Julia Irwin - Preparing Children for Reading Success: Hands-On Activities for Librarians, Educators, and Caregivers

Preparing Children for Reading Success

Preparing Children for Reading Success

Hands-On Activities for Librarians, Educators, and Caregivers

Julia Irwin and Dina Moore

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York London

Published by Rowman & Littlefield

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Copyright 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Irwin, Julia, 1964

Preparing children for reading success : hands-on activities for librarians, educators, and caregivers / Julia Irwin and Dina Moore.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8108-9319-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-9253-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-9254-5 (ebook) 1. Reading. 2. Literacy. 3. ChildrenBooks and reading. 4. Creative activities and seat work. I. Moore, Dina, 1972 II. Title.

LB1050.I784 2014

428.4dc23 2014024514

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

In memory of our colleague and mentor Anne E. Fowler

Annes scientific work on early literacy and her creative ideas for how to translate the science into hands-on activities appropriate for use with very young children was the foundation for this book. Her tireless efforts during her too-brief lifetime to find ways to best ensure that children learn to read inspired us to write the book. Through teaching and mentoring us, the seeds of literacy that Anne planted will be sown through all the caregivers, educators, and librarians who pick it up, and most importantly, in the children in whom they instill a love for reading.

Foreword

T his book is a fitting tribute to Anne E. Fowler, who touched many lives by her groundbreaking studies of childrens cognition and language, especially her penetrating research at Haskins Laboratories on the precursors of reading and writing and the all-important first steps. The goal of her unremitting efforts to improve the teaching of reading was nothing less than to ensure that children everywhere succeed in acquiring those precious literacy skills that are the indispensable foundation of further education.

This book is written in that spirit. The authors give wise guidance to parents and other caregivers, showing how to provide young children with the experiences and skills that will enable them learn to read in a timely manner and enable them to benefit fully from school-based instruction. This book explains how literacy builds on spoken language experiences and skills. Some preliterate language skills, for example, awareness that words are made up of consonant and vowel segments, can and should be explicitly taught. For building vocabulary and for promoting active understanding, it is vitally important for caregivers to engage children in give-and-take conversation. Adults can promote comprehension of the language of books by reading to and with children, and by engaging them in discussion of the content. The significant adults in a childs life can show best by their example that reading is a valued activity: children should see adults reading and enjoying books.

The authors recommendations are thoroughly practical. They spared no effort to find supporting activities that will engage a childs interest at each of the successive steps toward achieving literacy. These activities are appealing to children and easy for parents and other adults to implement. In addition, the authors provide valuable suggestions for further reading about aspects of literacy and their instruction.

Donald Shankweiler

Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut

Professor Emeritus, University of Connecticut, Department of Psychology, Storrs, Connecticut

Preface

P reparing Children for Reading Success: Hands-On Activities for Librarians, Educators, and Caregivers is designed to familiarize you with the information that you need to prepare the child in your life to learn to read. By presenting the important elements in learning to read, we assist you in taking an active role to engage in behaviors that support literacy. We provide hands-on, real-world activities that you can do with a child or group of children to support emerging literacy. We also suggest specific titles of childrens books to share with your child to support the activities that we present. In addition, we alert you to behaviors that may indicate risk for later problems with reading.

Caregivers (including parents, grandparents, siblings, child-care providers), preschool educators, librarians, or anyone else involved in the care of children will benefit from this book.

For each of these chapters, we provide a detailed description of the concepts and background research on the importance of this particular element in learning to read and suggest hands-on activities for engaging children with the concept. Additionally, we provide a list of childrens books that you can use to demonstrate each of the concepts discussed.

The content was developed based on research on early literacy and what is known to be effective in promoting emerging reading development. We take these skills and suggest real-world activities and ideas to engage your child with language, reading, and print.

In addition to the more traditional discussion of topics important to learning to read (such as alphabet knowledge), this book includes a chapter on the social-emotional aspects of reading to children, an important part of both a childs emotional and cognitive development.

We provide step-by-step descriptions of activities to do with a child or group of children to support emerging literacy. In addition, we pair our suggestions for specific childrens books to complete these activities and give the reader guidance for what kinds of books would be good for each activity.

A crucial skill that we hope to instill in parents and caregivers is the confidence and knowledge to engage their children in reading. In addition, we want to expose caregivers to the hidden elements crucial to early literacy, such as building a rich vocabulary before your child is ready to learn to read.

Organization

Chapter 1, The Importance of Reading, considers one of the most crucial achievements for a young childlearning to read. We discuss the elements that support learning to read, and outline the average course of reading development, from infancy through school age. We also examine the dire consequences of when a child falls behind in reading. Finally, we introduce how to support early literacy as a parent, librarian, teacher, or caregiver and set the stage for the chapters that follow.

The Social-Emotional Benefits of Reading, chapter 2, focuses on the social-emotional, attentional, and self-regulation skills that underlie success in learning to read and in an educational setting more broadly. The ability to manage emotions, to pay attention to new and sometimes difficult material, and to persist with challenges are all crucial for success in an academic setting. In this chapter, we encourage caregivers, teachers, and librarians to use books as a tool for introducing vocabulary, increasing joint attention, and encouraging a love of books. From the earliest ages, books can be part of a caregiving repertoire, to calm down before a nap or bedtime, to provide one-on-one time with a parent or grandparent, or to signal quiet time at preschool or at the library. In addition, books can provide a valuable opportunity for difficult discussions about emotional topics, such as bullying, loneliness, or the death of a pet.