Articles
Oct 26, 2012
Make Learning How to Read Fun
While no one questions the importance of learning how to read, what is up for debate is how enjoyable the process can be. While learning how to read may prove to be more difficult for some children than others, a happy start to reading, as well as a good reading program, can lift the task of reading from onerous to enjoyable. Educators have found that children learn best through play, and this is certainly true for reading as well. Unlike programs of dry instruction or rote learning, reading activities that infuse playful elements can make learning seem like a game...
Oct 26, 2012
Interactive Reading How-to
Educators find that the most effective way to teach kids to read is through interactive reading instruction. Kids best learn to read when the instruction and the reading material are aimed directly at their reading ability. An interactive reading approach enables children to be consistently challenged, but also encourages them to use what they already know. One way of offering interactive reading instruction is through guided reading. Within the classroom, this kind of instruction groups children of similar reading abilities into the same small reading group, where they read and work through the same short story. The teacher guides them...
Oct 26, 2012
How to Get Children Reading
Children most often begin reading around five or six years of age. While it may appear that for some children reading is something they just ‘pick up’, this is rarely the case. In order to achieve reading fluency, children must first develop a number of literacy skills that enable them to both decode texts and understand what they are reading. Fluent reading is not simply the ability to sound out words, but rather it is the more complex ability to move quickly through a text, simultaneously pronouncing the words correctly and understanding what they mean. There are a few things...
Oct 26, 2012
Tips to Get Children Reading
The goal of any reading program should always be to have children reading real books. Reading activities and worksheets have their place, but the goal of any good reading instruction should be getting children reading, as well as understanding and enjoying what they are reading. Reading is a complex art, one that requires a number of different skill areas, particularly: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and text comprehension. Reading instruction that incorporates all five of these key literacy areas teaches kids not only to read, but gives them the tools they need in order to derive meaning from books. In...