Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is a skill that many of my kindergartners struggle with.  They can answer basic questions, but when it comes to really understanding what was read it can be a real struggle.  Our district has implemented a model this year to go along with our core curriculum, it is called GLAD (guided language acquisition development).   www.projectglad.com   When I first heard about GLAD I thought it was way too advanced for my little kiddos.  It sounded great for Jr. High and High School but Kindergarten? Yeah right!!  Well I was wrong.  I have been using it conjunction with my core for a few weeks now and my students' comprehension has increased. 

Today my principal came in to observe my class.  He was amazed that my kids could sit on the carpet and listen for almost an hour.  I was telling the story The Lion and The Mouse.  I had copied pictures from a picture book and was telling the story one picture at a time.  My objective was for them to learn story structure, so we really focused on beginning, middle, and end.  (I was nervous.)  Taking the story about the way I did, my kids really understood it.  I was able to introduce academic vocabulary that they were not familiar with and by the end of the story each student knew what it meant.  Now my principal is used to Jr. High so he is easily impressed with kindergarten, but I was SO proud of my kids.  They really comprehended the story, much more then if I would have read it straight from the book. 

What more can we as teachers do to engage our students?  Instead of just reading straight from the text book how can we "spice" up our lesson?  How can we include that student who is never on task?  What is going to make it click for them instead of just using the core?  According to DeWitz, "Core programs

do not provide enough practice to ensure that any given skill will be learned, and this probably jeopardizes the weakest readers in the room."  How are we meeting the needs of every student?  Is just using the core enough, or can we be doing more?  What can you do tomorrow to increase the comprehension of your students?