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How do you prepare for a read aloud session for young students? Do you grab the nearest book off the shelf as the class is walking in the door? Is your main criteria for choosing a book that “the kids will like it”? Or do you purposefully choose a book that will offer students an opportunity to talk and do some thinking? Does it matter? Based on information I received this morning, I think it does.

District coordinators and campus administrators met today to discuss the mid-year results of TPRI (Texas Primary Reading Inventory) testing. The data that we saw points to a district-wide need for a much stronger focus on comprehension instruction for our K-2 students.

This is a skill that elementary librarians can easily address through read aloud sessions in the library, if the read alouds are planned with that purpose in mind.

Asking thoughtful and purposeful questions after reading aloud is key to making sure that students are comprehending in a meaningful way. Planning the questions you will ask can make a huge difference in the learning that occurs while students are in the library. Questions that require students to actually cite evidence from the text will show if they have truly understood or not.

What are some other ways that librarians can help students develop comprehension skills?

Image citation: Question mark by Margaret Anne Clark.