READING TIPS: Beginning readers (Part II)
Adapted from emails sent to a friend.
Her child knows some letter sounds, some sight words and can attempt CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words aka is a beginning reader.
If you have a beginning reader and want some tips, please start with Part I which explains three important skills:
Sight words
Phonics
Reading for meaning
Hi!
A few additional things to think about during your reading time:
Building reading fluency
Promoting self-monitoring skills
Having fun.
1. Building reading fluency
Help your child’s reading fluency and expression by giving positive and timely feedback.
FEEDBACK examples
“I could really imagine how the boy in the story felt, because of how you read that sentence” (re expression)
“You read that sentence just like you were speaking it, which made it easier to understand” (re fluency)
”Your voice went up at the end so I knew it was a question” (re punctuation)
”I see an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence. How could you read it to show there is an emphasis?”(re punctuation)
Self-confidence increases learning.
Children get no benefit from reading texts that are too difficult.
If it’s painful for you to listen to - it’s painful for them to read it.
As a general rule of thumb, an instructional text (one you read with your child) is at the correct level if your child can read approx 90% of the words without help. This balances the development of a child’s reading fluency and comprehension, with the development of new skills.
2. Promoting self monitoring skills
Good readers reread a sentence if it doesn’t make sense.
If your beginning reader makes an error in a sentence, and reads on without fixing it, prompt them to reread.
Try phrases such as, ‘did that sound right to you’?, or ‘I’m not sure that made sense, let’s try that again’.
When a child does this automatically I’d say: “Good readers read again when it doesn’t sound right - and that’s what you did!”.
OTHER TRICKS
After you’ve read a book, find a page and play word games. i.e. can you find a word that rhymes with ‘pan’? How many times can you see ‘the’? Can you find a word that starts with a ‘ssss’ sound?
Ask your child to find words within words. e.g. Finding the word ‘is’ in ‘his’.
To encourage reading for meaning, I’d sometimes cover a word on a page, and have the child guess what it is using context and picture clues.
Another beginning story example.
What I Like to do.
I like to sit at the table.
I like to sit on the table.
I like to put my shoes on.
I like to go for a walk.
I like to feed the ducks.
I don’t like to sit on the bus!
3. Having fun
Most importantly - and I can’t emphasise this enough. Just have fun! Laugh together. Share connections with the story. Help your child. Pretend you need help too. And be amazed at the progress…
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Disclaimer: There isn’t a ‘one way’, or ‘right way’, or even the ‘best way’ to teach reading. This is simply part of how I’ve approached teaching reading to beginning readers over the years. I tested kids regularly, so they always had books at their correct level, and by using this approach, the development across the cohort was faster than standard norms. If you have any questions, please email me at jess@myfamilyinphotos.com