Rayanne Pirozzi

 

Overview 

Read Aloud
Adult reads to child.

• Expands vocabulary. There are words that are used more often in books than in conversation or through television watching. Listening to books being read helps children learn additional vocabulary.
  
  
• Develops the ability to comprehend written language. Through listening to a book being read aloud children learn to understand main ideas and supporting details, making inferences, making predictions and confirming them, and visualizing in the mind’s eye what the words suggest.
  
  
• Encourages enthusiasm for literacy as they participate in the reader’s excitement. When adults read books aloud with expression, they have the opportunity to show children how written language conveys a range of emotions.
  
  Makes children aware of the structure of stories and other kinds of texts. Children learn to find questions and pursue answers according to the structure of the text that is being read. The children notice that the story shows characters in settings and the problems they have and how those problems are solved. By reading books aloud and commenting on them, the adult reader can help students become aware of the patterns in different texts and how these patterns can help them with comprehension.

 

Shared Reading

With this type of reading, the teacher is trying to teach specific reading skills. The teacher chooses the skills based on the assessment of a child or group of children and the skills they need help with. These skills could include the following:

• Summoning and using background knowledge
• Raising questions about the topic of the book and looking for answers
• Making predictions and confirming them from reading
• Monitoring comprehension
• Visualizing what is described
• Finding main ideas
• Summarizing

 

When teachers engage in shared reading, they explain to the children the main skills they will be working on. They preview the book by discussing the title and the cover illustration and ask the children what they know about the topic. Teachers then ask the children to predict what they think they will read in the book. They instruct the children to look at some of the pictures in the book and ask the children what they think is happening.

 

Guided Reading 

In guided reading, teachers work with small groups on reading concepts and skills. Teachers may read to the children, the children may read with the teacher aloud, or the children may take turns reading aloud. After the reading is complete, children pair off and discuss what they have read. This discussion may lead to a writing activity. 

This type of reading helps with reading comprehension, oral language, vocabulary, self confidence, and motivation.

 

Reading Workshop

This type of activity focuses on individual child interest. The student chooses a book that interests them. They read this book independently and then keep written logs of their reading which they will share with the teacher. Most of the lesson time is used for silently reading and writing individual responses to what has been read. The teacher may bring students together for lessons concerning aspects of literature or reading strategies. These lessons can then be used in future independent reading and writing logs.

 

Independent Reading

Students learn that there are different purposes for reading:

• Reading for enjoyment
• Reading to learn how to do something
• Reading to remember facts and ideas

This is one of the most important types of reading. It makes reading relevant, useful, and meaningful to the child’s everyday life. Children who engage in independent reading have an advantage over those who do not. These children are able to learn and gain knowledge independently through reading.

 

 

Family Activities 

Adapted from Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children’s Reading Success by the National Research Council, 1998.  A copy of this report is available online at http://www.nap.edu

 

• – Give children writing or drawing assignment connected to what has been read. One approach is to have students write and illustrate an advertisement about the book or create a book cover. Ask the children to highlight where the author succeeded in conveying your skill of choice example: conveying a main idea, describing what is happening so it can be visualized. Could the student have done better and how.
  
• – Gather many different kinds of written texts, examples: a book, an entry from a children’s encyclopedia, the school lunch menu, an article from a children’s magazine, the Sunday comics, the Saturday morning listing from a TV guide, a monthly event calendar, a recipe.  Have a different child each day pick something to read to the class.  Ask questions that will help the children discuss the meaning of what is read while also allowing them to notice the different structures and uses for specific text and reading.

 

 

Other Activities

• Thinking About Character. What if the character from the book came to visit the child’s house? Pose this question to the children and then let them draw a picture of the character in their home.
• Reading Around the House. Use any written materials around your home and have children read them. This could include labels on food, take-out menus, cookbooks, writing in photo albums, or any of the examples in the above activity.
• Think Alouds. This teaching technique can be used with either reading or writing. A reading example would be a teacher reading a text aloud to the students and then thinking aloud about what she thinks might be happening, how it relates to her own experience, and what it may mean to her. In this way the teacher models how to think critically about a text as well as relating text to real life experiences. The teacher may then guide the children to begin thinking aloud about the text.

 

Guided Writing 

Have your child write thank-you notes after a birthday or holiday when gifts are received. Write an example thank you note for your child, including and highlighting all the important parts of a letter. Have your child use the format and write his or her own thank you notes!

 

Independent Writing

Next time you go on a trip, even if it is just to a relative’s house, have your child write a journal each day he or she is there. If postcards are available, have your child write the journal entries on the back of postcards, clipping them together with a ring. This is a great and inexpensive souvenir!

 

 

Resources 

Internet Resources

Reading is Fundamental, www.si.edu/rif
Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/kids/
International Reading Association, www.reading.org
Language Arts internet games, www.funbrain.com
Language Arts www.readwritethink.org

 

Student interests

National Geographic http://www.nationalgeographic.com/index.html
Smithsonian Institution www.si.edu
Science and Social Studieswww.enchantedlearning.com
Children’s Literature www.scholastic.com
Animals http://www.journeynorth.org/

 

Space

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html
http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/osskids/

 

MarcoPolo Project idea

www.marcopolo-education.org

 

Children’s Magazines

Ladybug. The Cricket Magazine Group, Box 7434, Red Oak, IA 51591-2434. 800/827-0227

Click. Box 7499, Read Oak, IA 51591-2499. 800/827-0227

 

 

References

Kid Zone. Haiku. Accessed on October 23, 2006 from www.kidzone.com.ws/poetry/haiku.htm.

 

Temple, C., Ogle, D., Crawford, A., & Freppon, P. (2005). All children read. Boston, MA: Pearson.