WORKSHOP  On Building Reading and Comprehension Skills  

WORKSHOP On Building Reading and Comprehension Skills  

Brilliant Stars School hosted a workshop for Grade 1, 2 and 3 parents on strategies to improve students’ reading and comprehension skills. We understand that building capacity for reading and comprehension is very essential not only for academic success but also for being successful in life. From the beginning of children’s academic path, children should consistently be nurtured in their ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning. From reading they will also derive joy, cheers and gladness and discover language structures.  

The workshop was conducted on 27th August 2023 by Mrs. Madvi, the Learning & Development Manager of XSEED content team. She was supported by two XSEED coaches and the Regional Manager. 

By participating in the different activities during the workshop, parents experienced that reading comprehension relies on two, interconnected abilities. These are word reading which means being able to decode the symbols given on a page and language comprehension which means being able to understand the meaning of the words and sentences.

The team introduced the reading strategy to the parents which was divided into 3 parts: 

Pre-reading 

• Preview- predict and vocabulary building (Prediction based on the given pictures, explaining meaning, feeling after reading the word).

During Reading 

• Visualizing and making sense of vocabulary (imagine to understand context clues)

Post Reading 

• Reflection and summarizing (graphic organizer to document the understanding)

When parents expressed their struggles for making children feel enthusiastic and joyous towards reading, they were also suggested to follow the strategies given below:

• Using KWL chart (know, want to know and learnt)
• Model reading (by parents/teachers)
• Making connections between reading and real-life examples
• Syllabifying words correctly while pronouncing 
• Asking children to guess the meanings of the target words based on context clues (Text) to comprehend them. 
• Asking different kinds of questions for everything to make them visualize the meaning of the words/ text.
• Asking students to share how they feel after listening/ pronouncing the word. 
• Asking students to take notes in their books and
• Summarizing their understanding through graphic organizers
• Having a regular routine of reading (everyday basis keeping a particular time for reading)

Parents enjoyed the activities where they practised all the different strategies to develop reading and comprehension skills practically in small groups and presented their works in a large group. 

At the closure, parents were asked to encourage and support their children in reading new,  interesting and age-appropriate books suggested in the XSEED Universal App.