Dialogic Reading

We’ve known for a long time that reading to children is critical in their language development.  However, we now know that the way in which we read to children is important also.  Dialogic reading can be described as a conversation between an adult and a child (or children) about a book.  It is a very powerful tool in language development, particularly vocabulary development.  The goal in dialogic reading is for the child to move from being an active listener to a storyteller.  

As with reading any book, start by having the child look at the cover and tell you what he thinks the book is about.  Then read the book normally so that the child can become familiar with the story.  In subsequent readings of the book, you can use dialogic reading.  (Children enjoy repetition; repeated reading is another great technique to improve language skills.)

The method used in dialogic reading is known by the acronym PEER. 

• Prompt—ask the child a “what” question about the book.  What did you see on that page? 
• Evaluate—either reinforce the child’s correct answer or guide the child to the correct answer.  Yes, you saw a man on that page.
• Expand—expand the child’s answer with additional details.  (You can provide the details right away or ask the child to provide more details before you expand the answer even more.)  That man is a fireman, standing next to his fire truck. 
• Repeat—have the child repeat your phrase or part of your phrase.  Can you say “fireman”?

Try to ask a variety of questions instead of just asking “what happened” over and over again.  The acronym CROWD provides suggestions for types of questions to ask.

• Completion—have the child complete your sentence about the story.  The fireman is standing next to his _________.  (truck)
• Recall—ask the child to recall a detail from the story.  What did the fireman do when he heard the alarm?
• Open-ended—ask the child a question without a specific answer.  What do you think the fireman is going to do next?
• WH questions—who, what, where, when, why (and how).  Where did the fireman go in his truck?
• Distancing—ask the child to relate the story to something in his own life.  Have you seen a fire truck?  Where did you see it?  What was it like?

And, of course, after reading and discussing the story, have the child give you an overview of it.  This will help you to make sure that the child is comprehending what you are reading.  Most importantly, read, read, read (and have fun with it).

Misty

Phonological Memory and Early Reading

Phonological memory refers to a person’s ability to retain phonological (sound) information for a short period of time.  Difficulties with phonological memory often signal future struggles with reading and vocabulary acquisition.  Phonological memory skills can be practiced with remembering lists of words, strings of digits, multi-syllable nonsense words, sentence or story details, or multi-step directions.  Helping children improve their phonological memories is one way to help them avoid future reading problems.  And, like most things, these skills can be developed in fun ways.

• Going to New York—Tell the child, “I’m going to New York and I packed a …”.  Name something you packed.  The child then repeats the phrase, what you packed, then adds what they packed.  (“I’m going to New York and I packed a … and a …”)  Continue the game until the list gets too long to remember.
• Repetition—Read a book with a repetitive phrase (like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”) and have the child repeat the repetitive phrase at the appropriate time.
• Rhythm Clapping—Clap out a rhythm and have the child repeat the rhythm.
• Calculations—Read a string of digits from a prepared card (2-7 digits, depending upon the child’s ability) to a child.  Have the child repeat the digits to himself over and over while walking across the room to a calculator.  The child presses the buttons on the calculator in the order in which they were read.  Compare the number on the calculator to the prepared card so the child can see if he remembered the digits correctly.
• Play Mother May I
• Stringing Beads—Give a child a direction of what 2 colors of beads to put on a string, in order.  Increase the number of beads as the child’s ability increases.

To help children develop their phonological memories, teachers or parents can also teach the children strategies for remembering.  For example, a 7-digit phone number is chunked into 3 digits followed by 4 digits.  Repetition, like in the Calculations game, helps to keep those digits in memory until the task can be completed.  Tapping along with “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” can provide a needed reminder.  Some children will pick up these strategies on their own and some will need to be explicitly taught the strategies.

Misty

"Green Eggs and Ham" Activities for Multiple Intelligences

Dr. Seuss’s birthday is coming up next week.  To honor his birthday (and to celebrate “Read Across America Day” on March 1), I decided to put together a series of activities based on his classic “Green Eggs and Ham”.  The activities are designed for multiple intelligences to provide something that will, hopefully, appeal to any student.  

So, back to “Green Eggs and Ham”.  It’s such a great book.  It appeals to everyone from pre-readers to young readers and even old folks like me.  It is written with only 50 different words (so that Dr. Seuss could win a bet with his publisher).  The language is simple and its rhyming, repetitive format makes it very predictable.  

While I have long extolled the virtues of this book, I forgot about the most important aspect of it.  It’s just a blast to read out loud.  Last week, I sat down and read the book with a student.  The rhyme, the rhythm, the repetition; it just flows.  We read back and forth, me reading most of it and my student providing the logical rhyming words.  It was quite simply, a thoroughly enjoyable experience for both of us.  

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss and, thank you.

Misty

Get the "Green Eggs and Ham" activities free by clicking for the Preschool version 

or the School-Age version

“Children's reading and children's thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth.” ― Dr. Seuss

Phonemic Awareness Activities (Early Reading Skills)

Research has shown that a child's phonemic awareness (ability to hear and manipulate sounds within a word) is a very good indicator of that child's future reading success or struggle.  So, how do we build phonemic awareness in children, including very young children?

• Rhyming--read rhyming poems and stories, emphasizing the rhyming words.  Leave a rhyming word out and have the child fill in a word that works.    
• Blending--putting individual sounds together to make words.  For example, "/b/, /a/, /t/ says what?"  Then change it, "what if we use a /c/ instead of /b/?"  In addition to individual sounds, you can also blend and change groups of sounds; "/h/, /op/ says what? What if you change /op/ to /at/?"
• Segmenting--segmenting is the opposite of blending; the child tells you all of the sounds they hear in a word.  "What sounds do you hear in 'stop'?"
• Isolating sounds--matching words with the same beginning, middle or ending sounds.  Sort pictures; play "Beginning Sound Concentration"--find pictures with matching sounds; play "I Spy"--"I spy something  that starts with /w/."
• Identifying and sequencing sounds--first, identify sounds in isolation.  This part can be done in the classroom or on a "sound walk".  "What was that sound you just heard?"  (crumpling paper, clapping, sliding a chair, etc.)  Once children learn to identify different sounds pretty well, you can start sequencing the sounds and see if the children can tell you what sound they heard first, next and last.  Or, give them three sounds, then do it again, leaving one sound out.  See if the children can identify which sound was left out.
• Deleting sounds--leaving one sound or part of a word out and seeing what word remains.  "Say the word 'toothbrush'.  Now say 'toothbrush' without saying 'tooth'."  The child should respond "brush".  "Say the word 'train'.  Now say 'train' without saying 't'."  The child should respond "rain".

Anything that we can do to help child develop phonemic awareness will help them in their reading, regardless of whether they are currently learning to read or still a few years away.

Misty

Image courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Parents Supporting Children's Literacy

I recently read about a very interesting project in England that empowered parents to help their young children improve their literacy skills.  The REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) Project is interesting in several ways.

• The focus of the project is teaching parents how to teach their own children.  Seems like overall, this would be a pretty cost-effective way of improving early literacy.
• The parents are taught through workshops as well as home visits by the teacher.  A lot of parents and children find this to be highly motivating.
• While, overall, the children showed positive results, the results dissipated over time.  However, in families with a reported lower socio-economic status of the father or lower educational experience of the mother, the results were more positive and longer-lasting.
• Even though this project is intended for early literacy, I think the format could be used with learners of any age or development level.

What I find particularly appealing about this project was that it was very well received by the families.  It's often difficult for schools or other education programs to find ways to connect with parents that are meaningful for both.  This project seems to do just that.  

Additionally, I like the approach that this program takes to teaching literacy.  They use what they term the ORIM (Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction, Model) framework to focus on four specific elements of literacy; environmental print (street signs, product packages, etc.), books, early writing, and oral language.  Opportunities are simply having print and oral language opportunities available for children.  Recognition involves teaching (and modeling for) parents how to recognize literacy milestones in their children.  Interactions are real opportunities for parents to share literacy tasks with their children, such as reading a story together or writing a note to a friend.  Modeling for their children is nothing more than showing their children how they use literacy in their own lives; reading the newspaper, talking with a friend about a book they read, following written instructions to put together a bookshelf, etc.

The goal of the program was to reach 60 families; the program reached 6,000 families.  Apparently they did something right.

For more information, you can find the REAL Project at: http://www.real-online.group.shef.ac.uk/aboutreal-text.html

Misty 

Image courtesy of: www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Natural, Functional Literacy Development

 

What is the first letter of the alphabet that most young children learn? The first letter of their name.  Why?  Because they care; it means something to them.  This concept kind of defines natural, functional literacy.  It's natural because it's part of the child's everyday life and it's functional because it serves a purpose.  The child can say "This is MY name."

Our question as educators and/or parents is how to maximize the opportunities for natural, functional literacy development in our programs.  We have to provide a print-rich environment.  We should set up an attractive  library that is in a quiet part of the room and offers a wide variety of books that cover a wide range of reading abilities.  Ideally, some of these books will stay the same to provide continuity and repetition, but some of the books will rotate, perhaps according to the season or according to concepts being taught.

In addition to reading, children can learn to read by writing as well.  Writing stories may be interesting to some students, but this is certainly not the only way to encourage writing. How about simple recipe cards and blank cards for children to write their own recipes?  Long strips of paper for children to create shopping lists? Maybe a menu from a local restaurant and an order pad for the child to take your order or jot down their own?   You could also include stationery, envelopes, cards and postcards so that children can write letters to parents, grandparents or friends.

If you take a mental break and let the child spend a few minutes building with blocks, you can also provide books about architecture or particular interesting buildings.  Or paper and pens so that children can label their buildings.  How about graph paper so that they can draw "blueprints" of their creations?  Did they build a McDonald's or Home Depot?  Let them make a sign for the building.  Adding cars to the mix?  How about including maps, auto repair manuals, or receipt books for those auto repairs?  

Look around and think of other ways in which you can make language more meaningful for your children.

Misty

Don't Forget Dr. Seuss

"Roses are red, violets are blue...."  I'm pretty sure we all know that little poem.  But somewhere along the line, it seems like many of our children have forgotten how to rhyme.

It seems that, more often than not, the students who come to me for extra reading support do not know how to rhyme.  So, why is this important?  Understanding onset (the initial consonant or consonant blend of a word) and rime (the vowel and the consonants that follow it) is a critical skill in developing phonological awareness, one of the foundations of reading.  Children do not learn to read words until they first learn to pull apart the individual sounds in a word.  Pull them apart first to get the concept, then learn how to put them back together.

So, what has happened to rhyming?  I have a theory that is, in no way, research-based; just based upon my own observations.  It seems to me that perhaps we are such a "sophisticated" society these days, that we don't need to worry about things like reading Dr. Seuss to our children.  Hop on Pop is cliche; we've all read it a million times.  But have our children?  Books like that are perfect for early readers...or even pre-readers.  Children love books that are predictable and repetitive.  They can learn to "read" them, or at least parts of the books, by themselves.  In doing so, they begin to understand our alphabetic system.  Even more importantly, they learn to play with words by changing the beginning sounds.  Change the /h/ in "hop" to /p/ and you have "pop".  Thus we have the beginnings of onset and rime.

As the child eagerly fills in the words that you leave out when you are reading and come up with other rhyming words that could fit in that same spot, they learn how much fun they can have with reading.  A love for reading will lead to a desire to read more, which will ultimately lead to fluent reading.  In the words of Dr. Seuss, from I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

Misty

Your Baby Can Read--But Why?

As reported by ABC News, "Your Baby Can Read" has shut their doors in light of a possible Federal Trade Commission investigation over false claims.  This is a company that preyed on parents; those from a lower socio-economic status who desperately wanted to give their children a head start, those who wanted to brag about their babies' skills, and those who just believed the company's claims.   At $200 a pop, they purportedly made a fortune off of these parents.

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association for the Education of Young Children recommend NO screen time for children under the age of two.  However, if parents followed the instructions of the Your Baby Can Read program, their children would be subjected to as much as 200 hours of screen time in their first two years of life through this program alone.  

Screen time issues aside, is the program valuable?  Yes, an infant can be trained to mimic words that they see printed.  But does this qualify as reading?  I can watch "Dora the Explorer" with my Goddaughter and learn to greet people with "hola".  But does that mean that I can speak Spanish?  Absolutely not.  It's the same idea.  Providing a response to a few words in isolation doesn't make a child a reader any more than Dora makes me a Spanish-speaker.

Reading is  a complicated process that combines aspects of memorization with decoding skills.  An early program that focuses solely on memorization can establish some bad habits in young children.  Many of my reading students have great difficulty with the vowel sounds in words; they often just skip over the letter and inserting whatever vowel sound seems right to them.  This is because they see the word as one whole piece rather than individual sounds that combine to make a word.  Memorization is simply not an effective way to learn to read.

The other, even more basic piece of all of this is:  Why would we want our children sitting in front of television screens when we could be snuggling with them and reading to them?  THIS is how we establish pre-reading skills.  We show children how wonderful it is to read and show them the basics of the alphabetic principle--we read from top to bottom, left to right, letters make distinct sounds that combine to form words, and print represents meaning.  I would much rather my child learn that from warm interactions with me than from my television set.

Misty

Pre-Reading Skills: Teaching Beginning Sounds

Play is a very important aspect of a child's learning.  The same idea applies in developing pre-reading skills.

Some children see a word as a whole rather than as individual letters (or sounds) that combine to form a word.  This makes it difficult to learn to read.  For example, a child may read the word "dug" as "dog" because the words look so similar and the child doesn't notice the difference.

We can help children develop the skills that they need to be able to read by playing language games with them. 

• "My name starts with /m/ (the sound of "m").  Who else's name starts with /m/?"   Move on to other sounds.
• "I'm going on a trip and I'm taking a toothbrush."  Next person--"I'm going on a trip and I'm taking a turtle."  Continue taking turns naming things that start with the same letter until someone has difficulty with the task.  Choose a different letter and start again.
• "We're going to make 'c' soup."  Put soup pot in middle of circle and have a child start stirring it.  Other children come up and pretend to put something in the soup that starts with the target letter.  "I'm putting corn in the soup."  "I'm putting carrots in the soup."  Children can be silly with their ingredients if they want--"I'm putting a camera in the soup."
• Word sort--provide children with pictures that start with one of two different target sounds.  (The target sounds should not be similar--don't use /m/ and /n/ together.)  Children name each picture and sort them into piles of words starting with the same sounds.  For example--one pile will have a picture of a banana, a boat, and a bone, while the other pile will have a picture of a man, a map, and a mop.

Making language fun is one way to help children more readily develop pre-reading skills.  

Misty

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