Starting Out Right
A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success

By the National Research Council

3 Main Accomplishments that characterize Good Readers

1. They understand the Alphabetic Principle

2. They have and use background knowledge and strategies to obtain meaning from print

3. They read fluently

Research consistently demonstrates that the more children know about language and literacy before they arrive at school the better equipped they are to succeed in reading.

–  Including oral language skills, motivation to learn, appreciation for literate forms, print awareness and letter knowledge.

These language and literacy skills are best developed through an integrated approach - including all areas of development

• Vocabulary

• Language skills

• Knowledge about the world

–  Develop during interesting conversations with responsive adults

Knowledge about and love of literacy develop only through experience

Children should

–   have access to books

–  Be read to often

–  And should see others reading and writing

The future good reader

Understands the value of literacy as a means of communication

Comes to love book-reading as a time for emotional closeness

Recommendations for Reading Instruction

• K instruction should stimulate verbal interaction, teach vocabulary, and encourage talk about books

• Instruction should promote comprehension by actively building linguistic and conceptual knowledge in a rich variety of domains

Recommendations for Writing

• Beginning writing with invented spelling can be helpful for developing understanding of phoneme identity and segmentation and sound-spelling relationship

• Writing should take place on a daily basis

Invented spelling and well-designed instruction ensures independent spellings of new  words will become increasingly correct and studied words easier to remember

Time, Material, and Support should be given to support

–  Daily reading of texts below the students frustration level to help them develop independent reading

–  Texts that are slightly more difficult to help them advance

To Prevent Reading Difficulties we must give children opportunities to

• Explore the many uses of language

• Understand the relationship between the spelling of words and the sound of speech

• Practice and enhance vocabulary, language and comprehension skills

• Have adults read and discuss with them

• Experience enthusiasm, joy and success in learning to read and write

To Prevent Reading Difficulties we must give children opportunities to

• Use reading and writing as tools for learning

• Receive effective intervention and remediation programs integrated into their everyday classroom activities as soon as they begin to have difficulty

Research Shows

• Children who get off to a good start in reading rarely stumble

• Those who fall behind tend to stay behind for the rest of their academic lives.

High Quality Teaching includes

Activity centers around the room, containing puppets, stuffed animals, props, paints, paper, and writing materials

2 Main Goals for Kindergarteners

1. A solid familiarity with the structure and use of print

2. Comfortable with learning from print

Helpful Activities

• Dictation

• Listening games with manipulatives

• Field trips to interesting places

• –   Interest is an important factor in learning

• Rich classroom discussions

• Read books about many creatures, places, things

• Dramatic Play

• Books on Tape and Reading in pairs

Activities

• Make learning meaningful, engaging

• Have a letter day for each child

• Play “I Spy” with letters

• Play concentration with sight words

• Include a writing time in the curriculum

•     Have children make their own dictionaries

• Help children appreciate the “Beauty” of the alphabet 

Book Clubs

• Designed to help children learn skills related to reading

• Can be divided by needed skills sometimes

• Divided by children’s interests in books or topics at other times

Characteristics of Outstanding Literacy Teachers

• Create a literate environment where children have access to a variety of reading and writing materials

• Present instruction using books, games and activities

• Carefully choose instructional-level text, rely on literature, big book, and linking reading and writing activities

Outstanding Teachers

• Create multiple opportunities for sustained reading practice in a variety of formats

• Individualize instruction

• Encourage children to consciously monitor their understanding

• Competently manage activities, behavior, and classroom resources

3 Major Stumbling Blocks

1. Failure to understand or use the alphabetic principle

2. Failure to acquire and use comprehension skills and strategies to get meaning from text

3. Lack of fluency

–   Can decrease children’s motivation

Teachers need to be aware of the needs of bi-lingual children

Learn about their language or dialect

Provide the extra support needed

Conclusion

Those who do well at reading from the beginning tend to continue to do well

Those who have difficulty tend to remain behind

There is no substitute for an all-out effort to ensure that all children start out right so they don’t have to experience failure and frustration

http://bob.nap.edu/readingroom/books/sor/sor-int.htm

BACK