Teaching reading in the content areas basically means teaching reading comprehension in subjects other than English

The content areas are usually the other subjects like math, geography, biology etc. So when you are teaching reading in the content areas you are teaching reading comprehension. This way the students can understand what the other subjects are all about. Again a dictionary is a must have.

If your children like the internet find a easy free one they can use or just buy one. For your sanity your children must have a dictionary or every time they come up against a new word you will hear the familiar words echoing through the wall. “Mum, What does this mean?” Anyway it is good for the kids to look up the word as it helps with reading.

Usually if your children can read but are still having problems with reading comprehension in the content areas, switch off the TV and computer games.

They just need more practice reading and that means reading more books whether fiction of nonfiction. They just need to upgrade their reading skills. Now in the content areas there are a lot of new words but after they have read them a few times they are not new so they should remember them. But the key is to keep reading. Kids who get left behind are the kids who just don’t read. But sadly nowadays there are very few kids who love reading. Where I teach only about 4 or 5 kids carry books to read with them at school. That is not very many.

For more information about phonics courses I recommend including a Montessori course see our Teach Reading page.