From Reading to Understanding: A Simple W-Question Highlighting System to Boost Reading Comprehension

Does your child read words fluently but struggle to understand what they just read?

You’re not alone — and your child isn’t either.

Reading comprehension is one of the hardest academic skills to teach. For many children, especially those who are visual learners or have language processing challenges, the problem isn’t the reading itself — it’s knowing how to pull meaning from the text.

🎯 The Goal: Help Your Child Connect the Dots

What your child needs is a system — a simple, repeatable method that teaches them how to look for meaning and find answers in what they read.

And that’s exactly what this activity is designed to do.

✏️ Introducing the W-Question Highlighting Activity

This activity teaches children to go back to the paragraph to find answers to questions using color-coded W words:Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

By using different colors for each question type, your child starts to recognize patterns, build confidence, and take ownership of their reading.

🖍️ What You’ll Need:

• 6 highlighters (different colors)

• A printed paragraph with 3–5 questions

• A reference sheet (we’ll explain how to make this below)

• A worksheet to write answers

📋 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Download the W-Question Reference Sheet

Download the chart and assign a color to each W word. Make sure the child keeps it nearby for quick reference.

Here is the link for the PDF Printable File. Download and print!

WQuestionReferenceSheet.pdf

Download PDF • 37KB

2. Start with a Short Paragraph

Use short, simple texts — 3–5 sentences is enough. Ensure it includes details that address at least a few W questions.

3. Highlight the Questions

Have your child read the questions before reading the paragraph. Then, use the correct color to highlight each question based on the W word.

Example:

• “Where did the story take place?” → Highlighted in blue

• “Who was the main character?” → Highlighted in yellow

  
  

4. Read the Paragraph & Find the Answers

Now, your child reads the paragraph and looks for the answers. When they find an answer that matches a question, they highlight it in the same color as the question.

This helps them visually connect the question to the answer.

5. Write the Answers on the Worksheet

Once they’ve found all the answers, they can copy them onto a worksheet to reinforce their understanding and practice sentence structure.

🌱 Why This Works:

• Visual support reduces overwhelm and confusion.

• Color coding helps organize information in the brain.

• Repetition builds confidence and independence.

• Consistency makes comprehension feel doable — not stressful.

Over time, you’ll notice your child starts to rely less on the reference sheet and more on their own thinking. That’s the goal — to give them the tools they need to understand on their own.

🌟 Start Small, Grow Big

Don’t worry about jumping into full-length stories. Start with short paragraphs. Once your child feels confident, gradually move to longer texts and more complex questions.

Reading comprehension doesn’t have to be a mystery, and your child can learn how to understand what they read with the right support and structure.

📌 Save this post, share it with another parent, or try it today and watch your child’s confidence grow!