Cut It Out!
Please forgive my two week absence. No excuses. All I can say is, "Cut it out!"
But, really - cut it out!
If you're needing a simple, interactive way to practice any variety of comprehension skills at any level, consider cutting it out! Let me explain.
What you will need:
- Any printed material that you don't mind cutting apart. This could include magazines, catalogues, comic books, newspapers, or photocopies of printed material you already own (I think this is okay as long as it's for personal use).
- Scissors!
- Glue or glue stick (optional)
- Photocopier (optional if you want to copy text from a book or enlarge print for ease of use)
What to do:
- Decide what comprehension based skill you will be working on (ie. sequencing, outlining, main idea/details, etc.).
- Cut the text apart into sentences.
- Have the child (assisting as needed) reconstruct the text into the proper sequence, categories, or main idea and details the flow from it.
- For an added written expression benefit, the child may recopy the completed activity to practice good sentence structure and other writing conventions.
Remember! This can be done at any level - from primer to high school. At the lowest levels, you can even cut sentences apart to have the child practice proper sentence formation. You may created a page to guide the activity (see photo), and if you don't glue things down, you can reuse the components endlessly. Mix things up as desired. What skills could your child practice in this way?