Literacy

Check For Understanding

A reading strategy

Often parents question whether the books their child are bringing home are too easy or challenging enough. Rest assured there is so much more to reading than students reading the words accurately. Comprehension plays a key role in a child’s reading. At BNPS we want to instil a love of reading in all students by making the experience enjoyable and not too challenging.  

As stated on the education department website: 

Comprehension means understanding text: spoken, written and/or visual. Comprehension is an active and complex process which: 

• includes the act of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning from text 
• enables readers to derive meaning from text when they engage in intentional, problem solving and thinking processes 
• is a lived and institutionally situated social, cultural and intellectual practice that is much more than a semantic element of making meaning. 

At BNPS, we are committed to fostering a love for reading and equipping our students with the skills they need to become confident and proficient readers. One of the strategies we use to support this goal is the CAFE reading strategy, “Check for Understanding". 

What does CAFÉ stand for? 

CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. It is a framework designed to help students develop their reading abilities by focusing on these four key areas. Each letter in CAFE represents a different aspect of reading that we work on with our students to improve their overall comprehension and enjoyment of reading. 

Check for Understanding: Ensuring Comprehension 

"Check for Understanding" is a crucial part of the CAFE strategy, as it encourages students to monitor their own comprehension as they read. When using this strategy, students pause at various points during their reading to ask themselves questions such as: 

• "Does this make sense?" 
• "Can I retell what I just read in my own words?" 
• "Do I understand the main idea?" 
• By regularly checking for understanding, students learn to identify when they might need to slow down, reread a passage, or ask for clarification if something doesn't make sense. This helps them become more active and engaged readers, ultimately leading to deeper comprehension of the text. 

Supporting Your Child's Reading Journey 

We encourage you to support your child's reading development at home by reinforcing the Check for Understanding strategy. Encourage them to pause periodically while reading and ask themselves questions about what they've read. Discussing books together and asking open-ended questions can also help deepen their comprehension and enjoyment of reading. 

Together, we can empower our students to become confident, lifelong readers who approach every book with curiosity and comprehension. 

Please see the parent pipeline attachment with some suggestions as to how you can implement this at home.  

Happy Reading.  

Tania Maxwell