Yealmpstone Farm Primary School
'The doorway to learning for the whole community.'
Reading Comprehension (VIPERS)
Helping Your Child with Reading Comprehension
Reading the words is only a small part of learning to read. Understanding what has been read is just as important; this is known as comprehension. When teachers assess children, they look at how well children read the words and how well they understand what has been read. Children develop comprehension skills overtime, as they get better at reading the words; they should also be getting better at understanding what they read. Children don’t always need to read a book themselves to practise their comprehension skills, sharing books and listening to stories is just as important.
At YFPS we teach children reading comprehension skills on a daily basis through VIPERS: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, sequencing and summarising. When you are reading with your child, focus on one of these areas and discuss what you think is happening in the story.
