Read Aloud and Along
with Children to Ensure Their Success!
Evelyn E. Smith
Ph. D. in English, Texas Christian University (1995)
M. S. in Library
Science (2012)
Addendum Added August 6, 2014 & January 8, 2015
Addendum Added August 6, 2014 & January 8, 2015
When
parents, teachers, caregivers, and librarians read aloud to preschool children
for twenty minutes every day, they lay a good foundation of reading readiness
skills that will help them to succeed in school. However, reading aloud shouldn’t stop after first
or second grade since listening to a more experienced reader helps upper
elementary- and middle-school students understand passages that they otherwise
can’t yet comprehend. Moreover, reading
aloud shouldn’t take a vacation during holidays and in the summer lest students
lose the gains in reading they have made over the past year during the infamous "summer slide" in reading scores.
Take 20
minutes out of the day to read to preschoolers, breaking up this time into
several different sessions depending upon the audience’s attention span. Once children reach first grade, however, they
need to read outside of school for 30 minutes a day to ensure success in both
language arts and math classes, and since teachers can’t devote enough quality one-on-one
and small group instruction that is necessary for individual students to
achieve academic mastery, this means that parents need to think of creative
ways of reading aloud with their family and to also encourage their children to
read silently to themselves every day.
- For example, at Christmas time, family members might take turns reading Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, which is available Online, each keeping a journal where they record their reactions to each night’s reading.
- Additionally, if a bestseller like Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games or Veronica Roth’s Divergent makes it into film, the family might read the novel together aloud and then compare it to the movie.
____________
Addendum
Parents
and caregivers build strong minds and relationships. (2014, August 6). The
Children’s Reading Foundation.
Retrieved from http://readingfoundation.org/the-solution/for-parents/
The Children’s Reading Foundation lists the ABC’s for
getting children ready to read: A is for “Aloud” (20 minutes daily), B is for
“Basic Knowledge Before Entering Kindergarten”, and C is for “Conversation”
(Parents & caregivers, 2014, August 6).
Rich, Motoko. (2014, January 8). A study finds reading to children of all ages grooms them to read more. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/us/study-finds-reading-to-children-of-all-ages-grooms-them-to-read-more-on-their-own.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
A
recently published Scholastic survey of “just over” 1,000
children age 6 to 17 found that only 31 percent read daily as a
recreational activity, down from 37 percent in a similar study
conducted four years ago (Rich, 2014, January 8, para. 2). Among
readers 6 to 11, however, regularly being read aloud to correlated
with frequent reading while older readers read more if they had time
to read for pleasure during the school day (Rich, 2014, January 8,
para. 3). Along
these same lines, last summer the American Academy of Pediatrics
recommended that all children be read to from birth (Rich, 2014,
January 8, para. 4). Many well-meaning parents nevertheless stop
reading to their youngsters once they can read for themselves, even
though studies tie being read aloud to through elementary school with
a love of reading. Accordingly, 41 percent of frequent readers
aged 6 to 10 reported being aloud to at home while only 10 percent of
infrequent readers had parents who read aloud to them (Rich, 2014,
January 8, para 5). Frequent readers saw reading aloud to as a
special bonding activity; and ordinarily, these children grew up in
homes with lots of books and parents who also loved to read (Rich,
2014, January 8, para. 7 -8).
Although
research doesn't necessarily connect reading aloud to middle and high
school students with improved reading comprehension skills, literacy experts
contend that listening to a parent or teacher read aloud allows them understand complex words and stories
above their reading comprehension level (Rich, 2014, January 8, para.
9). Reading aloud additionally helps children to develop needed
background knowledge (Rich, 2014, January 8, para. 11). The same
affect, however, can also be achieved when parents talk to their
children about subjects they have heard about or read (Rich, 2014,
January 8, para. 12).
As
for teens reading independently, only 10 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds
and just 4 percent of 15- to 17-olds reported having the time to read in class, although
lower income students noted they were more likely to read for
pleasure at school than at home (Rich 2014, January 8, para. 13).
Responding to this need to read, larger school districts like Boston
and Chicago now encourage teachers to make reading in class part of
their curriculum even as parents have noticed that their teens have
stopped reading books for pleasure (Rich, 2014, January 8, para. 14).
____________
Instilling
Pre-reading Skills in
Toddlers & Preschoolers
| Read to your preschoolers for 20 minutes daily. |
To
succeed in school, preschoolers need to know how to be active listeners, understand
that they need to take turns in a conversation and follow directions, and have
a nodding familiarity with phonics, letters, and numbers. They also should begin to draw and paint.
These are all reading readiness skills. Additionally, mommy and/or daddy need
to read aloud to their toddlers and preschoolers for at least 20 minutes
daily.
Barton Reading & Spelling System. (n. d). Research. Retrieved from http://www.bartonreading.com/research2.html
Pre-reading instruction needs to spend approximately
15-minutes daily acquainting young children with phonemes, the smallest
linguistic unit. Parents can do so by
reading their children alphabet books as well as books that use rhyme,
alliteration (the use of the same consonant sounds), and assonance (the use of
the same vowel sounds). Learning to sound out phonemes will give children the
basic background that will enable them to be proficient readers (Barton, n. d.,
p. 8).
Making friends with phonemes.
(n. d.). The Reading Genie. Retrieved
from http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/phon.html
Young
children develop phoneme awareness by listening to alphabet books and nursery
rhymes as well as focusing on individual phonemes one at the time, starting
with the consonants f and s, followed by t and p, and then the long
and short vowels (Making friends, n. d., para. 1-3). Set aside a few days for the mastery of each
sound, using names, hand gestures, pictures depicting the sound (Making
friends, n. d., para. 4). Make the
learning memorable by connecting these sounds to everyday objects children
already know while using alliteration and tongue twisters to emphasize the
sound they make before stretching out the sound and finally putting it in the
context of a simple word (Making friends, n. d., para. 5-8).
____________
Rhyming &
Alphabet Bibliographies
 |
| Parents can choose from a wide selection of alphabet books. |
ABC
books. (2014). Children’s Books Guide. Retrieved from http://childrensbooksguide.com/alphabet
This
annotated bibliography lists “the top alphabet books of all time” complete with
links to Amazon.com. Selections include Dr. Seuss’s ABC (1996) Graeme Base’s Animalia (1996), and Chris van
Allsburg’s The Z was Zapped (1987).
McDonald,
Allison. (2013, February 28).. 25 great picture books that rhyme. No Time for
Flash Cards.
Retrieved from http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2013/02/picture-books-that-rhyme.html
This
annotated list features 25 rhyming picture books that preschoolers are sure to
love from traditional favorites like Ludwig Bemelmas’s Madeline (1939), Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon (1947), and Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham (1960) to contemporary classics like Andrea
Zimmerman’s Trashy Town (1999), Tony Mitton’s Flashing Fire Engines (2000), Jane Tolen’s How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (2000), and Susan Meyers’
Everywhere Babies (2004).
Shelves
> rhyming picture books > popular rhyming picture books shelf. (2014). Goodreads. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/rhyming-picture-books
Goodreads
provides links to five pages pf rhyming picture books along with accompanying
readers’ ratings and reviews. Check out
these selection that young children will love--Karen Beaumount’s Baby Danced the Polka (2004), Lynn
Meltzer’s alliterative The Construction
Crew (2011)--as well as a picture book for school-aged readers, Sarah
Stewart’s The Library (1995).
____________
Online Advice on Reading
Aloud
Closs,
Ellen K. (n. d.). Teaching reading comprehension
to struggling and at riskreaders: Strategies that work.
Reading Lady. Retrieved from http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/TeachingReadingComprehensiontoStrugglinhttp://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/literacy/pr_tutoring.htmlgReaders-MastersThesisbyEllen.pdf
Listening
to a teacher, parent, or librarian read aloud is a way to teach vocabulary and
reading skills even for high school and middle school students particularly if the
experienced reader focuses on comprehension skills and highlights a few
vocabulary words that students don’t understand.
Getting
ready for literacy. (2008).
International Reading Association. Retrieved from http://www.reading.org/Libraries/parents/pb1070_ready.pdf
Literacy
includes not only reading, but writing, speaking, and listening skills, so
children who come to school familiar with all these literacy concepts have a
clear advantage:
- The ability to recognize letters, signs, pictures, and sounds;
- Familiarity with written words and numbers;
- Rudimentary knowledge of conversational skills: Taking turning, listening to stories, asking and answering questions, and singing songs;
- Experience looking at books, magazines, newspapers, signs, and games;
- Get lots of practice drawing, painting, and scribbling.
(Getting ready, 2008, para.
1-3)
Parents
ordinarily are the first teachers to expose their children to books, instructing
their prodigy on how to select books and follow along as someone reads a
passage aloud. Parents thus need to make story time special beginning in
infancy by settling down in a quiet place with a book, cuddling a child and
allowing him or her to turn the pages.
If parents read through a book before reading it aloud, they will also
be better storytellers who can relate
the story to their children’s own lives (Getting ready, 2008, para. 5-7).
Parents
additionally can encourage beginning readers by keeping lots of books on hand,
helping each child build his or her own library, visiting libraries and
bookstores, and introducing youngsters to all kinds of reading materials,
including magazines, diaries, and newspapers.
Parents also need to be willing to read the same story again and again
(Getting ready, 2008, para. 9).
Children regularly exposed to reading and writing
before they begin their formal education are more likely to become better
readers and writers, so parents additionally need to model these skills by
talking about words, pictures, and ideas, reading to their children, and
writing notes to family members (Getting ready, 2008, para. 11).
How
to teach a preschooler pre-reading skills.
(2014). eHow. Demand Media. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_4420960_teach-preschooler-prereading-skills.html
Upon
entering kindergarten, five-year-old children are now expected to have mastered
pre-reading skills (How to teach pre-reading, 2014, para. 1).
Instructions:
1. Read
aloud daily starting at a very young age, acting as a role model for him or her
(How to teach pre-reading, 2014, para. 2).
2. Discuss
the story’s pictures and make predictions about what will happen in the story
(How to teach pre-reading, 2014, para. 3).
3. Read
books with repetitive sentences and predictable patterns, so the child can
familiarize him or herself with grammatical patterns; for example, in English declarative
sentences, the subject comes before the verb (How to teach pre-reading, 2014,
para. 4).
4. Find
a list of sight words, or Dolch words
(http://www.mrsperkins.com/dolch-words-all.html),
and label items around the house (How to teach pre-reading, 2014, para. 5).
5. Read
phonic-based books: Start out selecting
books that feature short vowel sounds [ /ɪ/ (as in kit), /ʊ/ (as
in foot), /ɛ/ (as in dress), /ʌ/ (as in strut), /æ/ (as in trap), /ɒ/ (as in
lot), and /É™/ (as in the first syllable of ago and in the second of sofa)],
then long vowel sounds [any pronunciation that might result from the addition
of a silent E (e.g., like)], and finally consonant sounds (How to teach
pre-reading, 2014, para. 6). Books that
feature short vowel sounds include such classics as The Little Red Hen and The
Cat and the Hat. Examples of books that highlight long vowel sounds include
Sheep in a Jeep, The Its Bitsy Spider, and Blueberries
for Sal.
____________
Bibliographies of
Phonic-based Picture Books
Picture books for vowel sounds. (2012). Gumberg
Library. Duquesne University. Retrieved from http://guides.library.duq.edu/content.php?pid=212027&sid=2830087
This
list includes some old favorites: The Cat in the Hat, Fancy Nancy (short a), Jake
Stay Awake, The Best Way to Play (long a); Green
Eggs and Ham, Little Read Hen
(short e); Wheels, Sheep in a Jeep (long e); Whistle for Willie, Miss Nelson Is
Missing (short i); Iris Has a Virus, Brave Irene (long i), Go Dog, Go, Fox in Socks, Hop on Pop (short o); When I Am Old with You, Say
Hello (long o); One Duck Stuck, I Love to Cuddle (short u), and Sleeping Cutie (long
Teaching
phonics with children’s books. (2012). The
Best Children’ Books. Retrieved from http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/teaching-phonics.html
This
short list of books includes selections that teach consonant blends and
diagraphs, silent letters, inflected endings, suffixes, and prefixes.
____________
Tips and Warnings:
Make it fun! (How
to teach pre-reading, 2014, para. 7).
Mongeau,
Lillian. (2014, April 13). More non-profits teaching parents to read tochildren. Ed Source. Retrieved from http://edsource.org/2014/more-non-profits-teaching-parents-to-read-with-children-2/63519
San
Diego’s Words Alive! and Palo Alto’s 10 Books a Home furnish free books to
disadvantaged preschool children in exchange for their parents’ promise to read
to them daily (Mongeau, 2014, April 13, para. 1). These non-profits work on the premise that
lower-income parents are willing to spend the time and effort to ensure that
their children have the pre-reading skills that will allow them to succeed in
school since research backs up the idea that reading and talking to toddlers
and nursery school-age children is vital if they are to develop the vocabulary
that will allow them to begin to read on time (Mongeau, 2014, April 13, para. 6
& 8). Unfortunately, however,
achievement test scores also show that most middle-class children when they
enter school possess a much larger vocabulary that their lower-class peers (Mongeau,
2014, April 13, para. 9).
Pre-reading
skills. (2012). Family Learning. Retrieved from http://www.familylearning.org.uk/pre-reading_skills.html
Pre-reading
skills include matching (shapes, patterns, letters, and words), rhyming, letter
skills, following directions, motor skills, such as writing with a pencil, and
understanding the concept of the printed
word; for example, knowing that in English one reads from left to right and
from the top of the page to the bottom of the page, and language skills, for instance,
taking turns talking
during a conversation and
listening without interrupting when another person is talking (Family
Learning, 2012, para. 1).
Parents
can help develop these pre-reading skills by helping their children participate
in the following activities:
Matching: Playing
card games, for example, Old Maid and Go Fish, dominoes, pairing socks, and
working simple jigsaw puzzles.
____________
Card Games for
Preschoolers
Warren,
Jean. (2011). Simple card games. Game
Station. Retrieved from http://www.preschoolexpress.com/game_station02/game_station_mar02.shtml
Website
gives directions for sorting a card deck into piles as well as three simple
games: Go Fish, War, and Concentration.
____________
Nursery Rhymes &
Rhyming Games
Bibliographies
Rhyming
for kids: Introducing rhyming to children. (2014). Fun-A-Day! Modern Blogger. Retrieved from http://fun-a-day.com/introducing-rhyming/
Rhyming
bingo games, rhyming memory activities, rhyming puzzles, picture sorting with
rhyming words, rhyming races, rhyming hopscotch, a rhyming scavenger hunt, and walking
a rhyming tightrope all use rhyme to teach children the concept of rhyme.
Rhyming
games. (2014). Reading Rockets. WETA Public Broadcasting Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/rhyming_games
Reading
Rockets gives links for making rhyming books, putting together rhyming matching
activities, rhyming games, and a word family chart. Additionally, it also furnishes a short
bibliography of research that supports the teaching of rhyming and offers a
select list of picture books that use rhyme.
Warren,
Jean. (2011). Preschool songs &
Rhymes. Music & Rhyme Station.
Retrieved
from http://www.preschoolexpress.com/music_station.shtml
Users
can select links for preschool songs and rhymes grouped by season or theme.
____________
Letter Skills: Gradually
introduce letters and sounds and sticking letters on the refrigerator.
Directions: Using an index finger as a place marker when reading,
selecting activity books that reinforce left–right directions.
Note: Enrolling a four-year-old in dance lessons, swimming
classes, or gymnastics, and helping preschoolers help out around the house also
teach following directions.
____________
Teaching Manners
&
Conversational
Skills
 |
| Listening is a conversational skill! |
Fetzer.
Mary. (2014). How to raise mannerly children.
She Knows. Retrieved from http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/818128/Manners-for-pre-school-children
Since
children learn manners at home, Fetzer gives tips on teaching greetings, saying
please and thank you as well as I’m sorry, and helping preschoolers develop
table manners.
Five
playful ways to work on listening and following directions. (2012, October
1). Playing with Words 365. Retrieved from http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2012/10/five-playful-ways-to-work-on-listening-skills/
Preschoolers
can learn about following directions by playing Simon Says, Red Light, Green
Light, I Spy, and Follow the Leader as well as by completing simple obstacle
courses.
Good
manners theme and activities. (2010) Child Care Lounge. Retrieved from http://www.childcarelounge.com/general-themes/good-manners.php
Children
can learn manners through songs and finger plays, arts and crafts, science and
math-based activities, and sharing at snack time.
Poole,
Carla Miller, Susan A., & Church, Ellen Booth. (2013) Ages and stages:Learning to follow directions
Scholastic Early Childhood Today. Scholastic, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/ages-stages-learning-follow-directions
When
toddlers wave goodbye, play pat-a-cake, or retrieve objects from another room,
or put away their toys as requested they are learning to follow
directions. Nursery school age children
(ages 3 sand 4) learn by doing, so caregivers can offer them simple choices to
make (Poole, 2013, para 1-8). By age 4,
children can successfully respond to three-part directions. Some “field-sensitive” children need an adult
to demonstrate a new activity before they attempt it while “field-independent”
children don’t need to copy a model (Poole, 2013, para. 9-17).
Kindergarten and first-grade children need a lot of practice following directions and sometime need to take things one step at a time. They need adults to give directions in context, and they also benefit from movement games like Simon Says. Adults should give positive, easy to understand directions and suggestions, model good listening skills, and strive to make following directions fun (Poole, 2013, para.18-25).
Kindergarten and first-grade children need a lot of practice following directions and sometime need to take things one step at a time. They need adults to give directions in context, and they also benefit from movement games like Simon Says. Adults should give positive, easy to understand directions and suggestions, model good listening skills, and strive to make following directions fun (Poole, 2013, para.18-25).
.
Manners.
(2014). Parents.com. Meredith
Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/manners/
Parents.com
furnishes 11 links that teach children manners.
Rock,
Amanda. (2014). Manners for kids: An
etiquette guide for your preschooler. Parenting > preschoolers.
About.com. Retrieved from http://preschoolers.about.com/od/socialemotionalgrowth/tp/Manners-For-Kids.htm
As
preschoolers grow up, they need to observe some social niceties like washing
their hands after toileting and before eating, not throwing temper tantrums,
saying please and thank you, and or chewing with their mouth open (Rock, 2014,
para. 1-3). From there, parents can move
on to teaching restaurant and table manners (Rock, 2014, para. 4-5).
____________
Etiquette Books for
Preschoolers
[Brandenberg], Aliki. (1997). Manners. New York: Greenwillow Books. (Ages 4-8).
Aliki
uses a series of pictures to teach courtesy to pre-readers, so the book simply
begs for mommy or daddy to explain the details.
Leaf,
Munro. (2007). Manners Can Be Fun. New York:
Universe Publishing. (Ages 4-8).
This
delightfully old-fashioned book explains manners in a way that very small children
will understand.
Meiners,
Cheri J. (2003). Share and Take
Turns. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Free
Spirit Publishing. (Ages 4-8).
Written
at the preschool and kindergarten level, this guide provides concrete examples
that show children how to share and take turns.
Richard Scary’s Please and Thank You.
(1973). Random House Books for YoungReaders (Ages 3-7).
Children
will love the illustrations in this classic book on manners while parents will
appreciate the manners that it teaches.
Seslyle,
Joslin & Maurice Sendak. (1986).
What Do You Say, Dear? New York:HarperCollins. (Ages 4-8).
“What
do you say when you bump into a crocodile on a crowded street?” I’d say that Joslin’s witty dialogue and
Sendak’s illustrations teach manners with a dash of humor.
Motor Skills: Encourage
drawing and painting, provide preschoolers with simple construction sets and
Lego blocks, select activity sheets with mazes, and furnish child-friendly
scissors.
____________
Resources for
Developing
Motor Skills
Dot-to-Dots/Connect
the dots for preschool and kindergarten:
Prewriting skills. (2012). First-School.ws.
Retrieved from http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/dot-to-dots.htm
Links
to handouts allow youngsters to follow the dots, connecting numbers 1 to 10 and
1 to 20.
Free
printable mazes for kids. (2014). All
Kids Network. Retrieved from http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/mazes/
This
maze page features easy, medium, and hard-to follow mazes that children will
enjoy exploring.
Mazes
for preschool and kindergarten: Pre-writing skills. (2012). First-School.ws. Retrieved from http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/mazes.htm
These
holiday-themed mazes should entertain preschool and kindergarten-level
children.
____________
Concepts of Print: Read
aloud with the child daily, provide a bookshelf within reach, regularly visit
the library, and talk about books.
Language Skills: Talk
with the child and read stories.
Top
10 things you should know about reading. (2011). Reading
Rockets. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/42934
1. Too many American children don’t read well: 33 percent of American
fourth-graders read below the basic level (Top 10, 2011, para. 1).
2. An achievement gap
exists: Prior
knowledge gained before a child enters kindergarten strongly correlates with
reading proficiency (Top 10, 2011, para. 2).
3. Learning to read is
complex: It
draws upon a variety of skills that need to develop simultaneously (Top 10,
2011, para. 3-5).
4. Teachers should teach
with the end goal in mind: They
need to balance phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension while imparting a love for reading (Top 10, 2011, para. 6).
5. Kids who struggle
usually have problems sounding out words: Many
struggling readers don’t automatically link the sounds in words with letters
and letter patterns, so their reading comprehension suffers (Top 10, 2011,
para. 7-8).
6. What happens before
school matters a lot: Three
factors predict future reading achievement: 1) The ability to recognize and
name the letters of the alphabet, 2) general awareness of print, 3) knowing about phonemes, or the sounds in letters (Top 10, 2011, para. 9-10).
7. Learning to read is
closely tied to learning to think and listen: Thus, families and
caregivers need to talk to young children, engaging them in conversation and
building their vocabulary by singing songs and playing word games (Top 10,
2011, para. 11).
Most preschool children intuit these skills
through observation, but occasionally older children need some extra help.
____________
Resources for Teaching
Social Skills
Social Skills
| Greeting others and shaking hands is an important social skill as are looking directly at speakers and not interrupting when someone is talking. |
Conversation skills-using social skills. Language.
(2013). Preschools4All.
Retrieved from http://www.preschools4all.com/conversation-skills.html
Web page gives social skills tips on communication—
when someone is talking look directly at him or her (Conversation skills, 2013,
para. 3), conflict resolution—own up to how it feels when
being mistreated while not physically or verbally hitting back (Conversation
skills, 2013, para. 4), awareness of others—admit misbehavior and analyze
why a deed was wrong (Conversation skills, 2013 para. 4), and handing frustration before
lashing out in anger—count to ten (Conversation skills, 2013, para. 6).
Dube, Ryan. (2011,
January 3). 6 best websites with
listening activities for
preschool children.
Educational Freeware. Retrieved from http://www.educational-freeware.com/news/listening-activities.aspx
Dube recommends six “kid-friendly” Web sites that also
teach social skills. A Web search
couldn’t find the Web page “Friends at the Hoppy Hill” or its Website, Kids
Space, but links to the other Websites appear below:
K-2student interactives. (n. d.). Utah Education Network. Retrieved from
Between the Lions. (n. d.). PBS. Retrieved from http://pbskids.org/lions/
Emotion theatre. (2014). CBeebies/Games/Theme/Literacy and Spelling.
BBC.
Game Goo. (n. d.).
Earobics. Retrieved from
Starfall. (2003). Retrieved from
Kuzma, Jill D. (2008).
Jill Kuzma’s SLP social and emotional skill sharing site.
Word Press.
Retrieved from http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com/conversation-skills/teaching-ideas/
Links to PDF files contain contents that teach
conversational skills.
Lee, Hulbert. (2014). How to teach listening skills to
preschoolers. eHow.
Demand Media.
Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_7301495_teach-listening-skills-preschoolers.html
Playing games with children, storytelling, and reading
aloud all teach listening skills to children (Lee, 2014, para. 1-3).
Smith,
Chelsea Lee. (2013, June 19). The rain
game: Teaching children listening skills. Moments
a Day. Retrieved from http://www.momentsaday.com/the-rain-game-teaching-listening-skills/
Every
ten seconds the leader gives instructions and models actions to children
sitting in a circle that they need to repeat each time sequentially--rub your hands together, snap your fingers,
clap softly, clap loudly, . . . so it sounds like rain (Smith, 2013, para.
3-9).
Teaching
conversation skills. (2006). Sandbox
Learning. Retrieved from http://www.sandbox-learning.com/Default.asp?Page=152
Parents
and teachers can teach conversational skills by modeling appropriate
conversations, allowing preschoolers to practice them in small steps, giving
them multiple opportunities to put them into practice using different phrases,
various settings, and different audiences, explaining what is appropriate body
language, reducing repetition of certain words, and both praising and reviewing
their children’s performance (Teaching conversation, 2006, para. 2-7).
Yates, Del. (2014).
Games to teach children about conversation skills. eHow. Demand Media. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_12041866_games-teach-children-conversation-skills.html
Games and activities like “Two Truths and a Lie”, “Find
Someone Who . . . “, “Telephone”, and “Introducing Classmates” teach
conversational skills to children (Yates, 2014, para. 2-5).
Note: Additionally, parents can take their toddlers and
preschoolers to story time at the local library, to attend religious activities
like Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, and on visits to relatives since
these activities require them to listen and respond to questions before they
start attending school to give them additional conversational and listening
experience.
____________
8. Without help,
struggling readers continue to struggle: 88 percent of first graders still struggling
with learning to read by the end of the school year still have difficulties in
fourth grade, and 75 percent of these remain poor readers in high school
primarily because their parents don’t ensure that they have a good reading
foundation before age five (Top 10, 2011, para 14-15).
9. With help, struggling
readers can succeed: Early
intervention programs need to combine phoneme awareness, phonics, spelling,
reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
Furthermore, many disabled children can become average or above average
readers if someone identifies their problems early enough, and they receive the
appropriate help (Top 10, 2011, para. 14-15).
10. Teaching kids to read
is a team effort: Parents,
teachers, caregivers, and volunteers need to share this responsibility (Top 10,
2011, para. 16).
_____________
More.
(n. d.). Children’s Reading
Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.readingfoundation.org/more.jsp
Just
20 minutes of “lap time” reading aloud daily from birth through age five
establishes a strong reading foundation.
Once a child begins to read, continue reading aloud together (More, n.
d., para. 1-3).
Yale,
Joelle Brummitt. (2012). Why read 20
minutes per day? K12 Rear. Retrieved from from http://www.k12reader.com/why-read-20-minutes-a-day/
- Reading is brain food (Yale, 2012, para. 2).
- Reading improves listening skills (Yale, 2013, para. 3).
- Reading builds early literacy skills (Yale, 2013, para. 4).
- Reading prepares children for kindergarten (Yale, 2013, para. 5).
- Practice makes perfect (Yale, 2013, para. 6).
- Reading improves academic performance (Yale, 2013, para. 7).
- Reading just makes [economic] cents (Yale, 2013, para. 8).
- Reading improves relationships (Yale, 2013, para. 9).
| Offer elementary school children in their independent reading by helping them set reading goals, preview- ing selections, and asking questions about it
____________
|
Daily Guided Independent
Reading Makes for Proficient Reading
Once
first graders learn to read that doesn’t mean that mom or dad needs to stop
reading aloud for 20 minutes daily because a child’s understands what he hears
what he or she can’t comprehend by reading (School Age, n d., para. 5-6). Instead parents and children can now take
turns reading to each other. When
parents pair reading aloud with encouraging their children to read silently for
30 minutes daily, they help turn out proficient readers, who also do better in
their other school subjects (Miller, 2010, January 10, para. 4).
Miller,
Donalyn (2010, January 10). Dear parents:
At home reading. The Book Whisperer. Education Week. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2010/01/dear_parents_at-home_reading.html
School
Age: Kindergarten through 3rd grade. (n. d.). Children’s Reading Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.readingfoundation.org/parents/schoolage.jsp
____________
Bell,
Barbara Halliwell & Woodard, Mary Broughton. (1998, February 17). Readingstrategies for parents. PAEC.org.
Retrieved from http://www.paec.org/avidreading/parents.pdf
From
kindergarten through graduate school, reading and language arts teachers use
these reading techniques that promote reading comprehension, so parents can try
them as well with both elementary and young adult readers:
Reading Comprehension: Reading
well doesn’t necessarily mean repeating the text word perfectly, for mature
readers construct a text by using their knowledge of phonics, syntax, and
meaning to fully understand what they are reading (Bell, 1998, para. 2-3).
What Adult Proficient Readers Do: Adult
readers who read well automatically use their general background knowledge and
the reason they are reading to make predictions about what the text will say
next (Bell, 1998, para. 4-6).
What Is Important: It’s
important for reading to make sense (Bell, 1998, para. 7).
Strategies
that Can Help: Sounding out words is a
good strategy except when it takes too much time and effects the reader’s
fluency, so it’s time to turn to other stratagems (Bell, 1998, para. 8).
Strategy 1: Read aloud to the beginning reader, picking topics that interest him
or her, stopping to discuss the text along the way, pointing out rhyming words,
repetition, and asking what will happen next.
Thus, the mature reader models what proficient readers do (Bell, 1998,
para. 9-11).
Strategy 2: Allow for uninterrupted
reading: Don’t
interrupt a struggling reader who makes some miscues as long as the text makes
sense (Bell, 1998, para. 12).
Strategy 3: Skip and Go On: Occasionally,
the beginning reader needs to skip a word he or she doesn’t know and then try
to figure out what that word is from its context (Bell, 1998, para. 14).
Strategy 4: Predict to Make
Sense: Try
covering up a word that a struggling reader can’t read and ask him or her to
predict a word that makes sense by using picture cues, previous context, and
phonetics (Bell, 1998, para. 17-19).
Strategy 5: Help struggling readers by employing a modified Cloze procedure: Block out words that might
predict a problem word’s meaning, replacing them with blanks (Bell, 1998, para.
20-21).
Strategy 6: Try using a
line marker: Use
a line marker like an index card, thus forcing the reader to focus on phrases
or chunks of meaning (Bell, 1998, para. 22-23).
Strategy 7: Experiment
with retelling the story: At an appropriate stopping
point, ask the reader to retell a narrative or summarize a nonfiction
passage. He or she might also make
predictions about that the text will mention next. Both the struggling reader’s retelling and his or her predicting what will happen next will help the proficient reader determine if a struggling reader has
understood what he or she was reading (Bell, 1998, para. 22-24).
Strategy 8: Inspire readers to love poetry and
narrative with a responsive reading: Ask the reader to write
about the parts of the story or poem he or she likes best or least, what he or
she would do as the protagonist, or what the reader would like to ask the
author about the text (Bell, 1998, para. 25-26).
Strategy 9: Review
by rereading: Ask the reader to read parts
of a previously read text that he or she feels comfortable with as a warm-up activity
(Bell, 1998, para. 27).
Strategy 10: Emphasize
that reading is fun: Provide the beginning reader
with lots of fun poetry, joke, and riddle books (Bell, 1998, para. 28).
Strategy 11: Incorporate writing and
reading into a total language experience: Share
aloud what a reader has written about what he or she has written (Bell, 1998,
para. 29).
Strategy 12: Help
struggling readers by trying echo reading and partner reading: In echo reading, the less
proficient reader re-reads out loud what a more proficient reader has already
read aloud. In partner reading, a less proficient reader is paired up with a
more proficient reader (Bell, 1998, para. 31-32).
Strategy 13: Since
performance reinforces memory, help
children to enjoy reading to others: Children and young
adults can reader to an audience, for example, younger children, nursing home
residents, or in a reading theater (Bell, 1998, para. 32).
Strategy 14: Use Sustained Silent Reading to reinforce skills learned by reading aloud. [Admittedly,
SSR is often an over-used technique when not combined with other tactics or
performed without a goal in mind]: Use
SSR to acquaint readers with a wide variety of genres and reading materials
(Bell, 1998, para. 33-34).
Strategy 15: Don’t forget to enhance listening and
note-taking skills by assigning a written conversation: Partners
carry out an interview in writing [For middle school or high school students, this
technique can serve as an online homework assignment or as a permitted texting
activity in class].
Strategy 16: Help children learn how to study by previewing a text: Look
at pictures, graphs, charts, and chapter questions before reading a chapter
(Bell, 1998, para. 36).
Strategy 17: Use reading to reinforce writing skills
by assigning journal writing: Readers journal about what
they have read, highlighting their likes and dislikes. Note: This technique easily combines with
reading aloud to an audience (Bell, 1998, para. 37).
Finally,
remember that the only way to improve literacy skills is to constantly reading
and writing; and that the more a reader reads, the better writer he or she will
be (Bell, 1998, para. 39-41).
Burns,
Judith. (2013, September 16). Keep reading with your children, parents
urged. News. Education & Family. BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/education-24116088
Although
educators urge parents to continue reading to their children throughout
elementary school, 44 percent of all British parents rarely read aloud to their
children once they reach age seven.
However, “reading for pleasure is vital” (Burns, 2013, September 16,
para. 1-4).
Parents
need to select readings from a variety of literary genres, choosing to read
aloud not only from books but also from newspapers and magazines, taking turns
with their children to read aloud, even if only for ten minutes daily, for doing
so six days a week equals out to an extra hour of one-on-one tutoring in
reading. Moreover, children who read
outside of class are 13 times more likely to read above grade level and make
better grades in math and English than those who rarely read outside of school
(Burns, 2013, September 16, para. 5).
Note: The Children’s Reading
Foundation recommends reading aloud to all children from infants through
elementary school for 20 minutes daily every day, including summer vacation (For Families, n. d., para. 10).
____________
For Families. (n. d.). Children’s Reading Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.readingfoundation.org/parents.jsp
This Web page provides links that provide specific
directions for helping parents equip babies, toddlers, preschoolers (age 3 and
4), and early elementary school children with the pre-reading skills and the
reading skills they need.
Independent
or voluntary reading that middle and high school students select for their own
enjoyment correlates with success in school.
Those students who frequently read as a leisure activity score higher on
achievement tests and master more general content knowledge (Cullinan, 2000,
pp. 2-3). However, their academic success begins very early in life since
preschoolers who learn to read before entering elementary school are daily read
to, have a significant other who patiently answers their questions, and already
like to write or draw. Thus, the amount
of time these youngsters spend with books directly influences their reading
comprehensive skills not only at age 7 but also at age 11 (Cullinan, 2000, pp.
4-5).
Pre-reading
skills usually come from interaction with parents because day care centers are
more likely to emphasize discipline and self-control than literacy. Day care and preschool programs that
concentrate on teaching pre-reading skills feature adults who frequently lead reading aloud and prewriting activities, and not only are books always available, they are “unavoidable” (Cullinan, 2000, pp. 5
& 6). Even so, children whose
parents or caregivers consistently and regularly talked to them while they when
about their daily activities were even more likely to be above-average readers
(Cullinan, 2000, pp. 6). Moreover,
gifted and talented students were more likely to be read to daily, have books
and reading materials in their homes, and go to the library more than once
monthly (Cullinan, 2000, p. 6).
From
first grade through high school, the amount of time they spend in independent
reading between second and fifth grade influences their reading
performance: The more they continue to
read outside of school, and they were read to, the better they scored on reading
tests (Cullinan, 2000, p. 6). Accordingly, proficient middle school readers
spend more time engaging in recreational reading than those who struggle with
reading (Culinan, 2000, p. 6).
Although
independent reading in mid-adolescence dips, but increases in the junior and
senior year of high school, and some evidence exists that light reading serves
as a stepping stone to reading that enables higher-level thinking skills
(Culinan, 2000, p. 8). However,
unfortunately, not reading during the summer means that many lower level
readers lose from six months to up to a year reading performance skills during
the three months they aren’t in school if they don’t read regularly during the
summer (Cullinan, 2000, p. 8).
Hasbrouck,
Jan. (2014). Developing fluent
readers. Reading Rockets. Retrieved
from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/27176
Before
discussing some remedial programs for struggling readers, Jan Hasbrouck notes
that contemporary research confirms that giving school-age children the
opportunity to read and read passages several times, modeling this reading
aloud, and furnishing as in guided practice eventually turns beginning readers
into fluent readers. Hasbrouck then
explains a variety of reading aloud techniques that increase reading fluency in
elementary-school children starting in second grade as well as young adult
readers (2014, para. 2-3).
Children
at first, however, need to focus on accurately reading words before working on
their reading speed—a transition that usually takes place about the middle of
first grade. At this point parents and
teacher can model fluent reading by reading aloud, showing children how to read
“at a reasonable rate and with good phrasing, intonation, and expression” (Hasbrouck,
2014, para. 4-6). Once students read at
the second-grade level, a variety of oral reading techniques can help readers
who read at any level perfect their reading skills (Hasbrouck, 2014, para. 7);
1) In
choral reading, the entire group reads at the leader’s pace, so individual
readers receive the benefit of a role model while also joining in reading aloud. This method works best if the chorus members
use an index card or finger to keep their place in the text as they read
together.
2) In Cloze
reading, a teacher [or parent] reads most of the passage, but he or she leaves
out the pre-selected vocabulary words, so his or her audience needs to
fill-in-the-blanks.
3)
A teacher [or parent] can also pair reading
partners, often placing weaker readers with stronger ones. The stronger reader [or the older sibling]
reads the text first, and the weaker reader [or younger brother or sister]
rereads it.
(Hasbrouck, 2014, para.
8-16).
Other
read aloud activities for middle school and high school students include taking
part in a reader’s theater or poetry readings (Hasbrouck, 2014, para. 17).
Korbey,
Holly. (2013, May 14). Why reading aloud
to older children is valuable. Mind/Shift. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/05/why-reading-aloud-to-older-children-is-valuable/
Reading
aloud to middle [or high school] students—whether from Shakespeare’s plays or
Dickensian novels—provides both academic and emotional benefits, according to
Jim Trelease, author of the Read Aloud
Handbook (1979) (Korbey, 2013, May 14, para. 1-3). Sine reading levels don’t catch up to
listening levels until readers master the eighth-grade level, older children
and young adults who haven’t reached this level of fluency can understand
passages they can’t “decode” themselves if a fluent reader reads them aloud
(Korbey, 2013, May 14, para. 4).
Reading aloud also enhances motivation, interest, and engagement in
literature and lets tweens and young adults know that some really good
literature lies down the road while it allows younger-aged and dyslexic readers
“broaden the menu” of works they can understand and enjoy (Korbey, 2013, May
14, para. 6 & 8-12).
Marshall,
Pam. (n. d.). Reading comprehension tips for parents—strategies you can useat home. K12
Reader. Retrieved from http://www.k12reader.com/reading-comprehension-tip-for-parents-%E2%80%93-strategies-you-can-use-at-home/
Learning
how to read effectively takes more practice [and one-on-one attention] than a
teacher can devote to it in school, so parents needs to step up and fill this
gap as well as nurture a lifetime love for reading (Marshall, n. d., para.
1-2). However, before reading a new
story, mom or dad or a teacher or librarian needs to lay some groundwork, for example, bringing up the
topic that the book will discuss and previewing the text for unfamiliar words
before starting to read (Marshall, n. d., para. 5-6). Then he or she might enrich this experience
by ensuring that the child sees concrete examples of the concepts the book
discusses. For example, a book about
fish might occasion a trip to an aquarium [or the local pet store] (Marshall,
n. d., para. 8).
Moreover,
reading a book to a child [whether he or she is a preschooler or a child in
elementary school] shouldn’t stop at simply reading the text since mom or dad
needs to think aloud, explaining and commenting upon the pictures and
texts. Parent and child can also take
turns reading or retelling the text of a favorite book (Marshall, n. d., para.
11). Of course, parents also need to
supply their children with books they will enjoy. Thus, boys usually enjoy
reading about scary stories, sports, and science fiction while most girls also
like stories about animals, fairy tales, and books like the Babysitting Club series (Marshall, n.
d., para. 12).
Shanahan,
Timothy. (2006). The National Reading
Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers.
(2006). New York: Learning Point.
Retrieved from http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/nationalreading.pdf
Reading
aloud in the form of paired or one-on-one instruction rather than the now
disfavored “round robin” reading instruction where each child in class took his
or her turn reading aloud is necessary to achieve competency in silent reading. Indeed, one-on-one tutoring has become the
gold standard of reading instruction (Shanahan, 2006, para. 13).
Supporting
your beginning reader. (2008). International Reading Association. Retrieved from http://www.reading.org/Libraries/parents/pb1071_support.pdf
Learning
how to read and write shouldn’t be limited to the classroom, for parents and
caretakers can provide children with many opportunities to support their
classroom learning, for example, nightly family discussions at the dinner
table, trip to museums, word games [and card and board games], and family
projects (Supporting your beginning reader, 2008, para. 1-2).
Reading
aloud together daily provides children with an emotionally secure environment
to develop their reading skills, so mom and dad should continue to read aloud
books their children enjoy even after they learn to read, answering any
questions the story prompts, and talking and asking questions about the story
along the way. After the story is
finished, parents can then encourage their children to write about it, or have
them retell the story in their own words, or allow them to reread parts of the
story themselves (Supporting your beginning reader, 2008, para. 3).
Although
listening to the same favorite story many times might frustrate parents, this
is an important step in learning to read as children memorize sight words. Parents should also encourage their
children’s attempts at reading, exploring the sounds the letters make as well
as looking at the visual clues that picture books provide (Supporting your
beginning reader, 2008, para. 4).
Since
choosing appropriate books is an important part of supporting a beginning
reader, pick rhyming books with clear illustrations that children show a
particular interest in reading.
Routinely ask other parents and teachers for their recommendations as
well as checking out award-winning books online (http://www.reading.org) and exploring
children’s version of literary genres, for example, fiction, non-fiction, and
biography (Supporting your beginning reader, 2008, para. 5).
Take
advantage of the local library’s reading program, story hours, and resources,
providing each child with his or her own library card. Going to the library will allow children they
are particularly interested in, even though parents and grandparents should
also give their children books on their birthdays, holidays, and other special
occasions (Supporting your beginning reader, 2008, para. 6).
Additionally,
the Web also furnishes some helpful resources for parents of beginning readers:
Parent
Resources. (2014). International Reading Association. Retrieved from
The
International Reading Association provides a bibliography of books for kids as
well as several PDF “brochures” supporting beginning readers.
Parent
& afterschool resources.
(2014). Read Write Think. Retrieved
from
Users
can search language arts resources by grade and activity find online games and
tools, turn to tips and how to links for advice and select print outs, and
listen to podcasts.
Literacy
resources. (n. d.). Reading Is Fundamental. Library of Congress. Retrieved
Literacy
resources include monthly activity calendars, summer reading fun, and RIF story
samplers while booklists provide Caldecott and Newbury winners as well as
multicultural and young adult books. A bilingual
page also provides literacy support for users who speak Spanish as their first
language.
Reading Rockets.
(2014). WETA Public Broadcasting.
Retrieved from
Reading Rockets
offers parents and teachers classroom strategies, reading blogs, articles and
research, news on reading, ad articles about growing young readers. It also provides access to literacy apps,
links that pinpoint particular reading problems, FAQS about reading, podcasts,
and the PBS KIDS Lab.
Teaching
phonetics at home. (2014). Scholastic.com. Retrieved from
Phonics,
or knowing that letters represent the sound of letters, offers beginning
readers strategies to use when sounding out words (Teaching phonetics, 2014,
para. 2). Although a parent ultimately
wants to ensure that the beginning reader develops reading comprehension
skills, children who are just starting to read must eventually be able to
understand what they read automatically (Teaching phonetics, 2014, para.
3).
Preschool,
kindergarten, and first grade teachers present phonetic concepts systematically
and sequentially, giving young readers lots of practice. However, parents can support this process at
home through the following tactics:
- Asking teachers how they can improve their child’s phonetic skills;
- Daily listening to the beginning reader, helping sound out words;
- Reading aloud to the child;
- Enhancing his or her comprehension by asking questions about the text;
- Rereading familiar books;
- Providing the beginning reader with plenty of books and magazines;
- Frequently visiting libraries and bookstores together.
(Teaching phonetics, 2014,
para. 4-5)
Teaching
reading comprehension to struggling readers.
(n. d.). Reading Lady.
Retrieved
from http://www.readinglady.com.mosaic/tools/
This
excerpt from an education master’s thesis emphasizes that promoting home
reading is an essential part of teaching at risk readers, who should read as a
leisure activity at least 30 minutes every day. Preschool children who are read
to three or more times weekly are more likely to have the reading readiness
skills that will allow them to excel in school than children who aren’t
regularly read aloud to, although the mother’s educational level and the
family’s socio-economic status strongly influence how often an adult reads to
preschool children (Teaching Reading Comprehension, n. d., para. 9-10).
Early
intervention programs that promote independent reading include attending story
time hours at the public library as well as parent and child programs, and book
related activities (Teaching Reading Comprehension, n. d., para. 9). Lower-income children also often experience a
reading slump when the emphasis changes from learning to read to reading to
learn (Teaching Reading Comprehension, n. d., para. 11).
Even
so, reluctant readers in late elementary school as well as middle school and
high school are more likely to become regular recreational readers if parents
and teachers provide them with books they enjoy reading as well as by
scheduling activities that promote reading, including reading theater
productions, participating in poetry coffee shops, choral readings, and book
club discussions, listening to accomplished readers model reading, and reading aloud as well as silently in
pairs (Teaching Reading Comprehension, n. d., para. 32-62).
Tips
for reading aloud with elementary school children (ages 5-12). (2007, July 26). Education.com.
Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Tips_Reading_School/
Read aloud so
elementary-age children can associate reading
with pleasure,
build listening skills, expand their vocabularies, learn about character,
setting, and plot, gain exposure to different literary genres, and become more
skilled independent readers (Tips, 2007, para. 1).
Choose books that
elementary-school children like, so they can reread them on their own, expand their
vocabulary and attention spans, monitor their own behavior, identify with a
world beyond their own experiences, and begin to pay attention to current
events (Tips, 2007, para. 2).
Try these read-aloud
tips:
- Set the stage before reading: previewing the reading selection;
- Ask questions and then take turns reading aloud;
- Postpone answering questions about the story to the end of the reading session;
- As necessary, summarize, adapt or skip parts of selections that would otherwise be above a child’s current reading level;
- Relate current reading to past reading;
- Discuss and summarize last night’s reading session;
- Stop reading at the climax of a story or chapter;
- Listeners can then discover the rest of the story on their own and discuss it later.
(Tips, 2012, para. 3)
____________
Reading Aloud &
Independent Reading: Expert Advice in Print
| Both daily reading aloud and independent reading are necessary to develop proficiency in reading. |
Allen,
Janet. (2000). Yellow Brick Roads: Shared
and Guided Paths to Independent Reading. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.
Allen
outlines solutions and gives tips that help teachers understand the obstacles
that get in the way of reading and helps them rethink and reorganize their time
and resources.
Miller,
Debbie & Moss Barbara. (2013). No
More Independent Reading Without Support. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
This
quick read argues that independent, sustained silent reading improves reading
skills only if it is purposeful.
Morgan,
Denise & Mraz, Maryann, et al. Independent Reading Practical Strategies for Grades
K-3. New York: Guilford Press.
Morgan
and Mraz present “class-tested strategies” for encouraging independent reading
include creating and organizing a classroom library and developing memory reading
as they justify and provide the schemata for this instructional practice.
Moss,
Barbara & Young, Terrell. (2010).
Creating Lifelong Readers Through Independent
Reading. Newark,
Delaware: International Reading Association.
Moss
and Terrell offer specific proposals for developing an independent reading
program, some of which the reader can found in Chapter 3, which the
International Reading Association has placed online:
Moss,
Barbara & Young, Terrell. (2010). Structuring Independent Reading
Experiencesfrom Creating Lifelong Readers Through Independent Reading. International Reading Association, pp.
68-92. Retrieved from http://www.reading.org/Libraries/books/bk688-3-Moss.pdf
In
this chapter, Moss and Young argue that Silent Sustained Reading models are
changing based on the premise that both children and teachers, or presumably
parents need to be both be held accountable for what the children read during
independent reading time (Moss, 2010, 68-69).
This accountability includes motivational activities during a “community
reading time”, interactive reading aloud, and preparation on the point of the
adult before children begin their independent reading while the children also need to share what
they have read (Moss, 2010, 70-74). Additionally, a teacher, parent, or an
adult mentor needs to occasionally hold an informal reading conference, asking
question to determine if the child has met his or her reading goal and if he
understands what he or she is reading (Moss, 2010, pp. 84-85).
Along
the way, Moss and Young share a Website that allows children to listen to books
online (http://en.childrenslibrary.org),
so if a beginning reader or a foreign language student wants to read a
children’s book in Farsi, Mongolian, Yiddish, or French, this is an excellent
resource. Additionally, Moss and Young point
out two Websites that focus on reviewing children’s books. The
Spaghetti Book Club allows children to write their own book reviews Online
while an adult reviewer reviews the books on Kidsreads:
The
Spaghetti Book Club: Book Reviews by Kids for Kids. (2014). Happy
Medium Productions.com. Retrieved
from http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/index.shtml
Users
can search by titles, reviewers (the reviewer’s age appears by his or her name),
authors, and schools.
Kidsread.
(2014). The Book Report. Retrieved
from http://www.kidsread.com
Users
can find book reviews by title, author, genre, and date.
(Moss, 2010, pp. 74 &
78)
Robb,
Laura. (2007). Teaching Reading with
Think Aloud Lessons. New York:Scholastic Reading Resources.
This
flip chart spiral book helps class helps readers infer, pose questions, make
connections, and understand cause and effect—all reading skills that are
necessary to succeed in independent and silent reading.
Serafini,
Frank & Giorgis Cyndy. (2003).
Reading Aloud and Beyond: Fostering the Intellectual
Life with Older Readers.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann (Ages
7-11).
Serafini
and Giorgis argue that reading aloud is just as important for older elementary
school and middle school students as it is in preschool and grades kindergarten
through third grade since it supports their development as readers and writers
and improves their reading skills.
Seravallo,
Jennifer. (2010). Teaching Reading in
Small Groups: Differentiated Instruction
for Building Strategic Readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. (Ages 6-11).
Seravallo
relies on her own experience to help teachers effectively group students in
guided reading groups—a step that will help them move to independent reading.
Slater,
Rosalie. (1991). 2nd ed. A Family Program
for Reading Aloud. Chesapeake, Virginia: Foundation for
American Christian Education.
Slater
reviews 200 literary classics, tying them into faith-based, biblical ideas.
Trelease,
Jim. (2013). The Read Aloud Handbook. 7th ed.
New York: Penguin.
This
read aloud classic reveals techniques and strategies for helping teachers and
parents read aloud to children.
Witter,
Maddie & Levin, David. (2013). Reading Without Limits. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Supplemented
by a Web site (http://reading-without-limits.com/),
this text offers reading strategies that conform to Common Core standards.
____________
Collections of Read Aloud
Stories
| Parents, librarians, and teachers can find classic and well-loved stories in anthologies of read-aloud stories. |
Read-Aloud Poems for Young People: Readings from the World’s Best Loved Verse. (1997). Ed. Glorya
Hale. New York: Black Dog &
Leventhal Publishers.
Hale
organizes these well-known poems by theme—nature, family, childhood,
friendship, patriotism, earth and sky, humor, and longer narratives. Included in this collections are poems by
famous British and American poets from the Renaissance through the twentieth
century, including Shakespeare, Blake, Tennyson, Keats, Browning, Shelley,
Burns, Rossetti, Dickinson, Frost, Hughes, and Angelou.
One Hundred and One Read Aloud
Classics—Ten Minute Readings from the World’s Best
Loved Children’s Books. (2009). New York: Tess Press.
Ten-minute
readings include excerpts from Pippi
Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables,
The Wizard of Oz, Little Women,
and The Hobbit while young listeners
can learn to appreciate such diverse authors as C. S. Lewis, E. B. White, Charles
Dickens, T. S. Eliot, and John Steinbeck.
Schulman,
Janet. (1998). The 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury: Picture
Books and Stories
to Read Aloud. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers.
This
anthology is a great book to take on a trip since it contains a large selection
of admittedly condensed well-beloved children stories. Although much of the illustrations are
missing, children can enjoy listening to such works as Where the Wild Things Are, Alexander
and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Madeline, Curious George,
Make Way for Ducklings, and Goodnight Moon.
____________
Free Resources & Reading Lists
This
Public Broadcasting Website provides online game, stories, and videos for
preschool and kindergarten children.
Book
It Program. (2013). Pizza Hut. Retrieved
from http://www.bookitprogram.com/parents/
This
Pizza Hut sponsored Web site supports literacy programs and provides helpful
resources for parents and teachers.
Best
books for teens. (2014). Library
Spot. Retrieved from http://www.libraryspot.com/features/teenreadinglists.htm
Devoted
exclusively to young adult readers, Best
Books for Teens provides links to “Winning Titles”, “Teen Top 10 Books”, TeenReads.com, and “Reading Rants”.
Brown,
David K. (2014). CLWG: Children Literature Web Guide. Doucette Library ofTeaching Resources. University of Calgary. Retrieved from http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html
The
Children Literature Web Guide is an all-inclusive site that provides discussion
boards, quick references for children’s books and teaching ideas, and links to
authors and stories of the Web, reader’s theater, lists of books, journals, and
book reviews, and resources for parents, teachers, story tellers, writers and
illustrators, Internet discussion groups, children’s literature organizations,
and children’s book publishers and booksellers.
Callahan,
Rachael. (2014, May 24). The read aloud challenge. Grasping
forObjectivity
in My Subjective Life.
Retrieved from http://www.graspingforobjectivity.com/2012/05/read-aloud.html
A
32-year-old mom commits to reading aloud 101 chapter books for
elementary-school age children. She is
now at 215 books (and counting). Links
take the reader to Amazon.com.
The
Children’s Book Council Website provides news on literacy as well as reviews of
newly published books.
Helping
your child become a reader. (n. d.). U.
S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/reader/index.html
Website
provides advice and activities promoting early literacy skills as well as a
bibliography of well-known children’s books, magazines, computer programs, and
Websites.
Users
can select out-of –copyright books from around the world by language, age, and
length as well as selecting from picture or chapter books.
Otis,
Rebecca. (2014). Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Site. Books in the Classroom. http://www.carolhurst.com
Carol
Hurst’s Children Literature Site provides curriculum area recommendations,
themes by subject, professional pedagogical resources, reviews of children’s
books, and a regular newsletter.
Practice:
One-on-one and small group tutoring. (n.
d.). Afterschool training kit. SEDL National Center for Quality
Afterschool. [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/toolkits/literacy/pr_tutoring.html
Website
includes video for modeling a one-on-one or small group tutoring session as
well as tips on planning lessons, sample lessons, and links to web resources as
well as links to tutorial instruction on teaching home study skills and math.
Although
Reading a-z is a fee-based site, it offers some free samples and a free trial.
Teenreads
features young adult book news, blogs, contests, and reviews.
Young
Adult Library Service Association. (YALSA). (2014). Quick pics for reluctantyoung adult readers.
American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/yalsa/quick-picks-reluctant-young-adult-readers
YALSA
provides links to several young adult reading lists. These short annotated bibliographies also
provide an ISBN number and book price.
____________
English as a Second
Language Online Reading Resources
 |
| Parents can use these ESL resources at home to help their children to succeed in school work. |
The
whole family can practice their language skills when they read aloud, and
everyone can become bilingual when they take turns reading aloud.
ColorÃn Colorado. (2014).
Reading Rockets. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/
This web site bills itself as “a bilingual
[Spanish/English] website for families and educators of English language
learners”.
ESL
Kids Stuff. (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.eslkidstuff.com
Adult ESL students might also benefit from this
Website that furnishes lessons, flash
cards, work sheets, and song downloads as well as teacher resources, games and
activities and ESL online games.
Membership costs $25 to join, but some materials are free.
Family
Reading Partnership. (2012).
Retrieved from http://www.familyreading.org/
Help! They Don’t Speak English Starter
Kit for Teachers of Young Adults. (1993, June).
Eastern Stream Center on
Resources and Training. Sate University
of New York at Oneonta. Retrieved from http://employees.oneonta.edu/thomasrl/YaPart1.pdf
The English Starter Kit focuses on teaching adult ESL
students survival English by helping them internalize the language as they
learn what they need to know. The text
ends by offering a sample lesson sequence that approximates the first year
textbook in any foreign language class.
Tankersley,
Karen. (2014). Literacy strategies for
grades 4-12. Books. ASCD. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104428/chapters/The-Struggling-Reader.aspx
Since children who don’t achieve reading proficiency by
third grade need between 150 to 300 hours of intensive instruction over a
three-year-period to catch up, older struggling readers first need to start at
the beginning mastering phonemes, word families, prefixes, and suffixes, before
moving on to dissecting the text:
Discovering a word’s context, Isolating its prefix, separating the
suffix, saying the stem, examining the stem, checking the answer by asking for
help, and finally trying looking it up in a dictionary (Tankersley, 2014, para
65). Tankersley also provides several
English as a Second Language Websites that might prove helpful for anyone
learning to read English:
Erichsen,
Gerald. (2013, February). Which online
translator is best? Spanish Language. About.com.
Retrieved from http://spanish.about.com/od/onlinetranslation/a/online-translation.htm
While the English Starter Kit (1994) advocates using
Freetranslation.com, Erichsen compares five translation websites—Google
Translate, Bing Translator, Babylon, PROMT, and FreeTranslation.com—and ranks
them from best to worse depending on three test runs. Google and Bing on
average are the most proficient translators.
Google Translate: https://translate.google.com/
Bing Translator: http://www.bing.com/translator/
Bing Translator: http://www.bing.com/translator/
____________
For the very best in recently published children's books, go to the following Website:
Association for Library Service for Children (ALSC). (2014). Notable Children's Books. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb
____________
Other blog pages in the Ways to Improve Your Child’s Grades
series:
| Give your child the will to succeed in school! |
Make sure your child has a regular bedtime and enough
sleep. Ways to Improve Your Child’s
Grades. (2014, January 18). Retrieved
from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/01/ten-ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades.html
Limit and Monitor the Use of Social Media: How Social
Media Influences Academic Success. (17 February 2014; revised 2015, January 6).
Retrieved from https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6180686702778716801#editor/target=post;postID=7228483845226909971;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=34;src=postname
Make sure your child participates in aerobic exercise
daily: Students who regularly exercise
make better grades. (2014, March 8). http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/03/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades-3-of.html
Give your child social skills training: Teaching manners and social skills doesn’t
stop at age seven. (2014, July 18). Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grade-5-of.html
Teach your child
time management skills: Perfect your
child’s time management skills. (2015, February 6). Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2015/02/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades-6-of.html
Give your child social skills training: Teaching manners and social skills doesn’t
stop at age seven. (2014, July 18). Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grade-5-of.html
No comments:
Post a Comment