class a passage to read and ask each student to read one part out loud. After they have finished reading the assignment ask them questions about what was not understood. Make a list of the phrases or sentences that were confusing on a dry erase or chalkboard. Work your way down the list of confusing phrases and inquire students to guess or come up with what they think the confusing phrase is about. Your students will learn how to look at the surrounding text of the confusing sentence and begin to identify new meanings through the use of context.