Improving Reading Comprehension with Folktales

Supplemental reading provides a unique opportunity for kids to explore different genres and different topics that go beyond required classroom assignments. When a young reader can choose from a broad range of books, she is more likely to find something that she wants to explore and therefore she is more likely to spend more time reading.

Testing Pressure

As classroom teachers are asked to spend more time preparing for high-stakes standardized tests where does supplemental reading fit into the school day?

This pressure to achieve higher levels of reading means that supplemental reading is more important than ever in building reading comprehension. Why? Because kids need to spend more time reading in order to strengthen their core skills of phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. It follows that when a kid discovers that he enjoys reading for pleasure, then he is more likely to spend time reading without incentives or without feeling coerced to read. Supplemental reading provides a unique opportunity for kids to explore different genres and different topics that go beyond required classroom assignments. When a young reader can choose from a broad range of books, she is more likely to find something that she wants to explore and therefore she is more likely to spend more time reading.

In addition, when a kid completes a self-contained story within the allotted reading time, then she is more likely to enjoy the experience and feel a sense of closure or satisfaction in completing the story.

Folktales and Supplemental Reading

Folktales and stories from the oral tradition play a unique role in supplemental reading since they are relatively short and easy for kids to finish reading the story in one session. As a result, kids are more likely to continue reading and discover that reading can be entertaining while they improve their comprehension skills.

Story Cove

Story Cove was developed to offer stories that kids want to read. With stories from diverse cultural traditions, they can enjoy the interaction between a wide range of characters with a variety of challenges to overcome in a number of different settings. This collection of 22 folktales combined with online resources was designed to help children discover the enjoy of reading. All of the stories have been carefully selected from the world’s great oral traditions and edited so that they would be highly engaging for young children to help nurture a love of reading.

Each story is supported by animations, audio read along files, differentiated lesson plans and leveled picture books. Combining different media formats with active lesson plans makes the stories easier to comprehend, easier to remember and easier to share with friends and family. Using these different strategies also allows children to explore the themes in each story at a deeper, more meaningful level that makes the stories more personal. We’ve also correlated the lesson plans for each story New to the Common Core Standards for Reading: Literature in K-2nd grade.