Read Aloud in Any Language

Whether in English, Spanish, or any other language, reading aloud to children provides them with life-changing benefits.

Then and Now

Before television came into the home, children grew up listening to rhymes, poems, songs, and stories. They were very fortunate to receive such a rich heritage through oral storytelling.

Today's world has changed greatly. Young couples often set up their households far from family and friends. Starting their family so far from their extended families, parents lose access to a wonderful treasure: the stories and values their family members could teach their children.

Source: Reading Children's Books: There's More to it Than Meets the Eye. (1999). Articles for parents. ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, AEL, Inc.

About Reading Aloud

Reading to young children promotes language acquisition and literacy development and, later on, achievement in reading comprehension and overall success in school. The percentage of young children read aloud to daily by a family member is one indicator of how well young children are prepared for school. In particular, a mother's education is consistently related to whether or not children are read to by a family member.

• In 1999, 53 percent of children ages 3 to 5 were read to daily by a family member, the same as in 1993 after increasing to 57 percent in 1996.
• As a mother's education increases, so does the likelihood that her child is read to every day. In 1999, 70 percent of children whose mothers were college graduates were read aloud to every day. In comparison, daily reading aloud occurred for 53 percent of children whose mothers had some postsecondary education, 44 percent whose mothers had completed high school but had no education beyond that, and 38 percent whose mothers had not completed high school.
• White, non-Hispanic children are more likely to be read aloud to every day than either black, non-Hispanic or Hispanic children. Sixty-one percent of white, non-Hispanic children, 41 percent of black, non-Hispanic children, and 33 percent of Hispanic children were read to every day.
• Children in families with incomes below the poverty line are less likely to be read aloud to every day than are children in families with incomes at or above the poverty line. Thirty-eight percent of children in families in poverty were read to every day in 1999, down from 46 percent in 1996, compared with 58 percent of children in families at or above the poverty line, which is down from 61 percent in 1996.

Source: Family Reading. NCES Fast Facts. National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.

Good Books for Kids

Easiest to Read Books

• Who Ate it? by Taro Gomi (Millbrook Press, 1991)
• Big Long Animal Song by Mike Artell (Good Year Books, 1994)
• My Puppy by Inez Greene (Good Year Books, 1994)
• Mrs. Sato's Hens by Laura Min (Good Year Books, 1994)
• The Fox on the Box by Barbara Gregorich (School Zone, 1984)
• The Gum on the Drum by Barbara Gregorich (School Zone, 1984)
• Jog, Frog, Jog by Barbara Gregorich (School Zone, 1984)
• I Want a Pet by Barbara Gregorich (School Zone, 1984)
• Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss (Random House, 1963)
• Bob Books by Bobby Lyn Maslen (Scholastic, 1976)

Easy to Read Books

• Cat Traps by Molly Coxe (Random House, 1996)
• Big Egg by Molly Coxe (Random House, 1997)
• Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman (Beginner Books, 1961)
• The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss (Random House, 1968)
• Great Day for Up! by Dr. Seuss (Beginner Books, 1974)
• One Day in the Jungle by Colin West (Candlewick Press, 1995)
• "What is that?" said the Cat by Grace Maccarone (Scholastic, 1995)
• Jeb's Barn by Andrea Butler (Good Year Books, 1994)
• Mouse and Owl by Joan Hoffman (School Zone, 1991)
• Star Wars, Anakin to the Rescue by Cecilia Venn (Random House, 1999)
  Beginning Readers
• Clifford the Big Red Dog - (Series) by Norman Bridwell (Scholastic Inc., 1963) • Thunderhoof by Syd Hoff (Harper & Row, 1971)
• Dark Night, Sleepy Night by Harriet Ziefert (Viking Kestrel, 1988)
• Good Hunting, Blue Sky by Peggy Parish (Harper & Row, 1988)
• "Pardon?" said the Giraffe by Colin West (Lippincott, 1986)
• A Snake Mistake by Mavis Smith (HarperCollins, 1991)
• Going to Sleep on a Farm by Wendy Cheyette Lewison (Dial Books for Young Readers, 1992)
• Henry Goes West by Robert Quackenbush (Parents Magazine Press, 1994)
• See How They Grow Fox (Dorling Kindersley, 1992)
• See How They Grow Pig (Dorling Kindersley, 1993)
• See How They Grow Rabbit (Lodestar, 1991)
• Willie's Wonderful Pet by Mel Cebulash (Scholastic Inc., 1993)
• Dinosaur Babies by Lucille Recht Penner (Random House, 1991)
• Wake Up Sun! by David L. Harrison (Random House, 1986)
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff (Harper & Row, 1985)
• Dragon Gets By by Dav Pilkey (Orchard Books, 1991)
• Where's My Teddy? By Jez Alborough (Candlewick Press, 1992)
• Fortunately by Remy Charlip (Four Winds Press, 1986)
• Bears are Curious by Joyce Milton (Random House, 1998)
• The Big Sneeze by Ruth Brown (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1985)
• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (Beginner Books, 1960)

Literacy Facts

1. In 1998, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tested children nationwide for reading skills. The results for reading tests for 4th graders were:
   Below the most basic level 38%
   Proficient 31%
   Advanced 7%
   
   U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics. The Executive Summary of the 1998 National Assessment for Educational Progress Reading Report Card for the Nation, NCES 1999-50 (Washington, D.C.: March 1999).
   
2. In 1998 there were ten million children between seven and eleven years of age who performed below the most basic level of reading achievement.
   
   Population Estimates Program, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau Washington, D.C. 20233
   
3. It is very important to note that a substantial number of children from highly literate households and who have been read to by their parents since very early in life also have difficulties learning to read.
   
   Lyon, G. Reid. "Report on Learning Disabilities Research." Prepared Statement to the Committee on Education and the Workforce. U.S. House of Representatives, APA Science Advocacy (July 10, 1997).
   
4. In 1998, students who reported reading more pages daily in school and for homework had higher average scale scores than students who reported reading fewer pages daily.
   
   U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics. The Executive Summary of the 1998 National Assessment for Educational Progress Reading Report Card for the Nation (Washington, D.C.: March 1999).
   
5. In 1998, students who reported watching three or fewer hours of television each day had higher average reading scores than students who reported watching more television.
   
   U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics. The Executive Summary of the 1998 National Assessment for Educational Progress Reading Report Card for the Nation (Washington, D.C.: March 1999).
   
6. National Institute of Health studies are finding that at least 95% of even the poorest readers can learn to read at grade level if they are given proper instruction in sound-letter relationships.
   
   Lally, Kathy and Debbie M. Price. "Learning How We Read." Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Florida (January 4, 1998): plA+.
   
7. Having kids read a lot is one of the crucial components of becoming a good reader. Young readers need to become practiced at recognizing letters and sounds. The only way to get good at it is to practice.
   
   "Reading Research Read to Go." National Educational Association Today 17 no. 4 (Jan. 1999) 6
   
8. The average reader spent about 6 minutes per day reading connected text. Children with reading problems spent about one minute per day. The amount of time students spent on worksheets did not relate to gains in reading achievement. What appeared to be most relevant was time spent reading connected print.
   
   Stahl, Steven A., Ann Duffy-Hester, et al. "Everything You Wanted to Know About Phonics (But Were Afraid to Ask.)" Reading Research Quarterly 33, no. 3 (July-September 1998):338-356. 9. Four year old children who were read one alphabet book per day significantly improved in their awareness of phonemes - tiny letter sounds that make up words.
   
   Ibid.
   
9. Children who struggle in vain with reading in the first grade soon decide that they neither like nor want to read. (Juel, 1998)
   
   National Research Council. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children. Catherine Snow, Susan Burns, Peg Griffin, eds. (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1998).
   
   

Make Your Own Book

Children struggling in reading tend to stay in the emergent phase longer. They need stacks of easy-to-read books for practice. There aren't many books in this category, and the cost adds up quickly. So help your child to make his own books. He'll be able to read them since the words came from within and he'll be proud of his own creations.

1. Put two pieces of paper together, fold in half and staple the folded edge.
2. Ask your child to think of a topic such as favorite animals, toys, vacation trips, birthday presents, friends or a movie.
3. If your child doesn't write well, he'll dictate the words while you write them down. If he has some writing skills, help him to spell the words.
4. Write the title on the front page and his name - Tigers by Jerome.
5. Write one short sentence per page.
6. Try to keep the words as close as possible to what he said. We want him to be able to match what he said to what it looks like in print.
7. Read the book to him running your finger under the words while reading. Then ask him to read the book to you several times. Let him draw pictures to complete his masterpiece.
8. Keep his books together in a basket or box. He will read them over and over to anyone who listens. These books will increase his sight word vocabulary and increase his interest in reading.

Phonic skills

Phonic skills must be put into connected print in order to become useful. Connected print is short selections in magazines or books. Two books, both by Dr. Seuss, have wonderful selections to help a child apply a phonic skill by reading connected print.

1. Hop on Pop, an easier selection by Dr. Seuss (1963), has the following selections:
   pages 3-5 short u "Up pup pup is up."
   pages 22-24 short e "Red Red They call me Red."
   pages 26-33 short a "Pat cat Pat sat on a cat." "Dad is sad. Very, very sad."
   pages 40-41 short o "We like to hop on top of Pop."
   pages 56-57 short i "Will is up hill still."
   
2. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss (1960), has these selections:
   pages 10-11, 18-19 short u "They run for fun in the hot, hot sun."
   pages 26-27 ea words "Oh dear! I cannot hear."
   pages 30-31 oo words "He took a look at the book on the hook."
   pages 40-43 short i "It is fun to sing if you sing with a Ying."
   pages 48-49 short e "You never met…a pet as wet as they let this wet pet get."
   

You should help your child read a new reading selection every other day. This is incorporating whole language methods of learning how to read. Using "To, With, and By" teach your child how to read a couple of sentences or one paragraph until it sounds great. The whole language method helps your child learn to read "sight words." Sight words must be memorized because they don't follow phonic rules. (Half of all words in the English language are sight words.)


Best of all, using To, With, and By will improve your child's fluency and comprehension. The goal of reading is comprehension. When your child is able to sound out new words, has memorized a bunch of sight words, reads fluently and understands what he read, he has learned how to read!

Components of Reading

Reading begins in a child's ears. When you talk to your child, you are putting the sounds of the English language into his brain. His brain is properly wired to learn to talk back to you. Over time his speaking vocabulary grows to thousands of words. The more you talk, sing, and read to your child, the bigger his speaking vocabulary will become. Here is the surprise: children's brains are not automatically wired for reading. Your child needs your help to become a successful reader. Learning how to read begins when your child's ears are ready. There are several things you can do to get your child's ears ready. Teach him how to rhyme by playing rhyming games, or reading rhyming poems to him. Play some of the other games presented in this website. His ears are ready when he can rhyme and play the games successfully.




Teach your child alphabet letter names and sounds. This is the beginning of phonics. Phonics is learning what letters and letter combinations "say." It is an essential part of learning how to read. Don't assume that your child learned all the letter sounds in school. It is likely that she does not know the vowel sounds because they sound so similar. Other important phonic combinations are listed in the sidebar. When your child learns letter sounds, teach her to "blend" them together to "sound out" new words. Knowledge of phonics will help her to read many words that follow phonic rules. The best way to incorporate phonics is to find a short reading selection that has a lot of "sh" words, for example, and read those words to him. Ask your child to say some words beginning with the "sh" sound. Then teach him to read the short selection. Continue teaching phonics by finding other short reading selections, each highlighting one of the letter combinations from the phonic list. Please notice that letters and letter combinations appear in different places in words. Vowels often occur in the middle of words. "Wh" occurs at the beginning of words and "Ch" appears at the beginning or end of words.

Phonics vs Whole Language

Phonics

Phonics is one method of teaching children how to read. Children are taught how to "sound out" new words by learning the following items:

• Consonant letters sounds: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z
• Blend sounds: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr, wr, bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, scr, str, sm, sn, sp, sc, sk, • Short vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, uAlways teach short vowel sounds first: a - apple, e - elephant, i- igloo, o - octopus, u - umbrella)
• Digraph sounds: sh, ch, th, whTwo letters combine to make a totally different sound.
• Double vowel sounds: ai, ea, ee, oaThese pairs say the name of the first vowel.
• Other double vowel sounds: oi, oo, ou, ow
• Silent e: Silent e is bossy, it doesn't say anything but makes the vowel before it say its own name.
• R controlled vowel sounds: ar, er, ir, or, urNotice that er,ir and ur make the same sound.

Phonics is a series of rules that children have to memorize and apply when they are sounding out new words. Children are taught a rule, i.e. Silent e, and then they practice reading words with Silent e. Then children do skill sheets at their desk highlighting the Silent e rule. Children must learn letter sounds to an automatic level - they must be able to see the letter(s) and say the sound immediately.

Critics point out that the reading/practice materials aren't very interesting, "See Spot run. Run Spot run. Spot runs fast." It is a contrived atmosphere of reading practice using the phonic rules.

Here's the bigger problem: children who struggle in reading memorize phonic rules, and then are unable to apply phonic rules to connected print. To remedy this problem, two things must happen:

1. Only the most important phonic rules should be taught in the least complicated manner possible. For example, in teaching vowel sounds, it is distracting to talk about "short versus long" vowels. Instead, a child should be taught the short vowel sounds first. Then when a child encounters a long vowel as in the word find, tell him, "That vowel says its own name."
2. Phonics must be taught in a way that allows these children to immediately practice phonic information in real stories. Every time a child is taught new phonic information, he should be given a short reading selection that highlights the phonic rule. Completing a skill sheet is good, but even better is to help the child practice applying the phonic skill to connected print. A child cannot learn to read without proper knowledge in phonics. It is the foundation for success in reading. She will succeed to read if she knows phonics. Whole Language
   

Whole language

Whole language is a "whole - part" method of teaching children to read. (Phonics is a "part - whole" reading method.) Teachers use connected print to introduce reading to children. Children are encouraged to memorize words as whole units. They do hands-on activities such as writing in journals, and analyzing words in context, by using pictures, for meaning. Whole language has strengths in that children begin to write early. They are involved in connected print, and they are using personal language skills making the process of reading more interesting. The weakness of whole language methods is that some children never get a full phonic foundation. They are unable to decode unfamiliar words. Research has shown that good readers always use phonics to decipher new words. Reading is best taught using a combination of three methodologies:

• Auditory training - training for the ears to prepare the child's brain for phonics.
• Phonics - knowledge of letter(s) sounds.
• Whole Language - immediate application of phonics into connected stories.

Reading Selections

What is a Reading Selection?
A common mistake that adults make is to insist that a child read a whole book. It is far better to help a child reread a short selection to excellence. A short selection is one or two pages from an easy book or one paragraph from a higher level book. If the selection is on the correct readability level for your child, he should make no more than one or two mistakes per twenty words. Any more than that will cause him frustration and will actually block his reading progress.

Don't make him read it cold turkey either or he'll sound like a car starting up on a winter morning - bumpy and hesitant. We don't want your child to practice bad reading. That's why you want to do the following:

1. Read the short selection to him twice.
2. Read the same selection with him twice.
3. Finally, ask him to read it by himself twice.

To, With, and By is a fabulous repeated reading technique that will catapult your child forward in reading skills.4 It will help him learn and apply sight words more quickly, helps him to practice fluent reading and improves his comprehension-all the important skills of reading.

Some parents say, "But she's memorizing the selection!" Well, when was the last time you used phonics to sound out words while reading? Phonics is used as a last resort when bumping into unknown words such as cruciate ligament. When reading you usually recognize words by sight. Phonic skills are necessary to jump-start the process of learning to read. But reading by using sight words is more efficient.

You might be thinking, "My child isn't getting enough practice if she isn't reading a whole book." My answer is, your child gets excellent practice when you do To, With, and By in a short selection. A little bit of good reading is a lot better than a whole lot of bad reading.

Have I convinced you to do To, With, and By? Your child might not be thrilled at first. However, once she gets the hang of it, her attitude will improve and her reading skills will skyrocket.

Putting Sounds Together

Help Your Child Put Sounds Together to Make Words by Playing "Connect Three."This game will help your child connect sounds to make words. This skill is used when he sounds out new words.

How to Play:

1. Tell your child, "I'm going to say three sounds. I want you to put the sounds together and say a word. For example, I say c-a-t and you say cat. I say d-o-g and you say dog." This is a little tricky on your part because you have to think of words that can be said in three parts. Words such as me or go won't work. Longer words such as party can be par-t-y or p-art-y. You might want to practice ahead of time to say words in three parts. I have trouble thinking of words, so I usually look around the room for good ideas such as l-am-p or win-d-ow.
   
2. Here's a list to get you started: begin with nouns-things that can be visualized and advance to words that don't create mental pictures.

• m-o-m
• b-ir-d
• h-o-t
• h-i-m
• d-a-d
• s-u-n
• gr-ee-n
• c-a-n
• d-e-sk
• pi-zz-a
• dr-in-k
• w-i-ll
• br-ai-n
• mo-n-ey
• c-ol-d
• a-n-d
• tr-e-e
• c-am-p
• st-o-p
• b-u-t
• y-ar-d
• t-en-t
• w-i-n
• fr-o-m
  

Getting Back into Books and Real Stories

Since the goal is improving your child's reading skills, we need to get her into books. Choose four words from a short reading selection (one page of a book) and say each word in three parts to your child. Ask her to put the words together. Now help her find those words on the page, and read them together. You are making a connection between the words she put together and what they look like in print.

Improving Short Term Memory

Help Your Child Improve Her Short Term Memory by Playing the "I Went to the Market" GameThis game helps improve your child's short-term memory. She will have to remember several sounds in the correct order to sound out new words such as, fr-o-g put together says frog.

How to Play:

1. Read this short poem to your child:
   Johnny went to the market.
   Johnny went to the store.
   But when poor Johnny got there, he forgot what he went there for.
   Momma gave him a list.
   Momma gave it to him twice.
   And what Momma wanted was a big bag of rice...
   
2. Now say, "Momma wanted a bag of rice and carrots."
   
3. Your child repeats that and adds another item, "Momma wanted rice and carrots and a cake."
   
4. It's your turn. "Momma wanted rice, carrots, cake and a tulip." Take turns until someone gets an item out of order or forgets an item. Make it fun by adding items such as a football or alligators.5. Another version of this game is to highlight a letter sound. Let's say your child doesn't know w sound. Play this game thinking of items that begin with w such as, "Momma wanted a walrus, walnuts, wink and a wand."
   

Teaching How to Rhyme

Help Your Child Improve Auditory Skills by Teaching How to RhymeKnowing how to rhyme will help your child read word "families" such as let, met, pet, wet, and get. Notice that rhyming words have same sound endings but different beginning sounds. Some words don't look the same: ache, cake, steak but they rhyme. To teach your child how to rhyme, play a game. Body Name GameHow to Play: Begin by modeling how to rhyme. Point to parts of your body, say a rhyming word and your child should say the body part. This puts rhyming into her ears with a visual cue (pointing). If you point to your nose and say rose, she will automatically say nose.

1. Tell your child, "We are going to play a rhyming game. Rhyming words have the same sound endings. I'm going to point to something on my body, and say a word. You're going to say the body part that rhymes. Okay?"
2. Give her two examples: "I'm pointing to my leg, and I say beg. You say leg. I'm pointing to my nose. I say rose, and you say nose.
3. Here's a list of body parts and rhyming words:
   deer-ear
   pail-nail
   sack-back
   go-toe
   gum-thumb
   put-foot
   bye-eye
   deck-neck
   see-knee
   bear-hair
   fin-chin
   band-hand
   peek-cheek
   farm-arm
   feel-heel
   
4. When your child is able to do this, turn it around. Point to your knee and your child will say a rhyming word such as bee or me!

When your child rhymes body parts, play this game:

1. Say, "I'm going to say a word and you'll tell me as many rhyming words as you can. I say bee." Your child then says words such as "he, she, we three, free, or agree."
2. Choose one-syllable words that are easy to rhyme with such as had, rat, man, fall, ten, red, big, fill, hop, dog, bug and sun. All of these have multiple words that rhyme.

Teaching Alphabet Sounds

Help Your Child Improve Auditory Skills by Teaching Alphabet Letter SoundsIn order to read, every child must know the sounds of the alphabet letters. He must be able to recall them quickly - he sees the letter and says the sound without hesitation.

1. Test your child's knowledge of alphabet letter sounds by using the provided Alphabet List. Point to each letter and ask your child to, "Tell me what this letter says." *The alphabet list has no pictures, so your child has to rely totally on memory. *You are asking your child to tell you the letter sound, not the letter name. *Write down letter sounds that he or she misses. This is a good place to begin fixing your child's auditory gaps.
2. If your child needs to learn most of the alphabet letter sounds, help her create her own Alphabet Book. Staple some pieces of paper together and ask your child to draw pictures of items that begin with the sound of each alphabet letter.
   
   
   
   
3. You can also teach alphabet letters and letter sounds by using an Alphabet Chart with pictures. *Be sure to point to each letter as you are saying the letter name and letter sound. *Review the alphabet chart once a day and pretty soon your child will be able to point to each letter and say the sounds himself! *I have an alphabet chart tacked on the wall at kid-height of my son's bedroom so he can look at it.
4. When you are teaching a letter sound, be careful not to add an "uh" sound at the end of the letter. For example, letter s should sound like a snake hissing, with no throat sound. Letter s says 'sss,' not 'suh.' If your child learns letters 'c', 'a', 't' as sounding 'kuh,' 'aah,' and 'tuh,' those sounds will not come together to say cat!
   

Children have different learning rates. Your child may need lots of direct instruction to learn the alphabet sounds. Don't forget, he will learn letter sounds more quickly with a short daily review.

Learning to Read

Learning How to Read Begins in Children's Ears
Most people think children learn how to read through their eyes. But reading is actually learned through the ears. Parents lay a foundation for success in reading by talking to a child, reading books to her, and playing auditory games such as rhyming. The more books you read, the bigger her vocabulary becomes. A bigger vocabulary allows her to recognize lots of words while she reads. If you've read books to her about cheetahs and warthogs, it's more likely she can read those words when her teacher gives a homework assignment about the Serengeti Plains.

Learning to Read, Reading to Learn
What is the normal sequence for children learning how to read?

• From birth to age three, children listen to lots of words spoken and learn how to talk.
• Children, aged three to four years old have growing vocabularies, and they learn how to rhyme.
• In first grade children are taught how to blend letter sounds together to "sound out" words and memorize sight words. They begin reading simple sentences.
• Second and third graders learn how to read "chapter" books and read fluently with comprehension.

Every once in awhile a parent says to me, "My son can't read because he's lazy." I don't agree with that. A child who can't read is missing important auditory tools:

• He can't rhyme
• She doesn't know the short vowel sounds-caused by her inability to hear differences in short vowel sounds. (Short vowels: a-apple, e-elephant, i-igloo, o-octopus, u-umbrella)
• He can't put word parts together to make words-a skill used in sounding out new words.
• She has slow recall of letter sounds. She sees letter w and can't remember what it says.
  

These traits are common to most children who struggle in reading. These are not traits of "laziness" but of auditory and memory deficits. Do the following games and activities to fill in your child's auditory gaps which in turn will improve his reading skills.

Auditory Skills and Tri-Method Instruction

The Missing Link is Auditory Skills
Researchers have been looking inside children's brains while they do literacy tasks. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) they discovered that poor readers showed differences in brain activities than those who are literate. Affected areas were the language centers.

What does this mean? Children who struggle in reading have physical differences in their brains when trying to "sound out" unfamiliar words. They have a hard time recalling letter sounds to make words, and their auditory skills are weak. Therefore, they can't identify words they see. But their brains work well in other areas, which explains why they can be bright, yet functionally illiterate. The good news is that their brains are not etched in stone. Their language and auditory skills can be strengthened. Your son or daughter will become a good reader-with your help. All it costs is fifteen minutes a day.

The Tri-Method Instruction to Literacy Success
In a perfect world, children would learn how to read using a combination of three methods of instruction: auditory training, phonics, and whole language. It's clear from research that using one of these methods will help only a few children. In fact, using two out of three methods will still leave numerous children illiterate. However, when auditory training, phonics and whole language are merged, literacy rates increase significantly. Hopefully, you will see all three methods reflected in curriculum and used in American classrooms soon.

Teach a Child to Read

Dedicated to the thousands of children who need to improvetheir reading skills, and to their parents who want to help them succeed.

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two.

And I said, "How I wish we had something to do!"

-from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss -

Thirty-eight percent of all fourth graders in the United States can't read this simple poem. Is your child one of them? Does your child drone, hesitate, and torture words while reading? He or she is one of 7 million elementary-aged children who is performing below his or her reading potential.

Certainly millions of children in America can't be stupid, lazy, or have ADD. Children sitting in the best classrooms in the country struggle with reading. Moms and dads are scratching their heads wondering whether to get a part-time job to pay for tutoring for Jerome or Ashley.

This past decade, educators have been fighting a Phonics versus Whole Language reading war. Each side has strong advocates, yet many children still emerge from schools unable to read. Meanwhile, scientists have been busy trying to identify the missing puzzle piece of how children learn to read.

Here's some good news: Research indicates that 90 to 95% of all children can learn to read at grade level with proper intervention. You can make a profound difference in your child's ability to read by spending fifteen minutes per day with your son or daughter, using information provided in this website, playing games and reading good books together.

From : www.succeedtoread.com

Responding to Literature

This lesson provides a model of reflection for students as they listen to stories, begin to read stories, and develop their own written stories. The lesson can be used with any story; however in this case, the story of Corduroy allows for a personal connection by having students interact with a stuffed bear and write about their own adventures with Corduroy.

From theory to practice Wollman-Bonilla, J.E., & Werchadlo, B. (1999).
Teacher and peer roles in scaffolding first graders’ response to literature. The Reading Teacher, 52, 598-607. Literature response journals can help children to think about and respond to literature in new ways, thus guiding them to a deeper understanding of the communication of ideas through writing. Teacher instruction shifts in response to students’ developing capabilities and peers can influence the learning experience by sharing personal responses to literature. Encourage children to trust their own voices and express their thoughts clearly in writing.

by : Marilyn Cook, Port Aransas, Texas

Extensions

The Way I Feel by Janan Cain (Parenting Press, 2000) can be used as an extension to the topic of emotions. Each page is a poem about an individual emotion, so excerpts from the text can be used to keep the focus on simple emotions or it can be used to broaden the topic for older students. This book can also be used to support language development with rhyming, especially if the language experience activity chart has been modified to having students write a class poem with rhyming responses.

Additionally, Parenting Press offers an Expressing Emotions Teaching Plan, if a lesson on how to draw emotions is of interest.

For older students or those who are more familiar with computers, the Graphic Map may be a useful tool to employ in future activities. Students can use this online tool to plot the emotions of a character in a familiar text or to assess their own personal emotions during a classroom activity or event. The tool allows students to label each marker with either a happy or sad face or a ranking scale.

Art and picture books present abundant opportunities for students to interact with emotion. Many books can be used to emphasize emotions, especially those with vivid images. One example of a book that uses line and color to show emotion is Rise the Moon by Eileen Spinelli (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002). The vivid illustrations in this book are done by Raul Colon. Additionally, this book is written as a poem, and provides an opportunity to expose young children to some new vocabulary terms.

Artwork can often convey emotion through color choice, style of the images, and even the subject matter. If posters or images are accessible, allow students to match images to emotions, or describe the way they feel while looking at a piece of artwork. Several art museums have educational programs that provide activities for students to experience art and to learn more about the creation process. The National Gallery of Art for Kids is accessible online, if you do not have the ability to connect with staff at a local art museum. If your classroom has a dramatic play area, a simple prop box may allow students who learn through experiences the opportunity to solidify their understanding of the emotional vocabulary. One approach would be to provide images of happy or sad situations, and one or two props that allow students to pose as though they were in the image. By providing a prompt for the center, such as “How do I feel?” students can recognize body language and facial features that correspond to each emotion.

Instruction and activities

Session 1: Creating happy and sad masks

1. Depending on how you have decided to conduct the lesson (see Preparation, 2), have students gather at their tables with the appropriate art materials for creating either happy or sad masks.
2. As a group, discuss what makes them feel happy or sad. This discussion is an opportunity for students to begin making connections to these emotions by verbally expressing their personal experiences. They will also begin to identify some specific features that are associated with each of the emotions to use while creating their masks. As part of the class discussion, encourage students to reflect upon and respond to each other’s experiences. “Can you think of a time that you were sad/happy? What made you feel that way?” “What does your face look like when you are sad/happy?” “What makes you feel better when you are sad?” or “What things make you feel happy?”
3. Explain how students will create their happy or sad masks, and show them the materials they have to work with.
4. Offer mirrors for students to view their own faces as they express different happy and sad emotions, and draw their attentions to facial features, such as lip and eyebrow positions.
5. Give each student a plate and a bottle of glue to begin creating his or her mask.
6. When the plate for the first emotion is complete, the student will then create a mask showing the opposite emotion.

Session 2: Language experience activity

1. Have students gather in a group where they can all see the chart paper.
2. Ask students to recall making their masks. “What is something that makes you feel happy/sad?” “Why were you happy/sad?” “Do you think everyone is happy/sad sometimes?” “Let’s make a chart to see when everyone is happy and sad.”
3. Students will consecutively complete the three statements as you write their exact words onto the chart paper. Begin with the first statement, “Things that make me sad are ____________________.” Ask each student to complete the statement as you write what he or she says on the chart paper. Include parenthesis at the end of the statement and allow each student the opportunity to write his or her name on the chart paper after the statement.
4. Once everyone has had a turn, begin the second statement, “Things that make me happy are __________________.” Students will once again complete the statement in their own words and label it with their names.
5. Repeat the process using the third statement, “Today I feel ______ because ___________________.”
6. Once the chart is complete, have students read their statements one at a time using the appropriate pointer, happy or sad depending on the statement. NOTE: If your students are capable, you may choose to modify this activity by allowing them to write their own statements onto the chart paper. To further challenge students, you can ask them to create a class poem using the following prompts: These are things that make us sad: ... These are things that make us glad: ... Older students can be challenged to make their responses rhyme as well.

Session 3: Concluding the experience

1. Gather students in small groups and ask them to discuss some things they have learned over the last few lessons. Ask if they can notice some differences and similarities between happy and sad emotions. “What are some things we know about feeling happy?” “What are some things we know about feeling sad?” “Can we think of any things that are the same between being happy and sad?” For example, students may recognize that both are ways we feel, both can be illustrated using our facial expressions, and both can have similar phyical responses (e.g., crying or wanting a hug).
2. Introduce the interactive Venn diagram, and present a tutorial on how to use a Venn diagram if students are unfamiliar with the concept. Explain the use of each circle to indicate the differences between two things, and the overlapping area between the two circles to indicate the similarities.
3. Label one circle “happy” and one circle “sad.” Explain that the space in the middle is for qualities that they share.
4. Depending on the age and abilities of your students, allow students to work in pairs or in small groups of three to four to take turns naming attributes for the graphic organizer.
5. Allow pairs or groups of students to type their own ideas and print a copy of their Venn diagrams.
6. Repeat until all students have had a chance to participate in the Venn diagram activity. Then post the diagrams in the classroom, along with the group members’ names.
7. Allow students to discuss what they have learned about emotions by viewing the charts and comparing group ideas.

by : Kelly Sheehan and Emily Marietta, Nashville, Tennessee

Build an Understanding of Emotions

Organizing information is a crucial way to recognize material learned, as well as make new material relevant to students. With younger students, introducing abstract concepts is a difficult task. By using several short sessions and concrete experiences, students are able to better grasp the concepts of happy and sad emotions. This lesson plan can easily be modified for other emotions and can also be adapted for the full range of kindergarten through second grade. Older children can play more of a role in creating the language experience chart, while younger children can feel ownership by adding their own names.

From theory to practice

Winters, R. (2001). Vocabulary anchors: Building conceptual connections with your students. The Reading Teacher, 54, 659-662. Vocabulary and concept development is based on solving problems and connecting new information to personal experiences. Students clarify their understanding through informal social interactions and active processing. By having meaningful interactions with language, students can begin to understand the concept of emotions.

by : Kelly Sheehan and Emily Marietta, Nashville, Tennessee

Extensions

To reinforce phonics or a particular phonogram in your reading program, provide students with the necessary letters to make the words that you want to teach. For example, to teach the short vowel sound a, you might display the letters t, p, s, and a on the overhead. Ask students to identify the vowel and then ask students to think of words using these letters (e.g., tap, sat, sap, pat, past). Arrange the words on the overhead and have students read them with you. Students can also be manipulating their own letter tiles at their desk or copying the words into their journal or personal dictionary. This is also a good time to discuss real words and their meanings as compared with nonsense words (e.g., tas). Emphasize that the word past uses all the letters and is the mystery word.




Make letter cards out of 9" x 12" tagboard, one letter per card. Punch holes into the tagboard and insert yarn so that students can wear the cards around their head with the letter hanging down in front. Invite students to act as the “director” and position students to make words. Alphabet cookies and pretzels are available in some stores. Give students the necessary letters to make words. After making and reading the words, students can eat them.

Word Wizards: Students Making Words

Overview
This lesson uses an active, hands-on activity in which students learn how to look for patterns in words and how to make new words by adding or changing the sequence of letters. Authentic literature provides an excellent framework for teaching decoding and spelling. Four popular children’s books, Corduroy, Franklin in the Dark, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Chrysanthemum, are used as the basis for an online activity where students have the opportunity to apply this strategy and make words.

From theory to practice
Aiken, A.G., & Bayer, L. (2002). They love words. The Reading Teacher, 56, 68–74. In “Making Words,” an innovative word study activity introduced by Patricia Cunningham (1991), students are guided through the process of manipulating a set of letters in sequence to construct words. This instructional strategy is actively engaging and meaningful for students because when students notice patterns and make discoveries about written language they can apply them to other reading and writing situations. When words are connected to a story or current classroom lesson, students are able to have greater success with phonics lessons. Cunningham, P.M. (1991). Phonics they use: Words for reading and writing. New York: HarperCollins.

by Rebecca L. Olness, Black Diamond, Washington.

Frontline Phonics

Frontline Phonics

How Is Phonological Awareness Taught?

To teach phonological awareness, begin by demonstrating the relationships of parts to wholes. Then model and demonstrate how to segment short sentences into individual words, showing how the sentence is made up of words. Use chips or other manipulatives to represent the number of words in the sentence. Once the students understand part-whole relationships at the sentence level, move on to the word level, introducing multisyllable words for segmentation into syllables. Finally, move to phoneme tasks by modeling a specific sound and asking the students to produce that sound both in isolation and in a variety of words and syllables.

It is best to begin with easier words and then move on to more difficult ones. Five characteristics make a word easier or more difficult (Kameenui, 1995):

1. The size of the phonological unit (e.g., it is easier to break sentences into words and words into syllables than to break syllables into phonemes).
2. The number of phonemes in the word (e.g., it is easier to break phonemically short words such as no, see and cap than snort, sleep or scrap).
3. Phoneme position in words (e.g., initial consonants are easier than final consonants and middle consonants are most difficult).
4. Phonological properties of words (e.g., continuant such as /s/ and /m/ are easier than very brief sounds such as /t/).
5. Phonological awareness challenges. (e.g., rhyming and initial phoneme identification are easier than blending and segmenting.)

Examples of phonological awareness tasks include phoneme deletion ("What word would be left if the /k/ sound were taken away from cat?"); Word to word matching ("Do pen and pipe begin with the same sound?"); Blending ("What word would we have if we blended these sounds together: /m/ /o/ /p/?"); phoneme segmentation ("What sounds do you hear in the word hot?"); phoneme counting ("How many sounds do you hear in the word cake?"); and rhyming ("Tell me all of the words that you know that rhyme with the word cat?") (Stanovich, 1994).

Beginning readers require more direct instructional support from teachers in the early stages of teaching. This is illustrated in the following example: The teacher models the sound or the strategy for making the sound, and has the children use the strategy to produce the sound. It is very important that the teacher model the correct sounds. This is done using several examples for each dimension and level of difficulty. The children are prompted to use the strategy during guided practice and more difficult examples are introduced. A sequence and schedule of opportunities for children to apply and develop facility with sounds should be tailored to each child's needs, and should be given top priority. Opportunities to engage in phonological awareness activities should be plentiful, frequent, and fun (Kameenui, 1995).

Where Does Phonological Awareness Fit Into This Process?

Key to the process of learning to read is Mia's ability to identify the different sounds that make words and to associate these sounds with written words. In order to learn to read, Mia must be aware of phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest functional unit of sound. For example, the word cat contains three distinctly different sounds. There are 44 phonemes in the English language, including letter combinations such as /th/.




In addition to identifying these sounds, Mia must also be able to manipulate them. Word play involving segmenting words into their constituent sounds, rhyming words, and blending sounds to make words is also essential to the reading process. The ability to identify and manipulate the sounds of language is called phonological awareness. Adams (1990) described five levels of phonological awareness ranging from an awareness of rhyme to being able to switch or substitute the components in a word. While phonological awareness affects early reading ability, the ability to read also increases phonological awareness (Smith, Simmons, & Kameenui, 1995).

Many children with learning disabilities have deficiencies in their ability to process phonological information. Thus, they do not readily learn how to relate letters of the alphabet to the sounds of language (Lyon, 1995). For all students, the processes of phonological awareness, including phonemic awareness, must be explicitly taught.

Children from culturally diverse backgrounds may have particular difficulties with phonological awareness. Exposure to language at home, exposure to reading at an early age, and dialect all affect the ability of children to understand the phonological distinctions on which the English language is built. Teachers must apply sensitive effort and use a variety of techniques to help children learn these skills when standard English is not spoken at home (Lyon, 1994).

Beginning Reading And Phonological Awareness For Students With Learning Disabilities

Learning to read begins well before the first day of school. When Ron and Donna tell nursery rhymes to their baby, Mia, they are beginning to teach Mia to read. They are helping her to hear the similarities and differences in the sounds of words. She will begin to manipulate and understand sounds in spoken language, and she will practice this understanding by making up rhymes and new words of her own. She will learn the names of the letters and she will learn the different sounds each letter represents. As she gets a little older, Ron and Donna will teach her to write letters and numbers that she will already recognize by their shapes. Finally, she will associate the letters of the alphabet with the sounds of the words she uses when she speaks. At this point, she is on her way to learning to read!

When she tries to read books with her parents, at school, and on her own, Mia will learn how to learn new words by sounding them out. With more practice, she will begin to recognize familiar words easily and quickly, and she will know the patterns of spelling that appear in words and the patterns of words as they appear in sentences. She will be able to pay attention not just to the letters and words, but to the meanings they represent. Ultimately, Mia will be able to think about the meaning of the text as she reads.

By Michael M. Behrmann

Teaching Methods

Research indicates that phonological awareness can be taught and that students who increased their awareness of phonemes facilitated their subsequent reading acquisition (Lundberg et al, 1988). Teachers need to be aware of instructional activities that can help their students become aware of phonemes before they receive formal reading instruction, and they need to realize that phonemic awareness will become more sophisticated as students' reading skills develop.




The following recommendations for instruction in phonemic awareness are derived from Spector (1995):

• At the preschool level, engage children in activities that direct their attention to the sounds in words, such as rhyming and alliteration games.
• Teach students to segment and blend.
• Combine training in segmentation and blending with instruction in letter-sound relationships.
• Teach segmentation and blending as complementary processes.
• Systematically sequence examples when teaching segmentation and blending.
• Teach for transfer to novel tasks and contexts.
  

Yopp (1992) offers the following general recommendations for phonemic awareness activities:
a. Keep a sense of playfulness and fun, avoid drill and rote memorization.
b. Use group settings that encourage interaction among children.
c. Encourage children's curiosity about language and their experimentation with it.
d. Allow for and be prepared for individual differences.
e. Make sure the tone of the activity is not evaluative but rather fun and informal.

Spending a few minutes daily engaging preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children in oral activities that emphasize the sounds of language may go a long way in helping them become successful readers and learners.

from : kidsource.com

Relation To The "Great Reading Wars"

Phonological awareness and its role in beginning reading has the potential to confound supporters at both extremes of the whole language vs. phonics "debate" over reading instruction. Regardless of instructional technique, phonological awareness is an essential element for reading progress (Griffith and Olson, 1992). In another study, Griffith et al. (1992) found that children with high phonemic awareness outperformed those with low phonemic awareness on all literacy measures, whether they were taught using a whole language approach or traditional basal instruction. Whole language advocates need to admit that not all children develop this necessary ability simply through immersion in a print-rich environment, and that some children will need direct instruction in phonological awareness. "Phonics first" supporters (and perhaps even "phonics only" supporters) need to admit that teaching students letter-sound correspondences is meaningless if the students do not have a solid visual familiarity with the individual letters and if they do not understand that the sounds (which can be complex, shifting, and notoriously rule-breaking) paired with those letters are what make up words (Adams, 1990).




What is needed, and what many practitioners probably already actually implement, is a balanced approach to reading instruction--an approach that combines the language- and literature-rich activities associated with whole language activities aimed at enhancing meaning, understanding, and the love of language with explicit teaching of skills as needed to develop fluency associated with proficient readers. Honig (1996) offers a review of reading research supporting such a balanced approach and presents detailed guidelines on how to integrate whole language principles with the necessary foundation reading skills.

Why Is It So Important?

Educators are always looking for valid and reliable predictors of educational achievement. One reason why educators are so interested in phonemic awareness is that research indicates that it is the best predictor of the ease of early reading acquisition (Stanovich, 1993-94), better even than IQ, vocabulary, and listening comprehension.



Phonological awareness is not only correlated with learning to read, but research indicates a stronger statement is true: phonological awareness appears to play a causal role in reading acquisition. Phonological awareness is a foundational ability underlying the learning of spelling-sound correspondences (Stanovich, 1993-94). Although phonological awareness appears to be a necessary condition for learning to read (children who do not develop phonological awareness do not go on to learn how to read), it is not a sufficient condition. Adams (1990) reviews the research that suggests that it is critical for children to be able to link phoneme awareness to a knowledge of letters.

Once beginning readers have some awareness of phonemes and their corresponding graphic representations, research has indicated that further reading instruction heightens their awareness of language, assisting then in developing the later stages of phonemic awareness mentioned above. Phonemic awareness is both a prerequisite for and a consequence of learning to read (Yopp, 1992). Instruments to test for a child's phonemic awareness tend to be short, easy to administer, reliable, and valid. Stanovich also provides a quick (7-minute) and easy-to-administer phonological awareness test in an article in which he discusses his career as a researcher.


by : Roger Sensenbaugh

What Is Phonological/Phoneme Awareness?

Stanovich (1993-94) defines "phonological awareness" as the ability to deal explicitly and segmentally with sound units smaller than the syllable. He also notes that researchers "argue intensely" about the meaning of the term and about the nature of the tasks used to measure it. Harris and Hodges (1995) present a brief essay on phonemic awareness. Another oft-cited source (Adams, 1990) uses "phonemic awareness" almost exclusively. Phonological awareness sometimes refers to an awareness that words consist of syllables, "onsets and rimes," and phonemes, and so can be considered as a broader notion than phonemic awareness. Each term is widely used and perhaps (if incorrectly) used interchangeably. In preparing this Digest, both terms were used to search the ERIC database. For the purposes of this Digest, each author's use will be followed.

Adams (1990) describes 5 levels of phonemic awareness in terms of abilities:

• to hear rhymes and alliteration as measured by knowledge of nursery rhymes
• to do oddity tasks (comparing and contrasting the sounds of words for rhyme and alliteration)
• to blend and split syllables
• to perform phonemic segmentation (such as counting out the number of phonemes in a word) to perform phoneme manipulation tasks (such as adding, deleting a particular phoneme and regenerating a word from the remainder).