Beginning Reading Help: June 2010

Sunday

Leading To Reading Has Stories, Songs, and Games for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

I highly recommend Leading to Reading. The site is free. You'll find early reading resources for parents in addition to stories, songs, and games for children!

RIF or Reading is Fundamental provides funds for this amazing site. You can learn more about RIF here.

Here are a few of my favorites from the site:
Early Reading Resources for Parents: Does it matter how I read aloud to my child?, What can I do to help my child develop a rich vocabulary?, and more.
Lullabies: All the Stars in the Sky, Tomorrow's a Dream World Away, and more.
Nursery Rhymes: There Was a Little Turtle, Wee Willie Winkie, and more.
A Game for Babies: Peek a Boo The key needs to stay pressed for the door to open completely.
Finger Plays: I'm a Little Teapot, Head and Shoulders, Open, Shut Them, and more.
Stories for Babies and Toddlers: Sleepytime Rhyme, Babies Learn How, and more.
Stories for Preschoolers: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, House For Sale, and more.
Songs: You're Adorable, If I Were a Little Fish in the Sea, and more.
Explore Facts: Blowfish, Elephants, and more.

Check out Leading to Reading's Main Page to explore this site for yourself.

Tuesday

The Student I Planned to Tutor this Summer is Moving Next Week

I've made a few posts about a student I have been tutoring this summer. He only came for three sessions. His family has been in and out of town preparing to move out of state. I feel like we made some progress. I encouraged the family to check with a local librarian for some early reader books once they move.

I've given my student's mom this blog address. I'm not sure if she has the time or energy to search through my blog. She hasn't yet. This motivates me even more to write a book for parents with simple advice and book recommendations.

My student loved the whole language Brand New Readers Red Set books I sent home with him two weeks ago. His favorite story was The Big Fish. He was giggling as he retold the story to me. I sent home some phonics books from Starfall and Nora Gaydos for home practice. He also had some early reader books I've collected from used book stores. A few books got lost in the moving process, but it was worth it. He spent some time reading the books. Maybe he'll remember more of what I taught him once he finds them. I wish I had more time with him.

The school system in our town has a balanced literacy approach. This student's approach to reading reminds me of my daughter's early approach. He knows many common sight words, uses picture clues, and sometimes reads words that make sense but don't match the letters in the words. He wants to read without using the letters to help him. He hasn't learned enough phonics to be able to decode and read words.

Some sight word learning is okay for young children, but it can hinder their reading growth if they are not taught phonics. Our school system teaches some phonics, but it wasn't enough for my daughter or the children I have tutored with reading in the last three years. I think children should be taught phonics before sight words. Sight word lists could be used as a list to group words according to similar phonics rules. Then the words are no longer sight words. They are lists of words to practice reading.

I tried to teach my student some of the most common phonics rules. I loved watching him combine his phonics knowledge with his ability to use picture clues and make sure what he reads makes sense. His brain engages in the stories. He is always ready with what he thinks will be coming next in the story. If he reads a word that doesn't make sense, he quickly looks closer at the word and reads it correctly with his new phonics knowledge. I taught him to go back and read from the beginning of a sentence if he took a little time sounding out a word, so he is able to get back into thinking about the story.

I'm wishing my student and his family a safe happy move.

I try to stay up to date on the latest research. I'd love any readers to share favorite reading resources. Please share links to valuable reading research in a comment. Best wishes to you and your beginning readers!

Thursday

Teach a Pre-reader to Use Picture Clues and Beginning Sounds to Share Read a Book

A child who cannot read a whole book can share the reading books while you read aloud.
Stop at a few words with strong picture clues in stories you read outloud.

Let a pre-reader know you will be stopping sometimes and letting him or her read a few words.

Point under a word and point to a picture clue.

A child may "read" or guess a wrong word that matches the picture clue but does not match the sounds in the written word. This is the time to praise a child for thinking of a word that makes sense. Let the child know the word he or she read was a good try. Ask the child to try again making sure the sounds match the letters in the written word.

Since you are working with a pre-reader, I suggest only asking a child to make the beginning sound or consonant blend of the missing word before "reading" or guessing at the word again. I like to cover all of the word except for the beginning sound or blend.

I bet I have a few readers of this post questioning this strategy. Good! I want you to question my advice. You should question everything you do while teaching a child to read. Is this strategy working? Is this child frustrated? Is this too easy? Please check out my page of Reading Resources to Share to access teaching ideas from various resources. Every child is different. Each child has a unique way of thinking and different strengths and weaknesses. I don't believe any program, person, or book has all the answers to teach a child to read.

Many of you may have been wanting me to show the child all the letters in the word and teach the child to blend them. Teaching a child to blend all the sounds in words is important.

Many pre-readers will get the most benefit from matching a beginning sound to a picture clue without focusing on all the sounds of a word. My suggestion is to fill in the correct word quickly after a child has made a second try using the beginning sound and keep reading the book.

The following pictures demonstrate this strategy with the books Are You My Mother? and The Shark Who Was Afraid of Everything.

Here are some free online reading games to reinforce this skill and learn letter sounds.
Letter TV Brick Wall
ABC Alphabet

Here's a video of my daughter and I demonstrating how an adult can pause and let a child fill in a missing word using a picture clue and beginning sound. I thank my daughter for taking the time to help me. She thought it was a little silly for her to pretend she couldn't read the whole page herself.

Please add a few suggested books with strong picture clues in a comment for all readers of this blog to try out with a pre-reader.

Sunday

Have You Read 39 Clues?

I just discovered this series. It could be a good series for my nine year old. My plan is to check out the first book at the library and read it outloud to all my kids. I'm hoping it will hold the attention of my seven year old twins too.

Here's a link to the 39 Clues site.

Any comments are welcome. I'd love to hear from anyone who has read books from this series.

Saturday

Free Graphic Stories and Comics Online

The top of my blog has links to online stories and online reading games. Please take some time to check them out and bookmark your favorites.

Here's one of my favorite links. The Professor Garfield Toon Book Reader. It's free. My children have been into graphic stories and comics lately. Choose the read to me option and click on the words to have them read aloud. The arrows at the bottom turn the pages. My kids checked out Luke on the Loose about a month ago at the library. They loved it. I can't wait to get them online to read the other Toon Books.

These books are great for beginning readers. Check out my Amazon Store for options to buy Toon Readers and other recommended comics and graphic stories.

Tuesday

What Books Do Children Like Read to Them Again and Again?

I know children benefit from having stories read to them multiple times. My children loved having some of their favorite books read again and again.

I asked members of a community at Blogfrog to share titles of books their children have asked to have read more than five times in a discussion.

Here's a list of responses from real moms. Good Night Moon (8 moms) and The Monster at the End of This Book (5 moms) are at the top of the list. These were two of my family's favorites too!