Roberts Elementary

SIMPLE STRATEGIES FOR CREATING STRONG READERS

Without doubt, reading with children spells success for early literacy. Putting a few simple strategies into action will make a significant difference in helping children develop into good readers and writers. Through reading aloud, providing print materials, and promoting positive attitudes about reading and writing, you can have a powerful impact on children's literacy and learning.

 Invite a child to read with you every day.

 When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help the child learn that reading goes from left to right and understand that the word he or she says is the word he or she sees.

 Read a child's favorite book over and over again.

 Read many stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat. Invite the child to join in on these parts. Point, word by word, as he or she reads along with you.

 Discuss new words. For example, "This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?"

 Stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening in the story.

 Read from a variety of children's books, including fairy tales, song books, poems, and information books. Reading well is at the heart of all learning. Children who can't read well, can't learn. Help make a difference for a child.

THE FIVE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF READING

Reading with children and helping them practice specific reading components can dramatically improve their ability to read. Scientific research shows that there are five essential components of reading that children must be taught in order to learn to read. Adults can help children learn to be good readers by systematically practicing these five components:

 Recognizing and using individual sounds to create words, or phonemic awareness.

Children need to be taught to hear sounds in words and that words are made up of the smallest parts of sound, or phonemes.

 Understanding the relationships between written letters and spoken sounds,or phonics.

Children need to be taught the sounds individual printed letters and groups of letters make. Knowing the relationships between letters and sounds helps children to recognize familiar words accurately and automatically, and "decode" new words.

 Developing the ability to read a text accurately and quickly, or reading fluency.

Children must learn to read words rapidly and accurately in order to understand what is read. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. When fluent readers read aloud, they read effortlessly and with expression. Readers who are weak in fluency read slowly, word by word, focusing on decoding words instead of comprehending meaning.

 Learning the meaning and pronunciation of words, or vocabulary development. Children need to actively build and expand their knowledge of written and spoken words, what they mean and how they are used.

 Acquiring strategies to understand, remember and communicate what is read, or reading comprehension strategies. Children need to be taught comprehension strategies, or the steps good readers use to make sure they understand text. Students who are in control of their own reading comprehension become purposeful, active readers.

Resources

The following are some online resources for parents to help them to teach their child to read:

http://www.sfreading.com/resources/familytimesonline.html

http://www.peel.edu.on.ca/parents/tips/num-index.htm

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/tablek.html

http://www.colorincolorado.org/

http://www.readingrockets.org/

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkBrown/rparent.html

http://math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org/index.html

http://www.greatschools.net/content/specialNeeds.page

http://nationalserviceresources.org/files/legacy/filemanager/download/716/tipsforparents.pdf

http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/details.jsp?parent_id=383&page_id=387

http://www.rif.org/parents/

http://www.parenting-resources.com/free_parenting_resources.htm

http://www.schoolfamily.com/

http://www.trcabc.com/resources/parents-corner/helping-your-child-learn-to-read/

http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/reluctantreaders/a/reluctantreader.htm

http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/learread.html