"The goal of all reading is the joyful, independent, and meaningful processing of a written text. The key to independent reading is making an explicit connection between all other instructional contexts...and the reader's own independent work... All teaching, support, and confirmation lead to the individual's successful, independent reading." - Fountas & Pinnell, 2019
This is the 25th blog post entry of the 2019-20 school year. The last blog entry explored the journey of learning to read as NOT a magical event but the result of a lengthy, multi-faceted journey of learning that results in the magic of loving to read. This blog entry we peruse some of the possible highlights parents might notice as their child ventures along the learning to read path.
Learning to read independently is a unique journey and requires dedicated, ongoing support. Classes may be cancelled but teachers and parents alike continue to support this steady practice of reading skills to ensure children become proficient and joyous readers!
Parents are often frustrated by how slowly the learning to read journey may take as their child enters school and formally begins the process of becoming a joyful and successful reader in their own right. Sometimes a sibling or a family friend of similar age may seem to be making much greater or speedier progress in developing reading skills and strategies, or a parent may remember their own learning to read journey not being as challenging or taking as long. And sometimes it's just because it seems to take forever and so much support for a child to get through what seems like the simplest text possible!
While these are often the realities of our experiences with young children, the most prevalently true reality is that learning to read is like a long, slow journey across the plains - it takes a long time to get there and there is no direct, predictable route that might eliminate potential pitfalls or sidetracks. Every child's experience is somewhat different than every other child's, and it is important not to get caught up in the differences - regardless of whether they are significant or hardly noticeable. Just like learning to walk or talk, every child eventually has the potential to become a successful skilled reader in their own time frame and in their own way.
However, there are some fairly visible markers along the learning to read journey that parents and children alike might find interesting to note or even celebrate. If I think of the learning to read journey as one similar to a child's physical growth, I can envision a 'growth chart' for learning to read, quite similar to the physical growth charts we often post in a child's bedroom (or perhaps even make note of on the door frame - a mainstay in many Maritime homes when I was growing up - including my own!). Here are some of the notable 'growth markers' that will most typically make an appearance throughout a child's learning to read experience - over several years of learning!
Recognizes a book as something to enjoy
This happens, quite often, when children who have been read to almost from birth, sometime during their second year of life - it may manifest as being delighted to turn the pages as a toddler when a parent sits to read a book to them, or when a toddler chooses a book from a toy selection to 'read' on their own, looking at the pictures or naming specific pictures in the story. Sometimes it is a child about the age of three who begins 'reading' a book independently, repeating the text from memory that has been read to them many times in the past. A parent or grandparent might note a very young child comes running for story time and snuggles in willingly while picking their own choice of story to read. All of these indicators are significant because they clearly note a young child who is aware of books and reading as something interesting and important to do. It also likely indicates a child has already been exposed to positive interactions between voice and text, the cadence and nuances of the language and some new vocabulary. A joy for reading as a young child is a strong direction point towards an adult book lover!
Understands words have meaning and connection
Young children begin to make connections between words and things they name in a variety of ways. Sometimes they will recognize environmental print - such as the symbol for a place like McDonald's and the giant golden M or the sign for Toys R Us. Often they will recognize their name when they see it in print before they go to school and may even be able to print it themselves. Children may be able to point to words in alphabet books that apply to pictures or play matching games with letters and pictures. This is a time of recognizing words represent things and carry meaning - it is an exciting time for children.
Recognizes letters and sounds are meaningful for reading
As children begin to associate meaning with symbols to represent meaning, recognizing attributes of letters occurs more frequently (are they round, how many lines do they have, etc) and they may be able to identify some specific sounds for letters, particularly for familiar consonants. This is a time when rhymes and chants become popular for children; learning rhymes and chants are great fun but also key to helping children begin to learn words can sound the same and therefore become predictable. This is a key milestone on the learning to read journey.
Begins to develop sight words, sounding out words
Recognizing letters and learning rhymes come together for children gradually as they interact with stories and texts, both through read alouds and story telling with parents or other trusted adults in their circle of influence. This will lead to recognition of words that appear frequently in children's texts, particularly familiar short nouns such as mom, dad, cat, dog, hat, etc. in the consonant-vowel-consonant patterns - although children may not recognize them as such since they typically associate the whole unit of the word with a specific meaning. As they continue to interact with texts both at home and in school, they will be introduced to academic aspects of reading like patterns of spelling or high frequency words (the, said, and, etc) that help bring words together to create a sentence with meaning. Children will begin to learn some decoding strategies during this stage, identifying the first letter to sound out the word initially and eventually considering the last sound as well. Some children in these early stages will quickly grasp the idea of predictable spelling and word families while others will seem to take much longer to understand these nuances, and still others will develop these understandings slowly and then all of sudden make great gains in sight words and sounding out strategies. This is a foundational development stage for early readers as they begin to understand the key roles of phonemes, phonics, etc and it can be a story of spurts of learning with long, challenging sections in between where children seem to make not much progress in recognizing new words - and then suddenly seem to pretty good at it! It is something to really celebrate as children are beginning to read independently.
Using Reading Strategies Intentionally
There are probably in excess of 100 fairly straightforward reading strategies we could introduce to young readers in their early years of school, but the truth is that a reading strategy is pretty meaningless unless a child understands it so well that they can use it independently and successfully without prompting or support. Typically, young readers will use 4 or less reading strategies consistently for a rather extended period of time. They will often practice decoding sounds, look at pictures, look for small words inside big words (compound words) or look at beginning/ending sounds for clues to what the word is they are trying to read. When you notice a child consistently trying out these different strategies, this is something to celebrate! It means children recognize they don't always have to the same thing over and over again to read a word/sentence/book. And, once they have four or five 'tried and true' strategies integrated into their every approach to reading, they will begin to add new strategies that make the greatest sense to them. As a teacher or as a parent, it might seem frustrating to show a child how to use a reading strategy and then they just never use it again to help make sense of reading text. However, if the strategy doesn't make sense - yet - to them, then they are not able to integrate into their thinking system how to utilize what doesn't make sense, especially when they are trying to read. They will gradually integrate new strategies into their repertoire but it will always be when it 'makes sense' to them, not necessarily to anyone else!
There are probably in excess of 100 fairly straightforward reading strategies we could introduce to young readers in their early years of school, but the truth is that a reading strategy is pretty meaningless unless a child understands it so well that they can use it independently and successfully without prompting or support. Typically, young readers will use 4 or less reading strategies consistently for a rather extended period of time. They will often practice decoding sounds, look at pictures, look for small words inside big words (compound words) or look at beginning/ending sounds for clues to what the word is they are trying to read. When you notice a child consistently trying out these different strategies, this is something to celebrate! It means children recognize they don't always have to the same thing over and over again to read a word/sentence/book. And, once they have four or five 'tried and true' strategies integrated into their every approach to reading, they will begin to add new strategies that make the greatest sense to them. As a teacher or as a parent, it might seem frustrating to show a child how to use a reading strategy and then they just never use it again to help make sense of reading text. However, if the strategy doesn't make sense - yet - to them, then they are not able to integrate into their thinking system how to utilize what doesn't make sense, especially when they are trying to read. They will gradually integrate new strategies into their repertoire but it will always be when it 'makes sense' to them, not necessarily to anyone else!
Reading Expressively
As readers are about to read sentences that are increasingly complex and longer, they begin to test out reading in a variety of ways, often mimicking the phrasing, intonation or voices they have heard others use in school and at home during read aloud experiences. When I am working with early readers, one of the first text features I introduce them to are the quotation marks, explaining these are extremely important because they let you know there are characters in the text with something to say! And when there is something to be said, there are always particular ways to say something in a specific kind of voice to bring your characters to life on the page. Little intonation strategies - like raising your voice at the question mark sign - are often subliminally acquired by many children; others require some explicit instruction and practice. Recognition of phrasing, intonation or use of 'voices' when reading text is a distinctive milestone that warrants honouring with early readers :)
As readers are about to read sentences that are increasingly complex and longer, they begin to test out reading in a variety of ways, often mimicking the phrasing, intonation or voices they have heard others use in school and at home during read aloud experiences. When I am working with early readers, one of the first text features I introduce them to are the quotation marks, explaining these are extremely important because they let you know there are characters in the text with something to say! And when there is something to be said, there are always particular ways to say something in a specific kind of voice to bring your characters to life on the page. Little intonation strategies - like raising your voice at the question mark sign - are often subliminally acquired by many children; others require some explicit instruction and practice. Recognition of phrasing, intonation or use of 'voices' when reading text is a distinctive milestone that warrants honouring with early readers :)
Making Reading Connections
The ultimate goal of reading is to make sense of text to learn something new, become engrossed in a story, answer a question, etc. The connections children make to specific stories or information helps them build increasingly complex systems of thinking and making connections between multiple concepts in sometimes highly varied situations. Making text connections might mean finding similar information between two sources, or it might mean comparing, contrasting or questioning information found in one text with another text. Often we encourage children to make three kinds of connects: connections to self (previous experiences or knowledge), connections to text (other books/stories/information or videos) or connections to the world (experiences they have heard about, seen or witnessed in a setting outside their typical circle of influence). A tell-tale sentence might start with 'This reminds me of...' or 'This must be a dream because...' and these are signals they are developing into a successful, lifelong reader!
The ultimate goal of reading is to make sense of text to learn something new, become engrossed in a story, answer a question, etc. The connections children make to specific stories or information helps them build increasingly complex systems of thinking and making connections between multiple concepts in sometimes highly varied situations. Making text connections might mean finding similar information between two sources, or it might mean comparing, contrasting or questioning information found in one text with another text. Often we encourage children to make three kinds of connects: connections to self (previous experiences or knowledge), connections to text (other books/stories/information or videos) or connections to the world (experiences they have heard about, seen or witnessed in a setting outside their typical circle of influence). A tell-tale sentence might start with 'This reminds me of...' or 'This must be a dream because...' and these are signals they are developing into a successful, lifelong reader!
Reading complex text fluently
As children grow, their reading skills improve exponentially - albeit not at predictable rates or patterns. It often seems like they are stumbling over text one day and completely fluent the next, because eventually all the years of practice truly do pay off and an beautiful, fluent reader emerges! This is a magical time for young readers as they discover different genres and reasons for reading these different genres. These middle year readers are able to read complex text fluently, ask questions, employ several reading strategies seamlessly, identify favourite genres, authors, plots, characters, etc. and wonder 'what if' when they finish with a text, make predictions about what could reasonably happen next and move between multiple texts at different points in a day or week without distractions or errors in comprehension. Readers at this stage will begin to collect favourite sets of books, arrange favoured texts in particular ways or offer to lend stories to friends - they have truly bloomed into successful readers.
As children grow, their reading skills improve exponentially - albeit not at predictable rates or patterns. It often seems like they are stumbling over text one day and completely fluent the next, because eventually all the years of practice truly do pay off and an beautiful, fluent reader emerges! This is a magical time for young readers as they discover different genres and reasons for reading these different genres. These middle year readers are able to read complex text fluently, ask questions, employ several reading strategies seamlessly, identify favourite genres, authors, plots, characters, etc. and wonder 'what if' when they finish with a text, make predictions about what could reasonably happen next and move between multiple texts at different points in a day or week without distractions or errors in comprehension. Readers at this stage will begin to collect favourite sets of books, arrange favoured texts in particular ways or offer to lend stories to friends - they have truly bloomed into successful readers.
Reading purposefully
Flourishing readers are typically in the age range of middle-school learners and are becoming very aware that purposeful reading expands their understanding, their perceptions of why and their abilities to make sense of new ideas. Readers in this stage often read more non-fiction in school but may prefer fiction at home - or not! They are reading to informed, entertained, provoked, questioned, surprised, shocked - reading evokes emotion for them, even when it is negative. Middle years readers want to feel something as a result of being a reader, even if that is to feel wiser or more confused or to have an idea happily confirmed. These readers love to share their ideas with adults in their circle, or their friends and will often make grand pronouncements of their newfound information to provoke conversations - or writing, drawing, designing, building. They use many strategies to make sense of text and share their new ideas and understandings appropriately and will seek out information in texts or digitally to better understand concepts. When a child begins to use reading purposefully, this is a definitive indication the learning to read journey is ready to transition into refined reading such as analysis, synthesis, interpretation, evaluation, etc typically associated with older readers - an accomplishment most definitely worth acknowledging :)
I have worked with hundreds of children over the years, supporting the learning-to-read journeys of young readers through to their middle-grade years of school. Some have learned to read swiftly and with apparent ease while others have struggled with specific learning disabilities, memory concerns or processing issues. Most children travel the learning-to-read path somewhere between these two positions on the reading journey continuum. What I have come to understand is that learning to read requires patience above all, and the willingness to not seek out accomplishment as a reader so much as making the most of the journey - smiling through the challenges, making games of the difficult, acknowledging and empathizing when there is frustration or exhaustion. These are, it seems to me, qualities associated with any kind of learning journey. The most important thing I have learned, however, is that every child who has traveled this journey with encouragement, perseverance and a willingness to keep trying has the capacity to be a successful reader in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. The journey matters - as all journeys do!
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Flourishing readers are typically in the age range of middle-school learners and are becoming very aware that purposeful reading expands their understanding, their perceptions of why and their abilities to make sense of new ideas. Readers in this stage often read more non-fiction in school but may prefer fiction at home - or not! They are reading to informed, entertained, provoked, questioned, surprised, shocked - reading evokes emotion for them, even when it is negative. Middle years readers want to feel something as a result of being a reader, even if that is to feel wiser or more confused or to have an idea happily confirmed. These readers love to share their ideas with adults in their circle, or their friends and will often make grand pronouncements of their newfound information to provoke conversations - or writing, drawing, designing, building. They use many strategies to make sense of text and share their new ideas and understandings appropriately and will seek out information in texts or digitally to better understand concepts. When a child begins to use reading purposefully, this is a definitive indication the learning to read journey is ready to transition into refined reading such as analysis, synthesis, interpretation, evaluation, etc typically associated with older readers - an accomplishment most definitely worth acknowledging :)
I have worked with hundreds of children over the years, supporting the learning-to-read journeys of young readers through to their middle-grade years of school. Some have learned to read swiftly and with apparent ease while others have struggled with specific learning disabilities, memory concerns or processing issues. Most children travel the learning-to-read path somewhere between these two positions on the reading journey continuum. What I have come to understand is that learning to read requires patience above all, and the willingness to not seek out accomplishment as a reader so much as making the most of the journey - smiling through the challenges, making games of the difficult, acknowledging and empathizing when there is frustration or exhaustion. These are, it seems to me, qualities associated with any kind of learning journey. The most important thing I have learned, however, is that every child who has traveled this journey with encouragement, perseverance and a willingness to keep trying has the capacity to be a successful reader in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. The journey matters - as all journeys do!
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
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