Understanding how children learn to read

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Abstract

Excerpted from the booklet, Tips for Parents About Reading (Davis 1997), this effective practice provides insight on teaching children how to read. Although designed for parents, these tips can be applicable for reading tutors and other educators. The source document shares ideas about what to expect at different ages and stages of reading development, suggestions for what parents and caregivers can do at home, and a list of favorite books available at most libraries.

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Issue

It is not always easy to tell if your child is on track or if you are doing the right things to help your child learn to read.

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Action

Reading As Language

Knowing how to use all forms of language well — speaking, listening, reading, and writing — is an important goal for all children. And they need support from both school and home to be successful with language.

Children begin learning about reading by being read to and by their attempts to write. Early writing looks a lot like scribbling but it usually represents some thought the child had. Promote children's understandings of text by asking children what they are writing and even writing what they say below their scribbling and then reading it back. Reading and writing go hand in hand and it's important to have materials for writing in addition to books in the home. Reading involves thinking and problem solving. Children will use several strategies for reading within the same sentence. When children reach a word they do not know, they will probably try to "sound it out" and use context clues to try to make sense of the text.

Reading As Learning Language

Children can learn the basic foundations of reading and writing in much the same way they learn to listen and speak — informally, at home, and in an unstructured way. But many things must be taught to children. Children need to learn strategies for figuring out unfamiliar words (decoding and context) and they need to learn ways for making meaning from text, also known as comprehension skills. Both the school and home environments that surround children are important to their success as readers and writers. Classrooms should have all types of reading materials and lots of writing and examples of children's work on the walls — at all ages. Time must be devoted during the school day to reading in books, discussing them, and writing about these experiences. At home, children should have their own books, writing materials, and a lamp for reading in bed. Newspapers, magazine subscriptions for children and adults, dictionaries, an atlas, and other informational reading materials add to the message that reading is important. In addition to providing materials, parents must protect children's time from too much television and other activities so that they can read. Examples of activities that reinforce reading skills are playing games, doing homework, and having conversations with family members. To be successful readers, children need to do a lot of reading.

Parents can make reading fun for kids by having a regular routine for doing it — before bed each night is great, but for some families there are other times that may work better, like after dinner or before school. The important thing is that it happens regularly and that it's a positive experience.

Ages and Stages

According to the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's, Tips for Parents About Reading (Davis 1997), effective practices to incorporate during the various stages of reading skills development can include the following:

Emerging Readers: Infants and Toddlers

Reading begins at birth. These are the kinds of things that lay the foundation for becoming a reader.

  1. Expect that infants and toddlers will want to munch on books! They don't need to seem interested — reading to children when they are very young gives them valuable time hearing words and looking at pictures.
  2. Provide books with heavy pages or "board books."
  3. Read books over and over again. Make sure that child-care providers read and talk to your child.
  4. Talk about the pictures and ask questions like, "Do you see the dog — where's the dog?" to help them find objects on the page.
  5. Repeat nursery rhymes even if you aren't reading from a book.
  6. Listen to children's music and encourage movement to the rhythm and singing along.
  7. Have children help you use sound effects like "mooooo" or "arf-arf."
  8. Make talking to your infant or toddler part of everyday life. Talk about what you are doing and say back what you think she's saying to you.
  9. Link reading to real life — for example, toddlers quickly learn concepts of hot and cold. If there's a sun on the page ask, "What's hot in the picture?"
  10. Take advantage of your public library. Libraries are great ways to get lots of books into your home at little or no cost — and they often have story time for small children.

Developing Readers: Pre-K Through First-Graders

Young children develop as readers as they begin to pay more attention to printed materials around them. They start to be able to recognize words and to read easy books with the support of adults and other children.

  1. Read daily to your child — even if all you have is 10 minutes.
  2. Reread stories and as your child gets to know the story pause and let her finish the sentence.
  3. Put magnetic letters on the refrigerator and spell out words your child can copy like her name, "cat," "dog," "mom," and "dad."
  4. Read alphabet books and then help your child make his own by cutting out and gluing magazine pictures to separate pages.
  5. Have plenty of markers, crayons, pens, paper, and other materials on hand and encourage kids to make books, write, and draw.
  6. Ask your child to tell you a story about what she has drawn. Write her words on the paper and read it back. Also, ask your child to retell a story.
  7. Encourage children to invent word spellings. They may look like nothing more than strings of letters but this is how children connect sounds to letters, and is important for learning letter sounds.
  8. Label furniture in your child's room. Ask your child to read words on billboards, cereal boxes, and signs.
  9. Visit the library with your child weekly — children love having their own library cards. Purchase used children's books from yard sales.
  10. As your child begins reading aloud, let mistakes go as long as they don't change the meaning of the story. For example, if the sentence is, "She ran up the hill," and the child reads, "She is running up the hill," don't correct it. If she reads, "She rain up the hill," ask if it makes sense. When correcting, do it gently.

Transitional Readers: Second- and Third-Graders

Transitional readers are making the transition from needing a lot of adult support as they read to being independent as readers. They start to read easier texts on their own, and become increasingly more confident with more difficult books and chapter books.

  1. Follow your child's interests — if she loves sports, find fiction and nonfiction books that tie into this interest.
  2. Have your child help you with recipes from cookbooks or mixes. Ask them to read ingredients, measure, mix, and clean up!
  3. Help your child become a more fluent reader by having him read to younger brothers and sisters. This gives them practice and helps them share the fun of reading and books.
  4. Get blank books — or make them. Kids should be encouraged to write down what they think and feel about books they read.
  5. Make thank you notes, birthday cards, valentines, and invitations together. Use stamps, stickers, or cut-outs to decorate them and have your child write or copy the message.
  6. Limit television viewing to shows the child selects from the listings. Try to use the "no more than 14 hours a week" rule in your house for TV and video games — use the extra time to read, talk together, or play games.
  7. Play games that involve reading. Good choices are Monopoly, Concentration, Life, Careers, Risk, Clue, and many others.
  8. At the grocery store let children find items on your list and cross them off. Have them find coupon items, read ingredients, and compare prices.
  9. Play with words by rhyming, finding opposites, and naming synonyms or words that have similar meanings like hot and scorching. These types of activities give practice with thinking and vocabulary development.
  10. Continue to read increasingly harder books aloud to your child.

Fluent Readers: Fourth- and Fifth-Graders

Fluent readers have learned how to read for a variety of purposes in their lives and can read independently most of the time. They tend to read and talk about things that relate to their personal lives and experiences.

  1. Keep reading aloud to your child (even if he can read alone) books that are longer and more difficult than he can read independently. Children still learn vocabulary and information about the world when books are read aloud — and it's a bonding experience.
  2. If your child seems "turned off" to reading, seek out reading materials that are tuned into his interests. Don't forget books on tape and reading aloud are other ways to increase vocabulary and language skills.
  3. Link movies and television shows to books. Limit TV viewing and video games to between 10 and 14 hours a week.
  4. Encourage children to read more by letting them stay up 15-30 minutes later if they are reading.
  5. Give a magazine subscription for a gift — each month it will keep giving.
  6. Have your child prepare simple meals and dishes from recipes. This promotes reading skills and gives practice with measuring.
  7. Help your child set a time and place for doing homework. A "homework first, play later" policy is a good way to ensure that learning is important.
  8. Play games that involve reading and thinking about words. Get children interested in crossword puzzles.
  9. Have kids read schedules for television, buses, or trains.
  10. When you need to find a phone number, have your child use the phone book to look it up. Show how to locate a business number by its category or by its name.

Independent Readers: Sixth- Through Eighth-Graders

Children at this stage are fluent, independent readers who use reading as an important part of their everyday lives. They read for entertainment, information, and to learn.

  1. Look closely at how time is being used in your home if your child is not reading regularly or enough. Being a good reader at this age means doing lots of reading outside of school.
  2. Be clever about creating time for reading — allow a later bedtime or excuse children from a chore like washing dishes if he is reading.
  3. Discuss bits and pieces of books that you read with your child. Find out about what she is reading by asking nonthreatening questions like, "What's happening in your book now?" or "What are the characters like in the book you are reading?"
  4. Play games like Scrabble, Spill and Spell, Scattergories, and Balderdash together — they are fun and they reinforce reading skills.
  5. Limit television viewing to 14 hours a week. Gradually reducing TV time can increase time for reading.
  6. Make time for the library. Encourage your kids to find different types of books — nonfiction reference, poetry, history, travel, or cookbooks -- at the library to increase awareness of topics and subjects.
  7. Encourage children this age to read to younger children and siblings.
  8. Give gifts that encourage reading and writing: reading lamps, magazine subscriptions, books, stationary, pens, and blank books.
  9. Agree with your child on the time and place for homework. Make sure your child knows this is a high priority. If there are problems staying focused on homework, start a study group, get a tutor, or make a plan.
  10. Be confident that it is worth the effort to do all it takes to help your child be successful in reading and writing, despite any complaints from your children along the way.

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Context

Three Important Things

  1. Learning to read is like learning anything else: It happens over time, with practice, and with the help of others. Children develop reading (and writing) behaviors in a developmental sequence — they do certain things at certain times as they become more and more knowledgeable.
  2. Many experiences and activities help children learn to read:
    • Talking and interacting with others
    • Recognizing and connecting sounds and letters
    • Experiencing new places and situations
    • Instruction on specific reading strategies
    • Exposure to all types of reading materials from a childÕs earliest days throughout the school years
  3. Children learn to read best when they have books and other reading materials at home and plenty of chances to read and talk about what they are reading.

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Citation

Davis, Deborah (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory), and Jan Patricia Lewis (Pacific Lutheran University). Tips for Parents About Reading: Information and ideas for helping children through grade eight succeed with reading. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Comprehensive Center, Region X and Curriculum and Instruction Services, October 1997.

The contents of this publication were developed under Cooperative Agreement Number S283A50041 with the U.S. Department of Education. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and endorsement of the contents by the federal government should not be assumed.

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Posted On

November 4, 2002

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For More Information

LEARNS at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Toll-free: 1-800-361-7890
Fax: (503) 275-0133

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Resources

Consejos para los Padres Sobre la Lectura
(Spanish version of Tips for Parents About Reading)

Source Documents

Related Practices

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Related sites

Bank Street College of Education

Topic Areas

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