Three Steps to Break Down a Reading Comprehension Goal

Last week we looked at a functional annual goal involving dressing skills and how to break it down into smaller objectives and measurable building blocks. You may want to review last week’s blog (12-20-21) for details on the breakdown into objectives, skills and modifications.

Again, you may have different goals, but this step-by-step process is the same for any annual goal.  This week we will look at a reading comprehension goal. For the purposes of this blog we will break down only the first objective and required skills and strategies.

Three Steps to the Process

Step 1:   Develop a Specific Annual Goal:  By the end of the school year, the child will use the five-finger strategy to independently answer WH questions (who, what, where, when and why) in 4 out of 5 grade level stories.

Step 2:  Identify the First Step – Objective 1: By the first marking period, using the five-finger strategy, the child will independently identify 2 elements of the 5 finger strategy:  1) thumb – where the story takes place and 2) index finger – who are characters in the story, in 4 out of 5 at current grade level stories. 

The first objective breaks down the annual goal into the initial steps the child will begin with as they start a new school year. They will learn only the first 2 (where and who) fingers of the five- finger strategy. The grade level of books chosen will be for their current (delayed) level. By the end of the year they should be at or closer to their appropriate grade level. 

Step 3:  Make a Checklist of Skills: Create visual and contextual skills and strategies that help build on who and where.

• Before your child reads any book, they need to have the background knowledge required to understand it. Let’s say you chose a book on sharks living in the ocean. To build knowledge on this, it’s a great idea to find videos on YouTube. You can have the child watch videos of sharks and point out features that describe the shark (who) like fins and teeth. Describe where the shark swims in the ocean (where). Point out words in the text like shark, fins, teeth and ocean that correlate to the video.
• The child can draw pictures of these objects too. This gives a visual context to the story
• They could build a small vocabulary list of words that describe the shark and ocean from a picture in the book itself and circle these words in the text of the book.
• The child may not do well with using the five-finger strategy. This can be modified to could using post-its or whatever works for your child to remember the who, what, where, when and why in a story.

The focus here is to make sure that you have strong annual goals. You don’t need too many, but the ones you have should be appropriate, relevant, and prioritized for your child.  The objectives are the smaller steps that break down the goals by marking period. Objectives must support and keep everyone on track to achieve the annual goals. And…for each objective analyze the skills, strengths and weaknesses to make sure that your child has the ability needed to get there. If they do not, modifications and accommodations might be needed.

It is more important to have less quantity and more quality goals, with appropriate objectives that are achievable and measurable.  What is great about this three step strategy is that you can even use this simple system at home for your own goals for your child. Please comment and leave questions below!