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Reading Comprehension Games for Sixth Graders

Moving sixth-graders beyond basic literacy skills to a deeper and more-comprehensive grasp of reading requires a dash of creativity and imagination. The goal for middle school children is not just reading competency, but the development of a genuine love of books and sufficient skill and proficiency in reading to succeed in all areas of the curriculum. Games, puzzles and group activities can help foster the kind of profound connection to reading that yields lifelong benefits to a child.
  1. Individual Instruction

    • Reading comprehension games for teachers and students working one-on-one should complement classroom instruction and be individualized to the needs of the specific child. If vocabulary building is needed, teacher and student can read a short story together and create flash cards with unfamiliar words. Play and practice with the flash cards after the reading session and see how much your student remembers. Pick a subject that the child is especially interested in, like dinosaurs or outer space, and create a library challenge using your school library. Take the child to the library and create subject cards together with the student using the online catalog. Proceed to find books on the subject. This helps improve both reading skills and information literacy.

    Group Activities

    • Classroom reading games are especially effective with shy or reluctant readers because they encourage all students to participate. Pick a book that your students are familiar with, like Harry Potter, and create a quiz. Divide the children into teams, and ask reading comprehension questions in a quiz show format -- don't forget the prizes. Organize a word challenge game to build their vocabulary. Pick a new word that no one knows, and write it on the board. Hand out pieces of paper, and have the children write down a guess as to the meaning. Collect the papers and read the guesses out loud, then reveal the true meaning of the word.

    Games for Parents and Children

    • Parents can cultivate reading comprehension with their sixth-grade child with various games and activities. Many commercial board games build sight comprehension and vocabulary. There are hundreds of flash card games available for one-on-one vocabulary practice for parent and child. There are also many games where players fill in the blanks in a short story with words of their own. This builds both vocabulary and a deeper understanding of the text and narrative.

    Online Reading Comphrehension Games

    • Online reading comprehension games exist to address different types of literacy skills. Online crossword puzzles and word search games can build spelling and word recognition skills at all levels. Interactive make-a-story games such as the one offered by the British Educational Council let players create their own stories with graphics and sound. This is helpful with core sixth-grade literacy skills like narrative continuity and textual understanding. Online reading and vocabulary games can be played alone or with parents and teachers.

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