Helping Children Learn to
Read
P r e - s c h
o o l
T h r o u g h G
r a d e
T h r e e
TRUTH: SUCCESS
IN SCHOOL STARTS WITH
READING
When children enter school
"familiar with reading," they almost always become good readers
in the early grades and are far more likely to become better learners
throughout their school years and beyond.
But learning to read can be hard for children
- especially if they have not been given important daily learning
experiences
in their first five years.
That's why it's so important for children to have a
range
of daily, age-appropriate learning experiences in their first five
years. If that occurs, learning to read
becomes a much easier skill to acquire. You can help children
"naturally" learn to read over time (just as they learn to walk and
talk) with daily
practice and encouragement.
Key grown-ups in young children's lives - parents
and other family members, child care providers, child care and Head
Start
teachers, and nursery school teachers - need to help children enter
school
with the necessary skills to learn to read well. Teachers
in kindergarten, first
grade, second grade, and third grade (along with parents and
after-school
child care providers) can then build on these early skills to help
children
become successful, proficient readers.
You can help children
develop important
pre-reading and reading skills, including learning to -
 use
language in conversation
listen
and respond to stories read aloud
recognize
and name the letters of the alphabet
listen
to the sounds of spoken language
connect
sounds to letters to figure out the "code" of reading
read
often so that recognizing words becomes easy
learn
and use new words
understand
what is read
Do
you want more specifics? Here's how you can help your young child
-
Read
to your children every day, Spend time talking about stories,
pictures,
and words. Read with expression. And choose books your children
will
enjoy! Create happy, warm, enjoyable times so children look
forward
to books and reading with enjoyment and interest.
Share
conversations with young children over meal times and throughout
the day and evening. Children learn words more easily when they hear
them
spoken often. Introduce new and interesting (and relevant) words
at every opportunity.
Be
a reader and a writer. Children learn habits from the people
around
them.
Teach
the letters of the alphabet. Help children learn to recognize
letter
names and shapes by talking about them, pointing to them, and
encouraging
their early attempts to write and draw them.
Help
children learn and use new words.
Practice
the sounds of language. Read books with rhymes. Teach your
children rhymes, short poems, and songs. Play simple word games,
"How many words can you make up that sound like the word 'bat'?"
Help
children take spoken words apart and put them together. Provide
opportunities
for children to practice the sounds that make up words. Help
children
separate the sounds in words, listen for beginning and ending sounds,
and
put separate sounds together. (Young children can start with the
beginning
sound of familiar words and understand that the word "cat" begins with
a "k" sound, "dog" begins with a "d" sound, etc. Then children
can
progress to understand that the word "cat"
has a "k" - "a" - "t" sound
which, when put together, sounds like and makes up the word "cat".)
Practice
the alphabet by pointing out letters whenever you see them and by
reading
alphabet books - helping children name the letters (upper and lower
case)
and the sound each letter makes.
As
your children begin to read some words, here's how you can help -
Continue
to read with your children each and every day. And continue to
make
new and interesting books available to children - with multiple
opportunities
each day for children to look at, read, and enjoy books and story-times.
Continue
to systematically teach phonics - how sounds and letters are related.
Give
children the opportunity to practice the letter-sound relationships
they are
learning. Practice sounds and letters by reading easy books that
use words with the letter-sound relationships they are learning.
Help
children write the letter-sound relationships they know by using them
in
words, sentences, messages, and their own stories.
Show
children ways to think about and understand what they are reading. Ask
children questions to show them how to think about the meaning of what
you and they are reading.
Point
out the letter-sound relationships your children are learning (using
labels,
boxes, newspapers, magazines, and signs).
Listen
to your children read words and books. Be patient and listen as
your
child practices. Let your children know you are proud that they
are
learning to read.
As
your children become more able to read, here's how you can help -
Continue
to read with your children each and every day. There are hundreds of
"new"
books that your children will enjoy - available at bookstores and at
your
local library. Continue to provide familiar books and new books
to
keep reading enjoyable and interesting.
Encourage
your children to reread familiar books - both silently (to themselves)
and aloud (to you, to their stuffed animals, etc.). Children need
practice in reading comfortably and with expression using books they
know.
Build
reading accuracy. As each child reads aloud, gently point out
words he or
she missed and help him or her to read the words correctly. If
you
stop to focus on a word, have a child reread the whole sentence to be
sure
he or she understands the meaning.
Build
reading comprehension. Talk with children about what they are
reading.
Ask about new words. Talk about what happened in the story.
Ask about the characters, places, and events that took place. Ask
what new information he or she has learned from the book.
Continue
to teach letter-sound relationships for children who need more
practice.
Teach
the meanings of words, especially words that are important to
understanding
a book.
Teach
ways to learn the meaning of new words. Teach children how to use
dictionaries to learn word meanings, how to use known words and word
parts
to figure out other words, and how to get clues (context clues) from
the
rest of the sentence and pictures.
Help
children understand what they are reading. Good readers think as
they read and they know whether what they are reading is making
sense.
Help children to check their understanding. When children are
having
difficulty, show them ways to figure out the meaning of what they are
reading.
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