The comic page in your newspaper is full of lessons to teach to your child. Here are just a few ideas to get you started…
1- Did you know there is a date on each and every comic strip? Look for one with your student and talk about it…for example, in tomorrow’s paper you will find 3-2 in each strip- somewhere. After the child has found the date talk about what the digits mean. Then, teach them how to SCAN the paper to find the dates in every comic strip. SCANNING will be a skill they need throughout life, and comic strips are a fun place to learn this technique!
2-One frame cartoons like Marmaduke, Ziggy and Dennis the Menace can help your students learn about CONTEXT. As they look at the cartoon talk about the 5 W’s…who is in the picture, what is happening? when is it happening? (time, seasons), where is it happening? and end with why is this funny?
3- Cartoons are like short stories. After reading a strip together, ask your child to write a 5 sentence paragraph of complete sentences to make a story from what they read.
4- As you are looking at a comic strip, ask your child to be a word detective for words that they are learning about…contractions, pronouns, verbs, spelling words. Let them circle words as they find them.
5- Finally, help your child build their vocabulary as they read the cartoon page. Ask them to look for one word they don’t already know and write this in a vocabulary journal. Talk about the meaning of this word in the cartoon.
One KEY reason why using the comic page to teach reading is a good idea….it’s fun and different, and when your child is engaged, they are more likely to learn!
A special thanks to director, Sue Ann, for these great ideas!