You may have noticed one of the suggested blogs on the lower right of this one. It has a funny name: Squeetus. I have no idea where the name came from, but it's written by author Shannon Hale. Hale writes young adult fantasy as well as some very fun grown-up books. (Austenland is coming out as a movie in August! I just hope it makes it to Pasco.)
Naturally, as an author, Hale promotes reading. Right now, she's running a chapter-by-chapter summer reading "group" of her novel The Goose Girl. (Good book! Pre-teen/tween girls would definitely enjoy it.)
A few months ago, Hale had guest blogger and teacher/literacy specialist Kirsten Wilcox discuss ways to help children read. I am unabashedly cutting and pasting here. This is long, because it was three days of posts. But I'm not going to apologize, because it's good!
When a child has learned the names and sounds of
the alphabet and are able to start blending sounds together they are in
the first stages of reading. When reading with a child, it is critical
that children are reading books on an independent (98% accuracy) or
instructional (95% accuracy) level. Anything beyond that is frustrating
and will not be beneficial. A good note of thumb is if it's frustrating or difficult for you to listen to, it's probably frustrating for the child trying to do the reading. Confidence is key!
Make sure you are consistently telling them what a
good reader they are. Try to keep things positive. If they're getting upset, go to an easier book for a while.
When
I first started reading with my 10 year old foster boy, he would get
extremely angry and upset whenever he had to stop and fix a word, or got
to a word he didn’t know. I knew I needed to keep things positive even
though it was difficult. I would never continue until he calmed down. When kids are angry and upset their “brains turn off”
(just an expression I use). I told him we needed to get our reading
done before he could play, etc but I couldn’t read with him till he was
calm. I also got some m&m’s and every time he came to a word he
didn’t know and was able to stay calm and figure it out with my help he
would get an m&m. Sometimes we have to get creative in helping our
kids to feel ok about making mistakes. They many times have ingrained
in their mind that they are stupid or CAN’T do it. If their mind
believes they can’t do it, they really can’t. Confidence is everything,
so if they’re struggling, the first step is to build their confidence
through praise and finding them books they can be successful with, even
if it means going back a level or two for a while. Sometimes one step
back will gain two steps forward in the end.
When a child gets
stuck on a word help them use reading strategies to figure it out. If
you see them getting overly frustrated, it's ok to just tell them the
word once in a while especially if it's a word you know they aren't
going to be able to figure out.
Some of my favorite strategies [for struggling readers] are: Look
at the picture, look for a word inside the word (ie: hand), look for
parts you know (ie: playing), skip the word and read to the end of the
sentence (I always tell my students when using this strategy to
remember to go back and see if they can get it), think about what
makes sense, think of the first word that “pops” in your head.
As a
child uses these strategies, I praise them for it by saying "That's what
good readers do". For instance, if a child reads a word wrong but then
fixes it on their own I say, "Great job self correcting! That's what
good readers do!" Or if I see a child look at the picture to try and
figure out a word I say, "Great job looking at the picture. That's what
good readers do."
Preparing a child before they read a book is also very effective.
When starting a new book with a child I always tell them the title. We
look at the cover and I have them predict what they think the book is
going to be about. We then go on a “picture walk”. Go through each page looking at the pictures.
Have the child talk about what they see and what they thing is going to
happen. As they are looking and talking about the pictures, scan the
words and look for words you know they will have trouble with. Use
those words over and over again as you talk about the picture with your
child. Sometimes I even point out the word on the page. I say, “look
at this word. It’s a hard one. This says….). Sometimes I say, “laugh
is a hard word. Do you think you can find it on this page?" Then we
talk about it. I keep it light and joke with them. I say, “what a crazy word!”
and read it the way it would sound if I said the sound of each letter.
They usually laugh and I say, “No one knows why that word is spelled
that way, it’s a red word. It doesn’t follow the rules”. Basically you
are preparing them to read the book, so when it comes time for them to
read it they are more successful.
There are different things you can do with them. Make sure you are
reading with them when they read. Stop after every few sentences and
talk about what was read. Here are some comprehension strategies I
like:
Predict: Have your child tell you what they think will happen next.
Retell or Summarize: Have them tell you what they just read--do this every few sentences or
paragraphs. Don’t wait till a whole chapter has been read.
Make Connections: Have your child tell you what the book reminds them of. (ie. The
Little Red Hen: This book reminds me of when my brother wouldn’t help me
clean up our room, or when mom made us homemade bread, etc.) They can
also make connections to other books (This book reminds me of Chicken
Little because they both had Hens in it).
Make a picture in their head:
Have them describe or draw what they are seeing when they read a part
in the story. This is a skill some kids have to develop.
Questioning:
Probably the one we’re the best at. Asking basic questions, but just
because your child can answer the basic questions doesn’t mean they have
good comprehension.
Inferring: Many times kids
can ask the basic questions but have trouble with inferring, where I
believe true comprehension comes into play. For example: Once I was
doing a reading group with some third graders. We were reading Stuart
Little. There is a part in the book where the cat is talking to another
cat about how frustrated he is having to share his home with a mouse he
isn’t allowed to eat. Meanwhile a bird is sitting on top of a
lightpost listening to their conversation. The other cat says he will
go to the home and eat the mouse for him. That night Stuart Little
finds a note saying he is in danger and needs to leave. When I asked
the students, “Who do you think left the note?” No one could figure it
out. We ended up reading it three times before someone finally said,
“It was the bird!” A good rule of thumb is, when reading with your
child, whenever your mind does something or thinks something, check to
see if your child’s mind did the same thing. You would be surprised at
how much they might be missing.
When reading any book, let your
child look at the pictures and stop to talk about it. This processing
time is just as important as the time spent reading the words.
If your child is struggling with fluency:
First
of all, fluency isn't just reading fast. I tell my first graders, it's
making your reading sound like talking. It includes reading smoothly,
reading with expression, and phrasing correctly. Fluency and
comprehension go hand in hand. Many times if a child is having trouble
with fluency they are also struggling with comprehension and vice
versa.
One thing that can help with fluency is pair reading.
When you pair read with your child, read the book together at the same
time matching your speed to theirs. As your child starts to read more
smoothly stop reading with them, when they start to get choppy, join in
again. I always prepare my students before doing this. I tell them we
are going to read together, but if I stop reading they should continue
to read without stopping.
I also really like the You Read To Me, I Read To You
books by Mary Ann Hoberman. They are fun to read with your child to
help build fluency and the kids really like them. I wouldn’t start this
until your child is at least on an F or G reading level.
It
also helps children to hear fluent reading. Reading to your child can
be effective. If you feel you aren’t a good reader, you can have your
child listen to books on cd or audio books on the kindle or ipad. They
should listen while following along with the book.
Reading
books more than once is huge when working with fluency. If it is a
chapter book I always pick a paragraph for them to read a few times
working on fluency. Many times I try to find a paragraph with quotes,
because phrasing can be tricky and imperative to comprehension. It can
also help them work on their reading expression.
Common mistakes parents make while helping their kids learning to read:
Covering up the pictures: Even if your child is
on a beginning level and you feel they are just “memorizing the words”
they are still reading. DO NOT COVER UP THE PICTURES! If they have
“memorized” the words they are still benefiting from reading the book,
especially if you have them point to the words as they are reading it. Each time they look at the word and read it correctly it is working its
way into their memory.
Getting books that are above their child's reading level:
Don’t get anxious and buy harder books because you want them to grow.
This will slow their learning down rather than speed it up and will
cause confidence issues.
Continuing to read with a child when they are frustrated and angry:
When a child is angry they are unable to concentrate, focus or think. This will only lead to more anger from both child and parent, and
confirm their belief that they don’t like reading. Try saying, “I can
see that your angry right now, and need a little time to cool down. Go
get a drink and let me know when you’re feeling better about things”.
Sometimes they’ll insist they are ready even when you know they aren’t. I usually say, “I love you too much too read with you when you’re
upset. We need to take a few minutes to calm down”. They don’t need to
go to time out, and it doesn’t need to be a consequence. When working
with my foster boy, he would sometimes throw a raging fit about it, but
he quickly learned it just made things last longer. I never talked to
him about it when he was in the angry state. I learned from their
therapist that kids can’t process what you are saying when they are
angry. It is better to talk to them about things when they have calmed
down and their mind can listen and think things through.
Telling a child to sound it out whenever they come to a word they don't know:
Sounding out a word is only one strategy and isn’t the answer to
everything. Many words can’t be sounded out. I usually say, “Let’s say
the sounds of the first couple of letters and see if the word ‘pops’ in
our head”. Or I just completely use the other strategies all
together.
Correcting a word immediately after the child makes a mistake:
Sometimes when reading the child will read the word wrong. Let them
continue reading to the end of the sentence to see if they can figure
out that the word didn’t make sense. If they go back and correct it on
their own, praise them for it. If they don’t go back, ask them if what
they just read made sense.
Getting frustrated when a child can't figure out a word or saying, "You just read that word!!!" This can be frustrating for us as adults, but even if a child just
read a word, or it is a word you just talked about, they might need to
see it and read it 500 more times before it becomes rote. This is all
part of the learning process and it’s ok. How many things do we need to
hear and do before we get something new down correctly?
Not reading with their child on a daily basis (even when they've made it to chapter books):
I know it takes a lot of time, and is extremely difficult. I’ve
experienced this first hand, but reading with your child 20-30 minutes
each day is so important especially if they’re struggling. If it is too
much time for them you can break it up into smaller pieces. Let part
of the time be talking about the pictures and the book. Practice sight
words with your child (there are many apps that help kids learn sight
words you can use for part of the reading time).
The most important thing is to have fun with it and keep it positive.
Wow--that was a lot of reading! Good for you for making it so far!
I'd like to add one more thing, based on my observations of my high school freshmen. Help your child to build up reading stamina. It is very frustrating to watch my students take the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test and, when they come to a longer passage (think 3-4 longish paragraphs--maybe the word count of one page in a standard paragraph, at the most) and say, "That's too much; I can't read that!", guess at the answer, and move on. They do the same thing with longer passages on the required-to-graduate HSPE test their sophomore year. Gradually help your child to read longer works at their appropriate reading level so they know they can read a longer passage!
Well, that's a lot of posts today, but it's all laying groundwork for the fun stuff. Tomorrow, resources for choosing what to read.
And, by the way, I know we've been talking a lot about helping kids to read. Don't worry, what's coming will be for the grownups, too!
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