Rereading Books

photoPreviously, I have written about rereading as a way to figure out tricky words. Rereading is also a powerful way to build comprehension. I recently read a blog post by Vicki Vinton, a writer and literacy consultant in NYC schools. She describes the importance of rereading as a “drafting and revising” process. The first time through a story, readers are figuring out words and getting the feel of a story. Reading that same story a second or third time allows new understandings to unfold. Readers discover details that are significant that they hadn’t noticed before. This comprehension is extremely valuable to developing readers.

You can encourage this by having your child read books two or three times, stopping throughout to discuss “Why” or “How” questions. You can also make comparisons between characters and other stories that you have read together. This will help strengthen their comprehension and model how readers ask these questions before, during, and after reading. Rereading a story is like visiting with an old friend, you may find out things that you never knew before!

Happy reading!

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