This has been the hardest of the comprehension skills that I’ve had to create activities for! It’s such a tricky skill for children to grasp and one that requires a deep level of thinking.
Explanation in comprehension is all about explaining why the author has chosen a particular word or layout on the page or what theme has been chosen for the book or what effect a word or phrase written has in the reader. Tricky right Hopefully this activity will help them to develop this skill.
What do you need?
A book with text in that’s written in an unusual way, for example, not in a line in a different shape or written in a different font etc. Picture books with text in work well for this. It may help to show them some examples of pages in the book you’ve chosen but not the page that you will cover up.
A piece of plain paper
Some paperclips
How to Play:
Cover up the page in the book with a piece of plain paper so children can’t see it.
At the top of the paper, write the words that are on that page. This should be in normal handwriting and written in a normal line.
Children are then given the task of designing the page how they think the author might have designed it. How would the writing be laid out? What illustrations would there be?
Once complete, the children should explain why they have designed the page like that.
Now take the paper off the page and compare your page design with that of the authors. What is the same/different? Why has the author made the choices he/she has?
They won’t realise it but they will be practising this skill of explaining and will have fun designing their own page.
