Reading a Story Together

Reading is a magical adventure. When you open a book you are taken away to explore new things. You can ride a dragon, or be transported back in time. You can be moved to tears, or laugh until your sides ache. If we want our children to get interested in books we have to read stories they are interested in.

In school when we read with the children in a "shared reading" activity. We do a pre-reading phase, read the story and then post reading phase. To cover all three of these areas it is not hard--you may already do it naturally--but it is nice to know that you are doing things that actually help children learn to read.

During the pre-reading phase, introduce the story. Read the title and do a picture walk, look at the pictures in the book. Make predictions about what the story will be about. Teach your child when you make a prediction it is OK if your prediction is wrong. Predicting just involves your child in the story. This helps your child relate the pictures, or title to things that they already have experienced, background knowledge.

Next start the reading phase. Read the story with expression and enthusiasm. If you come to a part that has a repeating text have your child join in. As you are reading have them make predictions about the story. Ask questions. Not just about what happened but higher order questions, like how they are feeling or what may happen next.

During the post reading phase discuss the story and ask questions. Ask high ended and open ended questions. These are questions that don't have just one answer. For example, after reading the Three Billy Goats Gruff, ask your child what he thinks will happen to the goats now that they have gotten across the bridge and the troll is gone. Follow up activities can include, writing, drawing, story retelling, acting out the story or something motivating to your child.

Re-reading the story almost always follows this. Read it as often as your child wants. Don't read it until everyone is bored, let your child be the guide.

The techniques of shared reading helps promote childrens' literacy development in:

1) Word recognition (have them look for words or letters they are familiar with.)

2) Vocabulary development (stop and define words along the way. Have them use the word in a sentence)

3) Comprehension (retell the story and talk about plot and characters).

4) Fluency (as a child listens to you read, then he will hear proper expression and that is what he will want to copy).

Reading has many levels. Make this an enjoyable time. Listening to Mom or Dad read can be one of the hi-lights of the day. Literacy is a natural process that begins at home. As children start to learn to read strict instruction is needed in phonics and phonemic awareness, but during this listening stage, relax and enjoy. Help children enjoy a positive feeling about stories as they listen to you read to them.

Reading and Society

In order to participate fully in society, reading is essential. "Reading is the most important skill for success in school and society. Children who fail to learn to read will surely fail to reach their full potential." (Hall and Moats 1999.)

In Teaching Reading Source book it explains percentages of students being able to read.

5% of students come to school knowing how to read. With these students it is just a natural process.

20% to 35% of students find learning to read relatively easy.

60% of students find learning to read challenging and of the 60%

30% of students find it extremely difficult to learn to read.

How can we bridge that gap? There is an abundance of help available today. A child will learn to talk by age two just from listening to people talk around them, but we need to be taught to read! Successful teachers and families need to focus on 2 areas.

1) Phonics and phonemic awareness. (See: "Rhyming and Phonemic Awareness", "Blending Small Words", and "Mastering the Letters and Sounds" in this blog).

2) Rich and varied literature and writing practice. When you put these components together it helps your child learn to read. (See: "Reading Creates an Emotional Family Bond" in this blog).

Remember the steps we have talked about. (See: "Questions Answered", "Sight Words/ High Frequency Words", and Kindergarten Children Begin to Read").

1) Phonemic awareness or the alphabetical principle.

2) Phonics

3) Reading sight words

4)Vocabulary and reading comprehension

5)Continued reading

6) Maintaining the motivation to read and to learn.

"The less students read in the first grade, the less likely they are to read in subsequent school years." (Stanovich 1993)

Better readers read a lot more words. They continually build their vocabularies. Solution: until your child becomes a good reader, read to them and discuss vocabulary. We can bridge the gap until that gap is filled.

With good instruction from school and follow up help at home, your child will be off on the road to becoming a good reader. Remember the steps we have discussed and learn how to bridge the gap. It is worth it. Reading or not reading can impact a child's life. Make sure your child is on the positive end.

Fun Activities with Books

Reading with children can inspire fun activities. After you read a favorite book with your child use your creativity and come up with an art project, puppet show, play, or something creative.

Reading a story is important in developing comprehension. Understanding how words make a story is the beginning of teaching the alphabetical principle. Letters make sounds, sounds make words, and words make stories.

I would like to show you two ideas to demonstrate what I mean. A favorite book of mine is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert. This book is full of rhythm and rhyming as the letters dance through the pages and take on a life of their own. The pictures in the book are magical. There are bright pictures at the beginning and end of the book where the letters are in alphabetical order, upper case and lower case together. This is a good place to point to the letters and say the ABC's.

When you are through with the book make a coconut tree. Go to your local store where crafts are sold and buy colorful foam letters and stick them all around the coconut tree. You can spell names from your family, Mom, Dad or any words you want. You can do this activity over and over. Children relate to their own name and often these are the first letters and sounds they learn.

Another favorite of mine is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. You can teach: over, under, up, and other words like, youngest, tiniest, first, second, third, bigger, loud and roared. You can use

funny voices as you make the sounds of the Billy Goats and the troll. After you have read the story a few times act the story out. You can take turns being the troll and the Billy Goats.

My Kindergarten children made a puppet show this year. They colored and cut out the troll and the 3 Billy Goats. Then they colored and cut out the bridge and glued it on half of a file folder I had cut in two. This helped the bridge stand up. It was fun to watch as the children told and re-told the story to each other. They used expression and their comprehension was enlarged.

Stories are a great launching board to teach the strategies that lead to reading: vocabulary, comprehension, phonemic awareness, phonics, literature, and fluency. Be creative in teaching these steps. I hope my blog has given you some ideas.

Make reading an important part of your family. Think of your children saying, "Read to me."

Rhyming/ Phonemic Awareness

Rhyming is one of the easiest steps in phonemic awareness. So what exactly is phonemic awareness and how can I help my child learn phonemic awareness?

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in our language. For example, “hat” has three phonemes and letters: /h/ /a/ /t/. “Chick” also has three phonemes, but five letters: /ch/ /i/ /ck/. Let’s take a look at “hat”. By changing the first phoneme we can create another word, “sat” (which is rhyming). By changing the last phoneme it creates another word, “ham”. And also by changing the middle phoneme it creates another word, “hot”.

As we learn to read children need to become aware of phonemes as individual parts of words. A simple definition for phonemic awareness is; a child’s ability to manipulate and notice the sound in words.

Rhyming becomes one of the easiest and most basic steps in phonemic awareness. Start rhyming orally. As you drive turn off the electronic devices, talk while cleaning, bathing or cooking, and rhyme with your child.

Read nursery rhymes, rhyming books and Dr. Seuss books to your child. Dr. Seuss is a great source because he uses nonsense rhyming words in many of his books. Say the rhyming words with your child. Have your child make up new words that will rhyme.

A game to play is to say 4 words, three that rhyme and one that doesn’t. Have your child pick the word that does not rhyme: hog, dog, dot, log.

As your child gets older and starts to read and write letters, transfer this phonemic awareness into reading and spelling. Say, “write /a/, now write /t/. What do your have, ‘at’. Now put /h / in front of it. What do you have, ‘hat’. Erase /h/ and what is left, ‘at’. Now add /b/. What do you have, ‘bat’”. If your child is not writing, but can read letters and sounds, you do the writing Transitioning from oral phonemic awareness to reading and spelling is a very important step in learning to read and write.

Instruction in phonemic awareness should be a part of every reading program. Make your child aware of phonemes in words. As always make it fun. Explore literature together. Reading creates emotional bonds. Happy reading!

Questions Answered

1. At what age do you recommend starting memorizing the sight words?

The quick answer to this question is when your child enters Kindergarten or shows interest, but I would like to tell you the reasoning behind this. Reading is part of language. It has to be taught. It is not acquired like speaking. A child has to learn to speak, and then transition speaking into reading. In order to do this we have to help the child break up spoken words into smaller parts. Children have to realize that words are made up of sounds, and print represents these sounds. We call these sounds phonemes. Cat has three phonemes /c/ /a/ /t/. Children have to develop this awareness. (My next blog is about rhyming and why it is so important to teach children to manipulate sounds.)

Teach children the letters and sounds. They need to realize that letters represent a sound and it is related to words. When you read to a child they start to develop this knowledge base and also build vocabulary.

Children need to be able to orally manipulate sounds. Talk about rhyming words. Say a word that has more than one syllable and have them take out a syllable, for example: say “teacher”, now say it without “er”, “teach”. Say a word and have them take out a phoneme, for example: say “man”, now take off the /m/, “an”.

Sight words are words that need to be memorized. If a child does not have a basic sense of language he/she cannot understand what a words is and that words unlock print. Memorizing sight words is a higher-level skill. When your child is ready and wants to learn to read or is teaching himself/herself to read, then definitely help him memorize sight words. If he/she is not interested wait until Kindergarten and continue to work on oral language and mastering letters and sounds.

2. How can reading to my child help her learn to read?

There are many steps in teaching children to learn to read. These include phonemic awareness, phonics, literature, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Let’s go through each of these steps to better understand them from a pre-reading or beginning reading stand point:

1. Literature and vocabulary are high up on the list of teaching reading. When you read to a child they come to love stories and literature. They also develop vocabulary, which is a big part of learning to read. Stories have plots and characters. Stories draw you and your child into another world. When your child asks what a word means, take time to explain it. If they don’t ask, take the time to explain vocabulary. This is one reason reading to your child is important in teaching him/her to read.

2. On a Kindergarten level, fluency is memorizing and retelling a story. Children want to retell the story with the same expression that they heard you use. Children develop fluency by listening to you read to them. They want to learn to read like you.

3. Comprehension can be taught as you talk about the story and ask questions. Become involved in the story with your child. Ask questions about the story.

4. Phonemic awareness is helping children manipulate and notice the sounds (or phonemes) in words. (See my next blog for a detailed definition of phonemic awareness).

5. Phonics is systematically teaching reading rules, starting with the letters and sounds, blends, diagraphs, vowel rules, and how to divide a word into syllables so they can be decoded.

When you put this altogether children can actually have the motivation to learn to read.

Motivation leads to enjoyment. Enjoyment leads to reading. We want children to learn to read words, but we want them to learn to enjoy reading more. Make the world a better place, read to a child today!

Reading Beginning Books

A Dad of one of my students said, “John was reading the book he brought home from school, but I could tell it was memorized. When I covered the pictures, or printed the words on a paper so he could read it to me, he didn’t know the words.” He seemed very concerned.

There are a lot of steps in learning to read. The National Reading Panel identified two steps: phonetic instruction, and fluency. On a Kindergarten level, fluency is memorizing and retelling a story.

Don’t be discouraged if your child is memorizing beginning books. This is an important step in reading fluency. A good reader uses inflection in his/her reading. He/she knows about punctuation to make reading flow. When a child memorizes a short book or parts of books, he/she is copying how a loving adult reads to him/her. He/she knows how it should sound so he/she memorizes and copies what the words should say. This is OK. This is beginning reading.

“Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man,” said over and over in a story teaches fluency. If your child had to sound those words out he/she might get; run, can, man, but the other words take higher reading skills. Your child knows the gingerbread story and he/she knows he/she wants to read it like his/her teacher. The sight words and other phonics skills will come later.

In Kindergarten we have books with repetitive text. I see airplanes, I see flowers, I see balloons, I see bags, and I see Dad.

Once the child has decoded the pattern, he/she only needs to figure out the last word. Some of the words are easy and can be sounded out. Other words are above a Kindergarten level, but there are picture clues on the page. Have your child look at the beginning consonant, and then look at the picture on the page. If the child says, “I see suitcases,” when it really says, “I see bags,” have them look at the word. Ask them, “what does suitcases start with? Do you see an “s”? Now look at this word. Look at the beginning consonant. Get your mouth ready to say that sound. Now look at the picture and see if there is anything that starts with /b/ in the picture.” Then your child will say “bags”. Good, now lets sound out the whole word, /b/ /a/ /g/, bag.

Beginning reading has many steps; phonics, sight words, memorization, fluency and developing language. Have fun with books. If your child knows you love books, he/she will catch the enthusiasm.

Mom’s 90th Birthday

I spent the weekend with my sisters and friends in Boise for my Mom’s 90^th birthday. On the invitation to her birthday party it said, “optional, if you want to bring a gift we suggest a new or used book.” At 90 my Mom reads constantly. It keeps her mind sharp. She is full of life and fun to be around!

It made me think about reading. Readers nurture their children to love reading. This cycle continues. My Mom loves to read and all her children love to read. They are passing that love of reading to their children and grandchildren. So I asked these questions:

1. When did you learn to read?

2. Do you remember how you learned to read?

3. When did you know you loved reading?

4. Do you remember your Mom reading to you?

Think back to your own life; and ask those questions to yourself.

I asked many people these questions and got various answers. Many remember those first Dick and Jane books. They were little books with beautiful pictures and words that they could read. In them they discovered the wonder of unlocking print, turning print into words and words into stories.

When we were children, at bedtime we would gather in our little sister bedroom to hear the latest chapter in the book Mom was reading to us. My two little sisters were tucked into bed and the rest of us would bring pillows and sit on the floor to hear Mom read. It was a quiet and peaceful time. We were involved in the story and wanted to know what came next.

Most have no recollection of learning the ABC’s, but a vivid recollection of stories in their lives. A young man said he remembers struggling to learn to read until his 1^st grade teacher sat down with him and “explained to him how reading worked.” As a teacher of reading that really interested me, but he couldn’t remember anything specific.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? We can’t remember specifics, but we definitely remember stories in books. Stories touch our soul, change our lives, excite us and leave us wanting more.

A friend remembers her Mom reading the classics to her and her siblings at the dinner table. My sisters said they remember reading all the Beverly Cleary books, Little House on the Prairie, Dr. Dolittle, and cereal boxes. My Grandma had my Mom memorize poetry and small stories, and then Mom would entertain at parties.

Life is just better with reading in it. We can go places we would not otherwise visit and see places we may never really be able to experience.

Let’s help all children in the world discover reading. Help them love life and learning. You are the key to helping a new generation of children learn to read. Open the door to the future--read to a child today.

Sight Words/ High Frequency Words

When I was 6 I remember walking, skipping, running home with the first book I had mastered reading. My teacher let me take it home to read to my parents. My Mom was not home so, clutching my book; I went to the field near my home and climbed a steep ladder to sit on a billboard waiting from my Mom to return home. I could not sit at home. I was too excited. From the top of the billboard, I could see far down the road and I watched all approaching cars. One had to be my Mom’s. I could not wait to read to her.

Reading sparks excitement in children. We can add to their pleasure and cheer and congratulate them. We can also help them with the process. When children first start reading it is a chore to be patient and listen to them read. If you will take six months, grit your teeth, and listen to them as they slowly put sentences together, it will pay off. After that you will have a reader.

As your child begins to sound out and read simple words it is time to begin to memorize sight words or high frequency words. What exactly are sight words/high frequency words? With beginning phonics these words cannot be sounded out.

Your child’s teacher will send home a list of sight words for your child to memorize. Usually teachers within the school make up these lists. There is no state regulation on these words. Teachers usually work as a team to pick out the best words for their classrooms. These words generally come from a list of words known as the “Dolch List”.

If you want to make a list of your own words, google: “dolch words.” Edward Dolch identified a list of 220 words that represent one half to 75 percent of all words found in children’s books. Many of the “Dolch words” cannot be sounded out through the use of conventional phonics rules or easily represented through the use of pictures. This is why they need to be memorized as “sight “ words.

On the Dolch web site you can find games to help you with teaching your children the sight words. Some ideas are:

1) Flash cards

2) Concentration or matching games

3) Sound out the initial consonant sound then they can memorize the rest of the word.

4) Look for these words in books, stories, magazines and newspapers. Hi-light the words or cut them out. Make collages with the words.

5) Start with “the”. It is the most common word in the English language. When a child learns “the” he/she feel successful. As he/she looks through books he/she will find the word and point to it.

Memorizing sight words leads to more success. We will have successful children if we partner schools with parents, families, and communities. Let’s keep working together. Our goal is to make ALL children successful! Success breeds success!

Blending Small Words

Children can learn to read simple words by playing activities with you centering on letter sounds and connecting these sounds together to make words. Provide relaxed game-like learning opportunities. Once letters and sounds have been mastered children can start blending small words.

Step two: Blending Small words. At Maeser Elementary we teach Saxon Phonics. This has become a program that I would hate to be without. It puts reading into small simple steps.

The first 3 letters we learn are “l”, “o”, “g”, then the next 3 are “h”, “t”. “p”. With just those six letters we start to put words together. The first word is log. Then we move to hog, hot, pot, top and got. You can see even with 6 letters we can create many words. Make little cards and put the ABC’s on them, (lowercase is the best.) Start putting the letters together.

Play the rubber band game. Say each sound, stretch the word apart, /l/ /o/ /g/, then snap it together: log. Do this with many words. After doing this orally, then start to do it with your cards, spelling words together.

As you are blending the words together, blend the first two letters, /l/ /o/=/lo/, then put on the /g/. Once you have the word blended and sounded out, take off the “l” and put on an “h” for hog.

Do this with all sorts of small 3 letter words. Do it with all the letters and sounds. Help children read small words about things they love like cat and dog. After they read the word look for a picture to cut out from a magazine or paper. Glue it by the word. Make your own illustrated book, or flashcards with the words you and your child are reading.

As you are helping your child read small words, focus on one word or one skill at a time and celebrate each accomplishment. Ask your child’s teacher or librarian for phonetic books. Also look in bookstores or Scholastic book orders. In phonetic books each word can be phonetically sounded out. Make your own books with the words you are reading together.

I believe strongly in systematic phonics instruction. You have just become an expert. Blending simple 3 letter words is the first step. Remember read together. Never stop reading to your children no matter their age. Stories are magical. They take us places we may never go except within the pages of a book! Happy Reading!

Mastering the Letters and Sounds

There is so much about reading and teaching children to read that I want to share with you. My last 2 blogs I got ahead of myself. Its like I’m trying to cram 35 years of experience into 350 words or less. I will just slow down and try to be more productive. I will take it one step at a time.

My next seven blogs will focus on teaching children beginning reading. I am concentrating on Kindergarten skills, but if your child is ready for it go ahead. Remember, “Early literacy instruction begins in the home and shouldn’t wait until a child is in Kindergarten or first grade. Teachers are important but the first teachers are the most important teachers—parents.” (Patricia Edwards Reading Today Oct/Nov 2010). Until a child is about 5 years old do not force these things on them. Children and parents need to build a bond through reading together. Introduce your child to the sounds and letters, as they are interested. If by Kindergarten they are not engaged in letters and sounds, then the drilling begins.

Step one: Mastering the letters and sounds. Think about letters from a child’s point of view. There are 26 letters with 5 vowels, but they don’t always make the sound that your loving adult just taught you. Of those 26 letters there are upper and lower case letters. It can seem confusing to a child. Where to begin?

Show your child the letters together and separately. “Aa”, “A”, or “a”. Let them know that to learn to read, type on the computer, or to write anything in the world, you only need to master those 26 letters.

Even when you as the parent know how to read sometimes you wonder what exactly are the sounds I need to teach my child. Teach the consonants and short vowel sounds.

Vowels are the letters that change their sound the most often. Start with the short sounds. Think of a short 3-letter word with the vowel in the middle. Then isolate that sound. /a/= the sound found in the middle of “fan”. /e/= the sound found in the middle of “net”. /i/=the sound found in the middle of “pig”. /o/= the sound found in the middle of “dog”. /u/= the sound found in the middle of “mud”.

About the consonants: “K” and “C” share a sound /k/. “C” has 2 sounds /k/ and /s/. “G” has 2 sounds /g/ and /j/. “S” has two sounds /s/ and /z/. Teach the first sound to start with.

Ideas to learn ABC’s:

1) Get magnetic letters to put on your fridge.

2) Get ABC flash card and puzzles.

3) Write the letters and put them around your house.

4) Start with teaching the letters in his/her own name. Then follow with Mom, Dad, and siblings. The other day Sam said to me “Grandma, here is a “G” it is your name.”

5) Let your child get on www.starfall.com

6) My favorite ABC video is “Leap Frog: Letter Factory”. It presents the letters and the correct sound. If you are thinking of presents for your child this is excellent.

7) Teach the letter with a picture for the initial consonant and then say the sound of the letter. For example: “Aa” apple /a/ /a/ /a/; “Bb” balloon /b/ /b/ /b/; “Cc” cat /c/ /c/ /c/.

8) Read a variety of ABC books and talk about the sound the picture starts with and the letter on the page.

9) Other ideas: Sandpaper letters, alphabet games, letter stencils, dry-erase boards, play-doe, paper, pencils, markers, and painting easels

This is a slow process but don’t be frustrated. It is easy to you but complicated to your child. Enjoy the time with your child as you unlock the key to reading. Reading will change his/her life. “Reading sparks the fire of learning”! (Reading Today)

Kindergarten Children Begin to Read

Lets talk more about teaching kindergarten children beginning reading. Last time we talked about letters and sounds, blending small words, sight words, and reading beginning picture books.

Today lets discuss rhyming, word families, and beginning and ending sounds:

Rhyming is important because it shows children how words work. They learn how to manipulate language. In rhyming the end stays the same and the beginning changes. It’s ok to use nonsense words. ”What rhymes with dog?” Log, hog, sog, wog, bog, tog, chog… all these are fine. Some are words and some are nonsense words, but the children are hearing the sounds and hearing the changes in words. Rhyming games are fun while you are driving, playing or cleaning the house.

The next step in rhyming is word families. When teaching word families use only real words, (this is also rhyming). In the “at” family there is bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, etc. Put “at” on an index card then change the beginning consonant. See if the children can sound out the new word. Make lots of different word families: “an” family: can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, etc. “Og” family: bog, dog, fog, hog, jog, log, etc.

When you teach beginning and ending sounds say a word and ask two different questions. 1) What sound do you hear? 2) What letter makes that sound? It is important for the children to hear the sound at the beginning and ending of words even before they know the name of the letter. Children will hear the beginning and ending sounds, before they are able to hear the middle vowel sound.

A fun game to play is separating words into sounds. Say, “I am thinking of a word” and give 3 separate sounds. Have them try to put it together and tell you the word. This is difficult for children so be patient. What is /c/ /a/ /t/? Answer: cat. Do it the opposite way as well. Tell me the sounds you hear in dog. Answer: /d/ /o/ /g/.

After all these fun games don’t forget to just cuddle up with a book, read together and enjoy a story. Nothing will make a child want to read more than learning to enjoy a story. So happy reading!

Succeed in Kindergarten

You have had your child with you for 5-6 years and it is time to start Kindergarten. What can you do to help your child succeed in Kindergarten? It is time to start putting it altogether.

Before you can make any headway into reading your child has to know his/her letters and sounds. If this is a problem then it is time to start drilling at home. Make a chart, give rewards, and give hugs and kisses. This is where it all begins. Every day in Kindergarten the teacher drills the letters and sounds. At home do it again, but you can make it fun. The very best website for teaching letters and sounds and beginning reading is www.starfall.com. Kids love this website.

If your child is really struggling in learning the letters and sounds start with the letters in his/her name. Then do Mom and Dad along with siblings’ names.

After your child has learned all his/her letters and sounds, then start putting them together. Create short three letter words that can be sounded out like; cat, dog, pig, sun, pet, etc. Show your child the letters and they can blend them into words.

Do not choose sight words that cannot be sounded out. Words like; the, this, is, are, said etc. These go into another category: words that need to be memorized. Your child’s teacher will usually send home a list of words to be memorized. Learn these by sight. Take your time on these. Only do 1-3 a week unless your child shows real interest.

As your child starts to read sometimes you get your hands on books where the text repeats. For example: We can run. We can hop. We can swim. We can play. On each page with the words is a picture. In Kindergarten we teach that good readers look at the picture for clues to the words. On the page is a picture of children jumping into leaves. So the student will say, “We can jump”, but the words say, “We can hop.” Tell your child that jump is a good guess. Have them look at the word “hop”, and then ask: “What letter does the word start with?” Answer: “h”. What sound does “h” make? Answer: /h/. What sound does jump start with? Answer: /j/. So the word cannot be jump. Then sound out the word together. HOP. “We can hop.”

As your child is beginning to read memorization is OK. If they memorize the “We can…” book, that is fine. We are trying to help them feel like readers. A big part of reading is fluency. Children will mimic how you are reading, this is also important.

These are just a couple of pointers on reading. We will talk more on another blog.

With Kindergarten children a big key is to be patient. Take little steps. As you work with your child, and his/her teacher, he/she will learn to read. Be patient, reading will evolve.

Getting Ready for Kindergarten

Kindergarten is not the same as it was even just 15 years ago. After teaching Kindergarten for 22 years I have seen a big change. I often feel like I teach a half-year of Kindergarten and a half-year of the “old first grade”. I used to be happy if my students left Kindergarten knowing their letters and sounds. Now by the end of Kindergarten most students are reading.

My most successful Kindergarten students come into Kindergarten knowing many of their letters and a few sounds. I am so excited when I test kids before school and this is the case. They understand what letters are and they want to learn to read.

Remember not to push your children before school. Introduce what they are interested in. As you read it becomes natural for children to learn the concepts of print. I will discuss a few concepts.

First: Occasionally point to the words on the page. Show your children how you read from left to right with a return sweep. Many children don’t realize you are reading, they think you are making up the story. Don’t do this on every page just introduce it to them.

Second: As you read ask questions and make predictions. Good readers are engaged in the story. They know the characters and stop if they get lost in the story and re-read to find about a character. Poor readers just read words and are not engaged in the story.

Third: Help children listen to how language is formed and words are manipulated. Rhyming in poems or fairy tales is productive. Picture books and Dr. Seuss books are full of rhyming. After reading the story a few times, when you come to the end leave the last rhyming word off. See if your child can fill in the word.

Repetition books are great for teaching language development; books like Silly Sally, or The Napping House by Don and Audrey Wood. When it comes to “Here is a house a napping house where everyone is sleeping”, your child will be able to repeat it with you.

ABC books are important to teach alphabetical order and what starts with the letter “c” etc. Point to letters and repeat them to your child. You can never read too many ABC books.

Fourth: Retelling the story is important. When you finish the book have your child retell the story. Ask questions about the story; ask them what their favorite part was, have them talk about the characters. Another fun activity is to make puppets with storybook characters. Have the children retell the story using puppets.

It all comes back to reading and talking to your children. Let your children see your love for literacy. Parents keep up the good work; enjoying and leaning to love literacy is for the whole family!

Reading Creates an Emotional and Family Bond

When reading to a child he/she hears many different emotions and expressive sounds. He is fostering social and emotional development. Talking and asking questions develops thinking skills. Stay away from books on tapes, TV and radio. What you are trying to foster is an emotional connection to the words being spoken. As for videos, save these for children over age three.

Reading is a great time for cuddling and bonding with Mom and Dad. The first few months of your child’s life he is hearing the rhythm of language. That is why, nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss, fairy tales and children books are a good choice. Any children’s literature is rich in vocabulary and language. He/she likes to listen to your voice reading, even if you read a magazine or a novel you are trying to finish. Babies learn a great deal about language before they ever say a word. When you read to baby you set them up to love literacy for life.

As you are reading to young children, focus on the pleasure at hand, not on trying to teach the alphabet and letter sounds. Teach these as your child becomes interested. Sometimes it is not so much the rote learning that’s important, it is developing a literacy rich environment. Teaching him to enjoy reading at an early age, is much more important than just simply phonics.

The amount of literacy in the home is in direct correlation with fluent readers in the future. The most successful readers are those who partner home with school. Home is the first teacher. Children need to see books, newspapers, and magazines in the home. They need to see that reading is enjoyable for their family

The family shapes a child’s learning. Talk to your child, read to your child, let your child see you reading and writing. Help them experience simple things; going to the library, supermarket, or the park. Play language games in the car and at home. Children are sponges. Give them experiences they will cherish. Make your child a participant in your life; this is what will shape his future. “Although excellent formal reading instruction can ensure success in literacy even for high-risk readers, substantial efforts to recruit the partnership of families greatly increase the chances of success.” (Lenses on Reading: Diane H. Tracy and Lesley Mandel Morrow)

Talking and reading to your baby creates a love for reading. It is the greatest gift you can give your child. Make your connection to your child the most important one in your life. As you model a love of reading your child will learn to love to read.

Talk to your Baby

Literacy-rich home environments are the key to children becoming readers. They contribute more to a child’s early literacy development than do kindergarten or pre-school. How can I create a home environment that is literacy rich?

The first step is to talk to your baby. Who would think that talking to your child creates intelligence? Talk to your baby even before your child is born. Children learn vocabulary and communication by hearing their language spoken to them. Hart and Ridley (1995, 1999) estimated that “within a year’s time period, children from professional homes are exposed to 11.2 million words, children from working-class homes are exposed to 6.5 million words, and children from welfare homes are exposed to 3.2 million words.” Vocabulary development is essential to literacy. We can bridge that gap by talking to our children. Turn off the T.V. Turn off devices in the car. Talk to your children while you are making dinner, making the bed, having a bath. Tell them anything you can think of. The more you speak from the beginning or his/her life, the better for his/her growth and development. “Studies have shown that language skills—and even your intelligence—are related to how many words an infant hears each day. In one study, babies whose parents spoke to them a lot (an average of 2,100 words an hour) scored higher on standard tests when they reached age 3 than did children whose parents hadn’t been as verbal.” (www.babycenter.com/0_reading-to-your-baby)

By the time your child reaches his/her first birthday, he will have learned all the sounds needed to speak his native tongue. Children whose parents frequently talk/read to them know more words by age two than children who have not been talk/read to, so talk, talk, talk. Children who are talk/read to will be ready and willing to learn to read at the right time.

Read to your Baby

It is never too early to read to your child. Read to your baby before your child is born. When your baby is born make a special time to read. When your child gets to be 6 months or older they love picture books. Get durable books, board books, books with pages that can be turned easily and can survive wear and tear because everything goes into his/her mouth. Babies love to be held and spoken to. As you read the book talk about colors, ask questions, talk about the pages. An infant won’t understand all the questions of the conversation, but it is the foundation of language.

Some children prefer books with built in activities, like lift flaps, touch and feel pages, or photographs. Children like the same story over and over. This is all right. Remember you are building vocabulary and closeness. The child is learning that reading is a skill worth learning. Let your baby choose what book he/she wants to listen to. He/she will come to have a favorite book or story but variety is also fine.

I was watching Rachael as her mother read to her while we were waiting in the airport. She was only 6 months old, but her hands flapped and her eyes got as big as saucers. Her smile was huge as she reached for the book. The very last page was a flap that lifted up. She squealed at the end of the book and wanted to start again. Rachael is on her way to being a reader. She has already found joy in books.

Because I teach school I want to be known as the “Book Grandma”. Surround your children and grandchildren with books. Make sure the books are within reach of the children. Put them at a level that they can be reached and loved. Children soon realize that there is a story within the pages. As you read to them they will begin to understand that a whole new world opens up as you read. So let’s, read, read, read!