Children and Parents Reading Together

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Children and Parents Reading Together
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Why is reading important?

• In early grades, success in schools is virtually
  synonymous with success in reading. In fact,
  research has shown that a childs reading level
  at the end of the third grade is a more accurate
  predictor of school success than any other
  variable including family income, educational
  attainment of parents, ethnic or cultural
  identity, or home language background.
• Carter, R.L. The Sustaining Effects. Study
• of Compensatory and Elementary Education,
  Educational Researcher, 13 (7), 4-13

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ALL ABOUT READING

• Making sense of print is what reading is all
  about
• Successful reading is finding a happy balance
  between PHONICS and EXPERIENCE. Bringing
  experience to print is more important than a
  knowledge of phonics.

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• SOUNDING OUT is difficult for beginning and
  discouraged readers. To illustrate this read the
  following words
• vury sctraugh
• mould sought
• whoamb phyue
• dauss ceokn
• whir pneocques

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• I am working vury hard, said the robin. I am
  looking for sctraugh to build my nest. I shall
  use some mould, too. I shall line it with sought
  grass. This will make a nice whoamb for my baby
  birds. So she made the nest in the old apple
  tree. In a phyue dauss there were three little
  eggs in the nest. Ceokn there whir three baby
  robins. They stretched their little pneocques
  and cried, Peep, peep, feed us!

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Strategies

• When a word is presented by itself with no
  context, it could have a number of different
  possibilities eg. Is sc pronounced as sk or
  s?, is wh pronounced w or h?
• Your understanding of a subject makes it easier
  to decode unfamiliar words
• Learning all the sounds and their combination can
  be difficult. Too much focus on phonics makes
  reading more difficult.

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• In order to understand words we must understand
  the world in which the words are being used.
  This is fundamental to reading. For example

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• The procedure is actually quite simple. First
  you arrange things into different groups. One
  pile may be sufficient depending on how much
  there is to do. It is important not to overdo
  things. That is, it is better to do too few
  things at one time than too many. In the short
  run, this may not seem important but
  complications can easily arise. A mistake can be
  expensive as well. At first, the whole procedure
  will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will
  become just another fact of life. After the
  procedure is completed, one arranges the
  materials into different groups again. Then they
  can be put into their appropriate places.

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CONSONANTS AND VOWELS

• Consonants are more consistent than vowels
• Children have more difficulty isolating vowel
  sounds than consonants
• Vowels are often irregular and cause most trouble
  when figuring out words

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• GOOD NEWS children can learn to read before
  they have learned all of the vowel rules and
  sounds
• Look at the following 2 passages taken from the
  Rainbow Goblins

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• The Rainbow Goblins
• The_ g_bl_ns c_ _ld h_rdly c_nt_ _n th_ _r
  _xc_t_m_nt.
• S_ _n _ll th_ c_l_ _rs _f th_ R_ _nb_w
  w_ll b_ _ _rs, Y_ll_w gl_ _t_d.
• W_ll sn_tch _t _s _t r_s_s, s_ _d Gr_
  _n, wh_n th_ c_l_ _rs _r_ st_ll fr_sh _nd
  cr_ _my.
• Not too hard? Now try this one

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• _e _o_ _i_ _ _ou_ _ _a_ _ _ _ _o_ _ai_ _
  _ei_ e_ _i_e_e_ _. _oo_ _ll _ _e _o_o_ _ _
  _f _ _e _ai_ _o_ _i_ _ _e ou_ _, _e_ _o_
  _ _oa_e_.

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• The beginning of words contain the most important
  phonetic clues. Many times you do not have to
  look at the whole word because the initial sound
  triggers a word. Check for meaning, then carry
  on.

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• YES, reading does involve blending sounds
  together and sounding-out, but the goal is to
  identify words using as few letters as possible!
• EFFECTIVE READERS are readers who DEPEND VERY
  LITTLE ON ANALYZING ALL PARTS OF A WORD, INSTEAD
  USE CONSONANTS TO MAKE SENSIBLE PREDICTIONS!

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• MAKING SENSE IS WHAT READING IS ALL ABOUT!
• READERS ARE NEVER DESCRIBED AS BEING GOOD or
  POOR. It is more constructive to describe
  readers in terms of his/her stage of development
  (ie. emergent, beginning, intermediate, advanced)

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• Sounding out is difficult for beginning and
  discouraged readers.
• Successful reading is finding a happy balance
  between PHONICS AND EXPERIENCE. Bringing
  experience to print is more important than a
  knowledge of phonics.

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• Some Strategies for Figuring Out Words
• Look at the beginning letter/s. What sound do
  you hear?
• Look at the pictures. Do they help?
• Look for spelling patterns you recognize. Can
  you use
• what you know to get the word? Word Families?
• Skip the word, read on to the end of the
  sentence, and then come back to the word. How
  does what youve read help you with the word?
• Look through the word to the end. What sound do
  you hear at the beginning? In the middle? At
  the end?

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• Some Strategies for Understanding Text
• Stop to think about what youre reading. What do
  you think is going to happen? Why do you think
  this?
• Think about what you already know about the
  topic.
• Reread the paragraph, chapter, or book.

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• Giving Students Feedback
• Focus on making sense and not on getting it just
  right!
• Spend time reading out loud together, in chorus
  (sometimes just
• whispering the beginning sound softly is the
  only cue necessary)
• In the beginning, take turns reading pages,
  paragraphs or sentences.
• Sometimes it is helpful to read aloud the entire
  book, page or paragraph before the child reads
  it.
• When an error is made, it is wise to wait until
  the end of the sentence before drawing attention
  to it. You might say Did you understand that?
• If a child is struggling with a word you know he
  has heard before, tell him to leave it out and
  finish the sentence. Re-read the sentence aloud
  leaving out the word.
• To really build confidence say I will read a
  paragraph and I want you to tell me what it
  means. Then well read it together and figure
  out all the words you dont know. With a few
  practices, you will probably be able to read it
  by yourself even though it is pretty hard!

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• The MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER
• Make the experience of reading enjoyable !