Have students that read the same book or passage pair up together to present character interviews. Each student takes the role of a different main character and students write questions to ask the other character about the sequence of events, character relationships, settings and conflicts of the story. Students demonstrate their reading comprehension skills as they answer the interview questions about the story.
Have students write about the story in the form of a newspaper review as a comprehension project. Instruct students to imagine they are a book reviewer writing for a newspaper. Students should describe the text organization, author's purpose, main idea, characters, setting and plot of the story. They must also voice an opinion about the story in the review and then back up their opinion with story facts.
Creative students might enjoy a comprehension project in the form of a poem or song. Demonstrate how to write a narrative poem or ballad for students. Explain that the lyrics of many songs are written as ballads. Have students write a poem or song about the story events in which they sequentially describe the most significant events, characters and settings to demonstrate their reading comprehension. Students may perform their song or ballad for the class.
Students may create a brochure to show their comprehension of the book. Have students create a tri-fold brochure by hand or with computer technology. The brochure cover contains an illustration depicting the book's main idea. Inside, one brochure panel describes each of the main characters. Another panel describes the main time and place settings of the book. This panel also contains a list of five defined words from the story that the student found challenging. Have students create a paragraph summary that retells the most important events from the beginning, middle and end of the book. On the back of the brochure, have students write an opinion statement about the book.