The Comprehension Strategies Box

The Comprehension Strategies Box is a set of six boxes suitable for children aged 6-11+. Each box contains a set of full-colour, differentiated literacy cards designed to support the teaching and learning of nine different comprehension strategies. These well-researched and proven strategies - predicting, visualising, making connections, questioning, clarifying, summarising, determining importance, inferring and synthesising - are compiled to help teachers unlock their pupils’ reading abilities.

Download a sample of The Comprehension Strategies Box

Lexile®

The Comprehension Strategies Box caters for all pupils while learning the same English strategies, with three differentiated reading levels by suggested Lexile^® ranges for each strategy, and a placement test provided to ascertain pupils’ starting point.

Lexile® is a tool used to measure a pupil's reading ability and literacy skills. It is a tool for teachers to use to report on pupil progress.

The Lexile® Framework for Reading is a measure of the difficulty of texts. It ranges from 200L to 2000L, with 1000L being the average reading level of an eighth-grade student. As Lexile® is commonly used in most schools, the resources from the Comprehension Strategies Boxes are designed to integrate seamlessly.

Reading comprehensions strategies box features

• Six copies of each text card allow focused group work, while independent groups/stations are catered for with activity sheets specific to each text.
• Original texts across the cards and Teacher Guide, allowing pupils to experience a variety of fiction and non-fiction text types.
• Extensive support through a comprehensive Teacher Guide and an additional Activity Book with worksheets for all texts on the cards.
• Each resource caters to multiple different reading skills to ensure children learn the same strategies at a pace suitable to them.
• Each box is designed to be implemented within the Irish Primary School curriculum.
• Both small group discussion and independent learning can be implemented with the comprehension strategy cards.
• The reading comprehension strategies are easy to implement even without prior knowledge of the different comprehension strategies covered.

9 Reading comprehensions strategies covered in the series

The key comprehension strategies covered in this series include:

• Predicting: Pupils learn to make predictions on what is going to happen within the text and how to evaluate these predictions.
• Visualising: Pupils learn to create mental images of what they are reading in order to better understand the text.
• Questioning: Pupils learn how to ask questions about the text in order to draw out its meaning.
• Summarising: Pupils learn how to summarise a text in order to understand it more clearly.
• Inferring: Pupils learn to evaluate conclusions from information presented in the text.
• Making connections: Pupils learn to make connections between the text and their own lives.
• Clarifying: Pupils learn how to recognise concepts or unknown words they don't understand when reading a text and what to do to gain a better understanding.
• Determining importance: Pupils learn how to recognise what is important in the text and why that matters.
• Synthesising: Pupils learn to process information by reflecting on what they've just read.

How the reading comprehension strategies can be implemented in a classroom

Each of the comprehension strategies boxes contains 162 cards including duplicate copies to facilitate small group work. Each card has a comprehension strategy printed on it, along with accompanying examples and activities.

Teachers can implement the reading comprehension strategies in a classroom by allowing pupils to work in small groups to complete tasks such as reading stories or articles and then applying the comprehension strategies they have learned. The cards can also be used individually.

Frequently asked questions

What is reading comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the ability to understand and interpret written text. It involves making inferences, recognising keywords, and exploring comprehension strategies such as rereading, summarising, and using context clues.

What is included within each comprehension strategy box?

Each box contains:

• 162 cards containing different texts covering each of the nine reading comprehension strategies
• A Teacher Guide
• An Activity Book containing interactive classroom worksheets

How do the Comprehension Strategy Boxes assist children with learning?

When teaching comprehension strategies, it is important to find a balance between explicit instruction and giving pupils opportunities to use the strategies on their own. This will allow pupils to develop a better understanding of how to use the strategies, as well as build their own comprehension skills. Each box contains a variety of texts for pupils to read, plus an abundance of interactive activities to help engage pupils in a fun way.

How does The Comprehension Strategies Box support struggling readers?

Teaching comprehension skills is an important part of reading comprehension. The Comprehension Strategies Boxes allow pupils to develop comprehension skills while having fun at the same time! Each box contains teacher resources for three different levels to support struggling pupils and challenge more advanced pupils. This encourages independent thinking and critical analysis in a safe environment that allows children to learn comprehension strategies without feeling rushed or intimidated.

What types of reading texts are included in The Comprehension Strategies Box?

Each Comprehension Strategies Box contains a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction texts and topics including humanities and science. Texts may include short stories, poems, news articles, and more. This variety allows pupils to apply comprehension strategies to a range of different materials that they may come across.