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Grade 1 is a big year for developing readers. While every student will develop their reading skills at their own pace, there are some things you can do to help them! First and foremost, keep reading TO your child. Children need to hear fluent, expressive reading, and reading together as a family is one of the best ways to develop a love of reading. However, I also recommend finding time to have your child practice reading books on their own. Below are some tips on things you can do to help your child while they are reading to you.
Provide decodable text they can read.
Provide decodable text they can read.
Learning to read is hard work! Students need to learn to use their knowledge of letters and sounds, as well as their phonological awareness, to help them decipher the written code into spoken language. The best reading materials to help them learn to do this are ones that contain words they can decode independently. "Decodable texts" are books/passages that are controlled for the letter/letter combinations children already know. Early decodable books contain simple words that students can sound out once they know their letters and sounds. As students become more confident with their decoding abilities and learn more complex spelling patterns (digraphs, blends, long vowels, etc.), they can read more complex decodable texts. I will be sending home decodable text at your child's level throughout the year. Some can also be found on websites such as Flyleaf Publishing and Starfall. If you are looking to purchase some books for your child to practice reading at home, Bob Books are an affordable option (available on Chapters, Amazon, Scholastic, and sometimes Costco).
Encourage them to point at the words.
Encourage them to point at the words.
Children seem to want to give up on pointing to words before they are truly ready. Pointing helps them stay focused on the words they are reading instead of just guessing or looking at the picture. Children can point with their finger, a tool (i.e., popsicle stick, wand, pencil), or with the cursor if reading on a computer. If they are really reluctant to point, you can point for them. As children become more confident at reading and start stringing words together into phrases and sentences, their pointing will become more of a sweep than a point. That is OK. If they get stuck on a word, encourage them to point at that word while they work on figuring it out.
Remind them to look at the words.
Remind them to look at the words.
Often, when children get to words they don't know, they will immediately look up to the person reading with them to appeal for help. Remind them to look at the word, even when they need help. They can't learn to read a word when they are not looking at it. As you help them, make sure their attention stays on the word, not on you.
Draw their attention to the confused sounds.
Draw their attention to the confused sounds.
If your child reads a word like "rode" as "rod", don't just correct the whole word. You can simply say, "What if the o says its name?" or "What else could the o say?" You can also remind them to look for chunks they know (blends, letter combinations). Either way, try to make them do the work instead of giving them the whole word.
Break larger words into smaller chunks.
Break larger words into smaller chunks.
For longer words, cover up part of the word and have them sound it out syllable by syllable, and then put the syllables together to make the word. For example, if the word is apricot, then you could encourage them do sound out ap, then ri, then cot. Use your finger or a piece of paper to cover up part of the word.
Give them the really hard words.
Give them the really hard words.
If your child gets to a word that doesn't follow any of the rules they know and it is unlikely that they will be able to figure it out, it's OK just to give them the word. For example, the word "grocery" would be very tricky for most Grade 1 students. Sometimes, it's OK just to tell them a word.
Make sure to have them re-read the sentence after sounding out words.
Make sure to have them re-read the sentence after sounding out words.
If your child struggles with some words in a sentence, have them go back and re-read the whole sentence after they've figured out those words. This will help ensure that they are able to understand what the sentence said, instead of just focusing on the individual words they struggled with.
Check for understanding.
Check for understanding.
Once your child has read a page or two, or a chapter (depending on the amount of text on each page), ask them to tell you what happened during that part of the story or what they learned in that part of the book. It is important that beginning readers realize that reading is about making meaning, not just reading the words.
Draw their attention to unfamiliar vocabulary.
Draw their attention to unfamiliar vocabulary.
When a child encounters a word that might be new to them, draw their attention to it and discuss what it means. If children skip over the words they don't understand, they'll only get part of the meaning of the book, and never expand their vocabularies. Often, the context of the sentence/paragraph will give the student clues to what the meaning might be.
Want more information? Read this post.
Want more information? Read this post.
The following blog post has a lot of good suggestions for how parents can help their child learn to read. Note, the website is a paid reading program, which I am not familiar with and don't endorse. The suggestions are sound, however. About one third of a way down, there is a good video of a child reading with an adult, using many of the above strategies.
https://readingsimplified.com/5-proven-ways-for-you-to-support-your-childs-reading/
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