I. Introduction
In the fall of each school year, most kindergarten teachers assess their incoming students to determine these students' educational needs. It is a very anxious moment for the parents and these 5-year old children visiting a school for the first time. Most of the assessments involve a measure of language skills, pre-reading skills, motor skills, and a glimpse into each child's behavior. In a nutshell, these assessments provide a quick panoramic view of the learning activities these children have experienced in the early stages of their life. These assessments also provide predictions: some children will need lots of extra help in school to do well, and others are primed to be successful in school from the start. I contend that parents and pre-school teachers who work with young developing children give them a big head start in life if they pay attention to three necessary learning activities that prepare them to succeed in school: language, exploration, and reading. Let us now explore reading as a critical learning activity.
II. The Importance of Reading with Children
“Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.”
(William Butler Yeats)
As an educator and parent, I have been amazed by the joy children have when they read with their parents. There is no greater pleasure than holding a toddler in your lap and traveling on an imaginary journey into outer space or through a jungle with animal friends. The narrator and visitor buckle-up, hold hands, and sail into a world traveled together. Imagination is set aglow, language skills are enhanced, pre-reading skills are developed, but most important, companionship is fostered. Reading to children of all ages can be a heart-warming experience that “lights the fire” of children who are eager to learn more about their world.
Reading to children is fun and gratifying, but we also know that reading skills are often a predictor of economic success in life for the children who easily learn how to read in school. An impressive 50-year study of 17,000 individuals in England, Scotland, and Wales (Bates, Ritchie, 2013) concluded that reading skill at the age of seven was a “key factor” in determining these individuals' later income level. My observations lead me to believe that a comparative study would yield similar results in our country. Good readers usually do better in school, which often opens the door to greater opportunities in life.
III. Early Reading Strategies for Parents
What is the best way to teach a child to read? It starts with parents reading aloud to their children. In 1985 the Federal Government commissioned the “Becoming a Nation of Readers” report because of doubts about American educational institutions' literacy efficacy. One conclusion of this report was:
“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” (Becoming a Nation of Readers, 1985)
The report went on to say that reading aloud to children should continue throughout the grades. This is a recommendation I have never quivered with because I have witnessed, both as a parent and as a teacher, the joyful learning that occurs when parents read aloud with children. It is as if a magical spell overwhelms the children and allows their true imaginative and creative thought processes to emerge. I have rarely met a child under the age of 10 who did not enjoy reading with a parent. Perhaps Jim Trelease (2013), a leading proponent for reading aloud, said it best when he highlighted the benefits of reading aloud to children:
· Build vocabulary
· Condition the child’s brain to associate reading with pleasure
· Create background knowledge
· Provide a reading role model
· Plant the desire to read
Many reading initiatives in 2020 focus upon Guided Reading (Fountas, Pinnel, 1996) as the first reading strategy for all children. It is certainly not the only reading strategy to be used, but it is considered a core strategy, and it is a strategy that can be used at home and school. In Guided Reading small groups, the teacher reads stories rich in literacy language to students, encourages them to read silently and to each other, asks thoughtful questions, and keeps the story moving and exciting. These Guided Reading activities aim to help students develop independent reading skills and learn to find “meaning” in the passages they read.
Parents can easily use modified Guided Reading strategies in their homes to bond with children and increase each child's pre-reading skills. It is not too challenging to ask parents to model good reading, ask thoughtful questions, and make every effort to make stories exciting and meaningful.
The reading aloud at home does not have to be one-directional. A young 3-year old child who has heard his parent read a story a few times may wish to read the story back to his parent by jumping from picture to picture and using the vocabulary words the child learned from the first reading. By utilizing these reading approximations (Fountas &Pinnell, 1996), the child is enhancing his knowledge of language skills with a focus on the search for meaning.
My wife, a former elementary teacher, has often mentioned the importance of parents asking children to make real-life connections to their reading passages. For example, a parent could ask her child what lesson she learned from Pinocchio's adventures to make her a better person. The parent who has taken the time to read Pinocchio with her child has helped the child better understand the flow of text, build vocabulary, increase background knowledge, observe fluent reading, and better understand herself. Equally important, the parent and child together have experienced a toy shop adventure never to be forgotten!
IV. Summary
“If parents understood the huge educational benefits and intense happiness brought about by reading aloud to their children, and if every parent- and every adult caring for a child- read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in their lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation” (Mem Fox, 2001).
Not all children need to enter kindergarten as fluent readers. Early pre-reading experiences and individual developmental milestones will dictate which children will enter kindergarten ready for direct reading instruction. The critical factor is whether or not parents have introduced reading in a manner that encourages children to enjoy, understand, and interact with written text comfortably. Children who have received this pre-reading assistance will have a considerable advantage in the quest to have successful school experiences.
Please read with your young children daily, share imaginations, and watch them soar into kindergarten with the dreams and delight of Tinkerbell experiencing a classroom for the first time.
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