As I’m sitting here in the Family Room of our school, not-so-patiently waiting for our Book Fair to arrive (it was supposed to be here Friday and it’s now Monday…), I am reminded of how important patience is to the learning process.
As teachers and literacy specialists, all we can do for new and learning readers is give them tools to use:
1. Know all of your reading strategies (like get your mouth ready, sound out words the whole way through, pay attention to the picture clues, read around the word for context–think–Does what I’m reading make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right?)
2. Think about what you’re reading in a retelling sense (Who are the main characters? Where and When does the story happen? What are the main problems and what is the solution or resolution? Why do the characters act the way they do? Why did the author write this book for his or her readers?)
3. Dig deeper into the book or research the nonfiction topic you’re interested in (What do you think you’ll learn about? What is your opinion about the text?)
4. Do something with what you read! (make connections or a project that extends what you’ve learned).
Once children know the strategies, and things begin to ‘click’ for them, everything falls into place. It’s hard for some parents not to feel the anxiety over the thought, “Is my child behind?” ”Are other children reading better than my child?”
What parents need to keep in mind is that every child learns to read at a different time, just like every child learns to walk at a different time. If a child knows the strategies, enjoys being read to, and tries the best he or she can when sounding out, everything will fall into place when the time is right. We just need to have patience…lots and lots of patience. Don’t be discouraged by other children reading before your child. Will all that worry matter when your child grows up and is off to college, reading just fine? Nope. Not a bit.
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