How To Become Your Child s Reading Coach Practical Tips for Parents and Families Parent Education Network
Parent Education Network (PEN) Parent Education Network is a Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) that provides training and assistance to parents of children with disabilities and to parents of children with learning and behavior problems.
Workshop Goals This workshop will assist you in helping your child at home by: providing you with an understanding of how children learn to read. providing ideas and reading activities that you can do at home with your child providing an understanding of literacy terms. providing resource books to read and organizations to contact for more information.
Learning To Read Why It s So Important
Big Dreams We want to encourage you to have Big Dreams for your child! Big Dreams - A Family Book About Reading published by The National Institute for Literacy
Big Dreams I want my child to read. I want my child to read. I want my child to be a reader. I want my child to have big dreams. And I want those dreams to come true. How can I help my child learn to read? I want my child to be a reader. I want my child to have big dreams. And I want those dreams to come true. How can I help my child learn to read?
Big Dreams I show her that reading matters. I help her find books she likes. She sees me read. We go to the library together. We write letters to her cousins and spell out all the words. We read before bed every night.
Big Dreams We spend time together. We talk a lot. I talk to her about what we re doing. I ask about her day. She asks me about the world. I tell her what I know.
Big Dreams I help him hear the sounds in words when we talk. I help him hear how baby and bubble start with the same sound. I help him hear that kitten and mitten rhyme. We sing songs. We say nursery rhymes. He is getting ready to read. I am helping him.
Big Dreams I help her learn the ABCs. We start with ant and go all the way to zebra. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. We look for letters everywhere. We say their names and the sounds they make. We practice writing all the letters.
Big Dreams I help them know what words mean. I teach my children that things have names. I teach them the colors, the foods we eat. I teach them the animals and the kinds of weather. I teach them walk, run, jump, fly. I teach them is, was, and will be.
Big Dreams I help him practice reading. He reads his favorite book out loud. I read it too. We take turns. He reads it over and over. I don t mind. He reads until the words sound right. I say, Great job reading!
Big Dreams Reading can help our dreams come true. I show her that reading matters. We spend time together. I help him hear the sounds in words when we talk. I help her learn the ABCs. I help them know what words mean. I help him practice reading. I help him understand what he reads. Big Dreams - A Family Book About Reading published by The National Institute for Literacy
Parents- You can make the difference! Spending time with your child talking, reading, and having fun together helps builds a strong relationship and also helps promote a love of learning!
The Five Skills Needed to Read Reading success begins with mastering the five essential parts of reading: Phonemic Awareness Phonics Vocabulary Fluency Comprehension
Spoken Words 1- Phonemic Awareness As soon as a baby is born they begin to learn about language by hearing spoken words. By the time they are one year old they will hear thousands of spoken words.
Phonemic Awareness Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and understand that words are made up of separate sounds. Before children are able to read they need to become aware of how sounds work. This process begins when a child is just a baby
Parent Suggestion Sing songs and play games with words. You can start working on phonemic awareness when your child is a just a baby. Babies and children love silly songs and nursery rhymes. As your child gets older, your games can get more advanced. Sing the alphabet song and point to the letters as you sing. Children learn faster by hearing and seeing them at the same time.
Written Words 2- Phonics When a child starts to understand that written letters represent the sounds of speech they can begin to sound out words. It s like learning a code. If it s fun, they will love it!
Parent Suggestion Words are everywhere in your environment. Think of every word that you see as a chance to help your child become a better reader. Look for words on signs, maps, billboards, cereal boxes, money, and birthday cards.
Word Power 3- Vocabulary Learning new words and what they mean builds vocabulary. Children learn most words by hearing them and then repeating the sounds and words that they hear.
Vocabulary You can start building a child s vocabulary very early, when you read your child a story and talk about the new words or point to a picture of a kangaroo in a book (and say kangaroo out loud).
Parent Suggestion Building vocabulary is like playing with Legos. You build your toy one piece at a time. Make learning new words a game. Play I Spy. They will love it!
Smooth Reader 4- Fluency Children need lots of practice to become fluent readers, just like learning how to hit a ball. The more you read, the better you become.
Fluency Fluency is the ability to read without difficulty. Fluent readers are able to read aloud effortlessly and with expression. They recognize lots of words, without having to sound them out one by one.
Parent Suggestion Does your child have a favorite book that they like to read over and over again? Reading those favorite books over and over again is a great way to help make your child a fluent reader. Listen to your child read the same pages repeatedly, until your child is able to read smoothly without having to stop to sound out the words.
Understanding What It Means 5-Comprehension People read for a reason. We want to learn how to do something, or find out what happened in last night s game, or just to get lost in a good story. Reading has no purpose or meaning if it doesn t help us understand something.
Comprehension Comprehension is understanding what we read. Does your child understand the details, the meaning, and the ideas behind what he is reading?
Parent Suggestion Ask open ended questions; questions that don t have a yes or no answer. It s a great way to know whether your young reader really understands what he or she read. This encourages children to think about what they have read.
Some Helpful Terms To Know alphabetic knowledge Knowing the names and shapes of the letters of the alphabet. big books Oversized books that allow for the sharing of print and illustrations with children. blending Putting together individual sounds to make spoken words. developmental spelling The use of letter-sound relationship information to attempt to write words. emergent literacy The view that literacy learning begins at birth and is encouraged through participation with adults in meaningful reading and writing activities. environmental print Print that is a part of everyday life, such as signs, billboards, labels, and business logos. experimental writing Efforts by young children to experiment with writing by creating pretend and real letters and by organizing scribbles and marks on paper. invented spelling See developmental spelling. literacy Includes all the activities involved in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and appreciating both spoken and written language. phonemes The smallest parts of spoken language that combine to form words. For example, the word hit is made up of three phonemes (/h/ /i/ /t/) and differs by one phoneme from the words pit, hip and hot. phonemic awareness The ability to notice and work with the individual sounds in spoken language. phonological awareness The understanding that spoken language is made up of individual and separate sounds. In addition to phonemes, phonological awareness activities can involve work with rhymes, words, sentences, and syllables. pretend reading Children s attempts to read a book before they have learned to read. Usually children pretend read a familiar book that they have practically memorized. print awareness Knowing about print and books and how they are used. segmentation Taking spoken words apart sound by sound. spoken language The language used in talking and listening; in contrast to written language, which is the language used in writing and reading. syllable A word part that contains a vowel or, in spoken language, a vowel sound (e-vent, news-paper, pret-ty) vocabulary The words we must know in order to communicate effectively. Oral vocabulary refers to words that we use in speaking or recognize in listening. Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use in print. A Child Becomes a Reader, Proven Ideas for Parents from Research--Kindergarten through Grade Three
Resources For Parents The Partnership for Reading. www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading National Parent Information Network (NPIN). www.npin.org National Institute for Literacy (NIFL). www.nifl.gov Reading Rockets offers activities and ideas for building your child s reading skills at home. www.readingrockets.org/families PBS Parents can help parents learn how children become readers and writers by helping them develop by talking, reading, and writing together every day. http://pbskids.org The American Federation of Teachers web site offers pages for parents on building strong partnerships with schools. www.aft.org/parents/index.htm Parents as Teachers National Center suggests ways for parents to interact with their children to develop early literacy. www.parentsasteachers.org Resource list provided by the Parent Information and Resource Centers, U.S. Department of Education.
Power Point Resource List Big Dreams - A Family Book About Reading (October 2006) Dad's Playbook: Coaching Kids to Read (September 2006) Put Reading First Helping Your Child Learn to Read - A Parent Guide, Preschool Through Grade 3 A Child Becomes a Reader Proven Ideas for Parents from Research--Kindergarten through Grade Three, Third Edition, (2006).
Help Is Available If your child is showing signs of frustration trying to learn to read Contact: Parent Education Network 1-800-522-5827 1-717-600-0100 pen@parentednet.org
In Closing Have fun with your children and make reading part of your everyday activities! Spend time talking and listening to your child everyday Read together daily. Visit the library together. Make reading a priority.
Thank you for attending! Please complete the workshop evaluation and hand it in before you leave. For additional parent/family resources contact: Parent Education Network 1-800-522-5827 Parent Education Network
The development of this presentation was supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Special Education through the OSEP-funded State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG). The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education, CDF 84.323A. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project Officer, Marsha Goldberg.