After Reading
Comprehending the Text
After reading the story, through summarizing or discussing, have children explain what the story meant to them. By asking the following questions, you will find out what children are understanding about the story. If you choose to break the story up, some of the questions and the order may vary. Use your judgment as to what is appropriate depending on where children are within the reading.
Ask: What is happening/happened in the story? What is a typical day like for Arthur? What is the bad news that Arthur found out? Why is it causing Arthur to be unhappy? How is this news going to affect Arthur? What happens in the end and how does Arthur feel now? What do you think the author’s message to us is?
This is also an appropriate time to explore and discuss other print issues such as punctuation, abbreviations, vocabulary, figurative language, and all the other things children encounter as they read.
Ask: Did you notice anything interesting about the text in this book? Was there any punctuation in the book that you found interesting?
If it doesn’t come up, you can initiate a discussion about how the book was written from Arthur’s perspective. Ask if that made the book easier or more difficult to read. Did children like it or not?
Visual Learning
Much can be gained from illustrations in books. Ask questions to see how the illustrations in this book did or did not help children in their reading.
Ask: What does the picture of _______ tell you about his or her mood? How does the author’s description of the character match the illustrator’s depiction? How would you have drawn the character?
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