Reading Comprehension Grade 3 Need Help!

[asnows]

Hello, parent here first time on this board. My daughter is doing well with reading, EXCEPT for a specific type of reading comprehension question. I can give some examples, in hopes of finding out what they call this type of question so we can work on it this summer!
Examples:
After reading Jack and Beanstalk, question is "Why is it hard to think when you are nervous and scared?
After reading a selection about a kid's soccer team, question is "Why is it important to be on a sports team?"
After reading a selection about Troy Aikman who switched sports in childhood, question is "How can changes in your life be a good thing?"
These types of questions are giving us fits! She is at 4.2 AR level at the end of this year, but was restricted to reading 2.6-3.4 AR books this year because of the comprehension. We've gone ahead and moved on with library books to higher levels as needed, but would like to get this figured out so it doesn't hold her back next year. She can tell us what color the hat was, what might happen next, fact vs. opinion but has trouble with the above types. Are they inference? prediction? WHAT????? Thanks so much!
Obsessed parent of a daughter who loves to read!

[Unregistered]

It sounds like she is having difficulty recognizing general trends and re-iterating the author's message.

Interestingly, kids who are very good at detail oriented thinking, such as finding details or reading with a high fluency, often have difficulty seeing the big picture.

On the other hand, kids who recognize the author's message with ease are often tripped up on the type of detail oriented thinking in which your child excells.

Here are a few ways you can help her to understand the author's message:

1. Have her look at paintings and tell you what the mood of the painting is. Then have her explain how the artists created that mood. You will probably need to guide her (brush strokes, colors, ect).

Then have her read stories that have a specific mood. Again, have her define the mood and explain how the author created it (emotion words, tempo, length of sentences, alliterations, ect). Again, you will need to guide her/point out some examples to her.

2. Read a chapter book with her. At various points in the story have her pretend that she is one of the characters. Have her tell you how she would feel and then explain why she would feel that way. Also, have her predict what will happen next or tell you what she would do if she had to make a decision in the story.

3. Have her read fables with a clear moral. Have her define the moral and tell you how she figured out that it was the moral. Then swith to stories where the moral is more complex.

[asnows]

Thanks for the well thought out ideas! Will try them this summer, she doesn't have trouble with details as you mentioned, and reads very well. Bought a couple of reading comprehension workbooks but she didn't have any trouble with those, so stopped working on them. Will concentrate on the big picture and see what we see! Thanks again, snows.