J. Richard Gentry - Raising Confident Readers: How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write—from Baby to Age 7

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I highly recommend Dr. Gentrys Raising Confident Readers to any parent who wants success for their childnot just in reading, but in life.

David W. Johnson, MD, Fellow of the American Board of Pediatrics

Raising Confident Readers is a wonderful gift and resource for parents and teachers alike! Dr. Gentry has combined best research practices with a wealth of experiences in the field to provide clear answers to common questions about developing readers.This book will stretch understandings about phonics, words, spelling, reading levels, comprehension, and much more. My favorite insight in the book: Create a joyful, literate environment at home, and respond to your childs natural curiosity and questions. So true!

Dr. Connie R. Hebert, National Literacy Consultant and author of Catch a Falling Writer

This important book will have profound impact on how parents of young children view their role as their childs first and most important teachers.

Antoinette Fornshell, author of Planning for Successful Reading and Writing Instruction in K-2

This is a carefully crafted book that is both comprehensive and practical. Raising Confident Readers is a must-read for every new parent. Dr. Gentry clearly describes the stages of literary development in children and explains how parents can informally instruct their children.

Dr. Paula Egelson, Director of the Center for Partnerships to Improve Education at the College of Charleston, South Carolina

This book will be useful to any parent who wonders what their young child is experiencing in learning to read. And what better way to love a child than to help him or her become a reader.

Timothy Shanahan, Professor of Urban Education, University of Illinois, Chicago

It is encouraging to find a literacy resource for parents that is less concerned about racing up the levels and focuses more on enjoying the journey! Dr. Gentrys Raising Confident Readers offers parents and teachers a common language, free from educational jargon, to continue to the conversation (and the exciting journey) once formal instruction begins!

Suzy Quiles, Reading Specialist and Language Arts Supervisor

Richard Gentry understands just what young children need to learn to read. He has provided an outstanding guide for parents to help their children get a jumpstart on early literacy experiences. Filled with practical advice and effective and engaging activities, this dynamic book provides the tools for parents to help their children prepare for success with reading.

Lori Kamola, MSEd, Reading Specialist

Brilliantly written... this book should be required reading for every Pre-K through second-grade teacher, caregiver, and early childhood interventionist.

Jan McNeel, Independent Educational Consultant

For Bill Boswell And in memory of Bonnie Wright Gentry Along with heartfelt thanks to Rosemarie Jensen and Lois Bridges

My mom was my first reading teacher. There is a little bit of her on every page of this book.

My career as a reading educator spans a period of over thirty years. There are so many researchers, educators, and scholars to whom I owe gratitude. Giants in the field who helped shape my thinking include Edmund H. Henderson, Marie Clay, Jean Chall, Linnea Ehri, Connie Juel, Sally Shaywitz, Lois Bridges, Sandra Wilde, Lise Eliot, Betty Hart,Todd Risley, Susan Neuman, David Dickinsen, Howard Margolis, Patrick Mc-Cabe, Tim Rasinski, Charles Read, Donald Richgels, Regie Routman, Frank Smith, Marilyn Adams, Ken and Yetta Goodman, Richard Allington, Irene Foluntas, Gay Su Pinnell, Donald Graves, Eileen Feldgus, David Pearson, Richard Hodges, Connie Hebert, Richard Craddock, Tim Shanahan, Darrell Morris, Catherine Snow, Kathleen Roskos, Jim Trelease, Keith Stanovich, Jerry Zutell, and so many others. I have great admiration and respect for the academic community in education and I am grateful for the scholarship that informs best practice.

Parents, grandparents, and their children, along with many outstanding teachers of beginning reading, guided me every step of the way in Raising Confident Readers. A special thank you to Rick and Rosemarie Jensen, Shea Dean, Kathleen Wright, Jean Gillet, Bill McIntyre, Kathy Rogers, Mitch and Rebekah Pindzola, Carolyn Miegs, Anne Edwards, Paula Egelson, Isabell Cardonick, Katherine Streckfus, Jan McNeel, Vickie Wallace-Nesler, Lilia Nanez, Dalia Benavides, Judy Farley, Penny Jamison, Jean Mann, Antoinette Fornshell, Suzy Quiles, Alan and Jenny Wood, Kate Brenner, Nancy Pusateri, and to hundreds of children who have shared their marvelous writing and insight.

CONFIDENT READERS are not born, but they can be madenaturally, lovingly, and joyfullyby a childs first reading teacher: you. If you are holding this book, it means that you know how important reading and writing are for your childs success. As a parent, grandparent, or other type of caregiver, you want to be certain your childs literacy is developing appropriately. But unless you are a literacy expert, you probably dont know how to teach readinghow to move your child from listening to stories to reading and writing them independently. Its likely you dont know what your childs reading, writing, and spelling should look like from birth to age seven or how to recognize when literacy may not be developing normally.Thats where this book fits in.

This is the first parent-centered book of its kindthat is, the first book to show parents or other caregivers how to teach reading and capitalize on the critical role early writing plays in learning to read. Contrary to popular belief, at the beginning levels, learning to read and learning to write are almost the same. In fact, early readers are almost always pencil-and-paper kids who write first and read later:They learn to read by writing. But while many parents read aloud to their children, few take the next step by encouraging early writing. Raising Confident Readers will show you how to do this and morewithout subjecting your child to boring scripted lessons or detracting from the bonding experience of reading together.This is an activity-based book with writing, reading, and sound-awareness activities designed to fit effortlessly into your regular day-to-day schedule and to be enjoyable and rewarding for everyone. Helping your young child learn to read and write is likely to be one of the most amazing experiences youll ever have.

Raising Confident Readers shows you how your childs brain is wired for reading. Well before your child can speak or read, he is absorbing language at a phenomenal pace. In the first year of life, his brain will triple in size; by the time he enters kindergarten, it will be almost as big as yours. It is during this critical period that virtually all the neural pathways establishing language proficiency are formed. That is why, as your childs first reading teacher, it is so crucial to make the most of these early yearsthe critical period from birth to age six.The opportunity will not come again. The brains ability to absorb new language patterns diminishes steadily from the age of seven until puberty, and capacities such as overcoming spelling disabilities or overcoming dyslexia are virtually gone in early adulthood. At a later age, the brain may compensate for these disabilities and use different pathways or circuitry, but learning to read will be harder. As described in Chapter 1, some of the complicated reading circuitry used by normal readers will have been pruned.The literacy activities in this book, each specifically tailored to your childs current development phase, will directly and permanently alter the structure and future function of your childs brain! Hell be using the same systems you activate now when hes eighty.