**The creation of this page was inspired by my ED 672 Graduate Level class in 2019. I hope it can serve you well with helpful information on your child's literacy journey! Please let me know if you would like any additional information or have questions. Thank you! -Mrs. Fritzler
Strategies to Support Reading
Comprehension
As you read to/with your child, you can use the pictures in the book to help support comprehension.
As you read to/with your child, you can use the pictures in the book to help support comprehension.
- Stop now and then to talk to students about the pictures. Ask questions about what they see and if the picture matches the words you said.
- Sometimes, do NOT show the illustrations. Just read the story. Have your child think about what they see in their mind. We are currently practicing the strategy "visualizing," so you can prompt them: "What do you see? What do you visualize?" They can respond "I visualize ___________."
- For movement, I wave my hands over my head/make a cloud formation with my hands over my head as I talk to students about visualizing. They know this as their "thought bubble." After they share their thoughts, reveal the picture from the book and compare.
- After reading the story, ask your child what happened in the story or what they remembered. Flip through pages of the story again so your child can use the pictures as guidance for remembering.
- Here are some examples of questions to ask before, during, and after reading from this blog. As mentioned in the blog, keep it simple, and if you are consistent with the questions you ask for each story time, students will build confidence as they have had a lot of practice generating thoughts.
- Who? Who was in this book?
- What? What happened?
- Where? Where did this happen?
- How? How was a problem solved?
- WHY? Why did you like this book (or why not)?
Questioning
- Model creating questions as you read. This will be a springboard into the "prediction" strategy (talked about below).
- "I wonder______." "I'm curious_________"
- Use frames that start with who, what, when, where, why, how
- I teach my students "HOT" (higher order thinking) questions. This goes along with our AVID strategy of Costa's Levels of Thinking, where there are 3 levels of questioning:
- Level 1: gathering
- cold question--it doesn't take long to answer. It is quick/found in the text
- Level 2: processing
- warm question--it takes a little longer. Need to use text and own thoughts.
- Level 3: applying
- hot question--it takes longer to answer/brain is "hot" from thinking hard. Answer is found from brain/heart (outside of text)
- Level 1: gathering
- Level 1 questions are real easy to ask throughout the story and at the end. Level 2 and 3 are often asked at the end of the story. Try to ask a variety of questions. Here is a template for some example question starters:
Predicting
Making predictions helps to engage the reader more with the reading. The reader is making a guess in what is going to happen throughout the story. In order to make a prediction, the reader uses:
1) text or picture clues from the story and 2) their own background knowledge, or schema.
You can practice making predictions with your child with every story:
Predicting
Making predictions helps to engage the reader more with the reading. The reader is making a guess in what is going to happen throughout the story. In order to make a prediction, the reader uses:
1) text or picture clues from the story and 2) their own background knowledge, or schema.
You can practice making predictions with your child with every story:
- Look at the cover of the book, read the title and talk about what you think the story will be about
- As you go through the story, stop now and then before you turn the page and model making predictions and/or ask your child to make a prediction
- "I think ______ will happen next because_______” or “What do you think will happen next? Why?"
- Try using the word "predict." --> "I predict ______ because _____." "What do you predict?" "Make a prediction."
- Try asking your child WHY in order to further their thinking. We want to get students to be thinking about their thinking and to own their learning. This will take them from a surface level of learning and lead them into deeper understanding while building stronger connections.
- You can also have your child draw pictures of what they think will happen next. When ready, they can also write it down. Here is a pack of prediction papers I found that are kid-friendly and that we will use in our classroom, too.
making-predictions-pack.pdf | |
File Size: | 366 kb |
File Type: |
Summarizing
After going through comprehension and questioning practice, you can guide your child to do a
"5 finger Retell." This is a great kinesthetic and visual technique to make sure your child doesn't leave anything out. You begin with a fist and then pop each finger up one at a time, starting with the thumb and ending with the pinky.
Thumb--Setting: where the story takes place/where you "go"
Index--Characters: the book's "stars"/who was in the story
Middle--Beginning: what happened first
Ring--Middle: most of the story/the "exciting" part
Pinky--End: what happened last
Oral Reading
Reading can happen EVERYWHERE! Here are some fun ideas:
Reading can happen EVERYWHERE! Here are some fun ideas:
- "Read" signs or logos when you are driving or walking outside (environmental print)
- Read out loud with different voices for various characters. Model fluency and tone.
- Read out loud as your child points to each word. This will help with their concepts of print, too, as each spoken word is associated with a written word. A pointer finger works just fine, but for added fun, you could use a Qtip, popsicle stick, popsicle stick with a googly eye glued on it, witch fingers (or any toy that can go on top of fingers), small wand from the dollar store, finger lights, etc.
- Practice rhyming words. You can make it a game! Start with one word and go back and forth saying words that rhyme. Silly words are OK, too!
- "cat, bat, rat, fat, sat, mat, lat, zat...."
- Echo read: You read a sentence, and then your child repeats you, trying to mimic your tone.
Reading buddy: Encourage your child to read to a stuffed animal or toy...or many stuffed animals or toys! Some students feel nervous to "read" because they feel they can't do it. This would be less intimidating. Plus, a lot of students like to play "teacher." Tell them they are the teacher and they have a class to read to! - As always....Just read every day :) Expose your child to words and multiple types of stories/books!
Strategies to Support Language Development
Charades
Playing charades can be a great way to practice reading skills as well as build vocabulary. To practice reading CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, such as "cat" "dog" "pig" "bus" etc., children can grab a slip a paper with this word, have to read it, and then act it out. For vocabulary development beyond reading basic CVC words, students can have picture cards with a label of the action on it. They have to act out the picture and someone else guessing the action will help reinforce the vocabulary. This website has some fun, already made charades cards for kids.
Play-Dough
Did you know you can make play-dough at home?! Play-dough is GREAT for many reasons: it helps students practice their fine motor skills (finger work) by building muscle and flexibility in the hand, it's a novelty item, and it feels like play time! You can Google many play-dough recipes, but my personal favorite that I make for our classroom is this one. There is a video to look at if you are more visual, too! This recipe requires cooking the dough on the stove top, but there are a lot of "no cook" recipes, too. I do find that the cooked play-dough lasts longer, though, so it's worth the extra time in making it :)
Making the play-dough with your child is a great way to connect real-world "reading" as you look over the recipe together. We need to read the recipe and follow the directions in order to get the product! You can also talk about measurement, describe how each ingredient looks/feels, talk about how the ingredients start one way and turn into something completely different by the end, and more.
Once the Play-dough is made, you can find cheap letter cookie cutters to make letters and build words. You can also just use the Play-dough to roll out, stretch, and form letter shapes. Students will enjoy practicing their letters and words in this different way!
KizPhonics
KizPhonics is a website with a lot of free interactive games and printables. There are some materials that require a paid subscription, but there are quite a few resources available without having to pay. One set of games is called "learn to write." The interactive game says the letter name, sound, and shows the motion for writing. Students, then, have a chance to write the letter on their own using their mouse (or finger if using a touch screen). This is a great extension to letter writing practice, especially if you are out and about and may not necessarily have paper/pencil on hand (but your Smartphone is near).
Read Aloud. Everyday!
An oldie but a goodie: read to your child EVERY day! Being able to hear words and how they sound fluently when used to tell a story will build phonological awareness. Also, if your child sees you reading and enjoying to read, they will most likely pick up that joy of reading, too. Bringing in concrete objects or "props" can help enhance the learning experience. For example, if the story is about a certain animal, see if you have a stuffed animal of that character. If it's a household item, bring it out for your child to see and touch. Is the story a little too abstract? Going to outer space? Exploring the deep sea?Find images or videos on the Internet! These different ways of bringing in one concept can only strengthen your child's understanding.
Playing charades can be a great way to practice reading skills as well as build vocabulary. To practice reading CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, such as "cat" "dog" "pig" "bus" etc., children can grab a slip a paper with this word, have to read it, and then act it out. For vocabulary development beyond reading basic CVC words, students can have picture cards with a label of the action on it. They have to act out the picture and someone else guessing the action will help reinforce the vocabulary. This website has some fun, already made charades cards for kids.
Play-Dough
Did you know you can make play-dough at home?! Play-dough is GREAT for many reasons: it helps students practice their fine motor skills (finger work) by building muscle and flexibility in the hand, it's a novelty item, and it feels like play time! You can Google many play-dough recipes, but my personal favorite that I make for our classroom is this one. There is a video to look at if you are more visual, too! This recipe requires cooking the dough on the stove top, but there are a lot of "no cook" recipes, too. I do find that the cooked play-dough lasts longer, though, so it's worth the extra time in making it :)
Making the play-dough with your child is a great way to connect real-world "reading" as you look over the recipe together. We need to read the recipe and follow the directions in order to get the product! You can also talk about measurement, describe how each ingredient looks/feels, talk about how the ingredients start one way and turn into something completely different by the end, and more.
Once the Play-dough is made, you can find cheap letter cookie cutters to make letters and build words. You can also just use the Play-dough to roll out, stretch, and form letter shapes. Students will enjoy practicing their letters and words in this different way!
KizPhonics
KizPhonics is a website with a lot of free interactive games and printables. There are some materials that require a paid subscription, but there are quite a few resources available without having to pay. One set of games is called "learn to write." The interactive game says the letter name, sound, and shows the motion for writing. Students, then, have a chance to write the letter on their own using their mouse (or finger if using a touch screen). This is a great extension to letter writing practice, especially if you are out and about and may not necessarily have paper/pencil on hand (but your Smartphone is near).
Read Aloud. Everyday!
An oldie but a goodie: read to your child EVERY day! Being able to hear words and how they sound fluently when used to tell a story will build phonological awareness. Also, if your child sees you reading and enjoying to read, they will most likely pick up that joy of reading, too. Bringing in concrete objects or "props" can help enhance the learning experience. For example, if the story is about a certain animal, see if you have a stuffed animal of that character. If it's a household item, bring it out for your child to see and touch. Is the story a little too abstract? Going to outer space? Exploring the deep sea?Find images or videos on the Internet! These different ways of bringing in one concept can only strengthen your child's understanding.
Additional Resources to Engage in Literacy Acquisition
Act it Out
Children at this age LOVE to move and engage with imaginative play. As you read a story, invite your child to mimic movements, facial expressions, feelings, etc. that the characters do. If a shark is swimming in the water, prompt your child to pretend they are a shark swimming. If a character is feeling sad, have your child make a sad face, too. BONUS! Act along with your child :) They will love that you are "playing" with them. If it's a story that you have read over and over, you can act out different parts of the story with your child from beginning to end.
Errand Run
Do you need to go shopping? Have your child help you create a shopping list! Let them do their best to write the sounds they hear and do their "kid writing." (ex: "apple --> apl") As you are in the store, point to different items and labels for those items. See if your child can "read" you the signs. Have your child describe the various items with as many adjectives as they can. They will surely love to be your little helper!
Sign Language Practice
I like to incorporate sign language in our learning, particularly with the ABCs. Sign language is a real language and can be used practically; the kids love knowing this and enjoy practicing! Because it gets a part of their body moving, signing helps students recall letters faster. Some students take to sign language more than the Zoophonic motions, and vice versa; whatever helps your child succeed! I have noticed this year's class has taken a higher interest to sign language and can often remember letter names when I simply show them the sign in response to the question "What letter is it again?"
Below, I have some links to videos that I use with students to practice our sign language. I also have an ABC grid for you to look at and can share with your child. You can practice signing various letters of the alphabet as well as sign names. Students will have a blast teaching you how to sign, too!
Sign Language Alphabet - See it, Say it, Sign it
ABC Phonics Song - ASL (with pauses)
Downloadable Reference Chart - Nellie Edge
Children at this age LOVE to move and engage with imaginative play. As you read a story, invite your child to mimic movements, facial expressions, feelings, etc. that the characters do. If a shark is swimming in the water, prompt your child to pretend they are a shark swimming. If a character is feeling sad, have your child make a sad face, too. BONUS! Act along with your child :) They will love that you are "playing" with them. If it's a story that you have read over and over, you can act out different parts of the story with your child from beginning to end.
Errand Run
Do you need to go shopping? Have your child help you create a shopping list! Let them do their best to write the sounds they hear and do their "kid writing." (ex: "apple --> apl") As you are in the store, point to different items and labels for those items. See if your child can "read" you the signs. Have your child describe the various items with as many adjectives as they can. They will surely love to be your little helper!
Sign Language Practice
I like to incorporate sign language in our learning, particularly with the ABCs. Sign language is a real language and can be used practically; the kids love knowing this and enjoy practicing! Because it gets a part of their body moving, signing helps students recall letters faster. Some students take to sign language more than the Zoophonic motions, and vice versa; whatever helps your child succeed! I have noticed this year's class has taken a higher interest to sign language and can often remember letter names when I simply show them the sign in response to the question "What letter is it again?"
Below, I have some links to videos that I use with students to practice our sign language. I also have an ABC grid for you to look at and can share with your child. You can practice signing various letters of the alphabet as well as sign names. Students will have a blast teaching you how to sign, too!
Sign Language Alphabet - See it, Say it, Sign it
ABC Phonics Song - ASL (with pauses)
Downloadable Reference Chart - Nellie Edge