Category Archives: practice reading skills

How to help children figure out new vocabulary words when they read

Posted on April 30, 2017 | Leave a comment

Children need strategies to learn new vocabulary words when they encounter such words in their reading.  Here are several strategies:

Definitions: Sometimes, definitions are given immediately after a new word.  Definitions can be separated from the word with a comma (An avalanche, a quick moving mass of snow,), with a dash (An avalanche—a quick-moving mass of snow—), with the words “that is” (An avalanche, that is a quick-moving mass of snow) or with the Latin abbreviation for that is, i.e. (An avalanche, i.e. a quick-moving mass of snow,).

Comparisons: Sometimes a word is compared to another word or idea which is similar.  “A zebra is similar to a wild horse but with different markings.”

Contrasts: Sometimes a word is contrasted with another word or idea which is different from the new word.  “A mug differs from a tea cup because the mug is taller and contains more liquid.”

Context clues: Sometimes a new word can be learned from other words in the same sentence or nearby sentences.  “The car crash caused one fatality.  A woman not wearing her seat belt died.”

Examples:  Sometimes a word is explained by the example which follows it.  “Academic vocabulary is the kind tested on the SAT and ACT.  Some examples include obstacle, complement and mollify.”

Similarity to a known word: Sometimes a word will sound like or remind a student of another word.  “The child clasped her mother’s hand.”  Clasped sounds like “grasped.”

How to recognize these clues to the meaning of new words needs to be taught to children, and they need practice using each clue.  Knowing the clues will improve children’s reading comprehension, since comprehension depends so much on understanding vocabulary.

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Posted in comprehension, methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading tips, vocabulary

How to make reading anything easier

Posted on March 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

boy reading on the floorBefore you read:

  • Read the title and look at the photos, drawings, charts, and maps. Try to figure out what they mean without reading  the text.
  • Read the subheadings. Ask yourself, “What is this about?”  Try to predict the topic you will be reading about.
  • Read vocabulary words out loud, find out how to pronounce them (ask an adult) and ask or look up what they mean.  If there are vocabulary words in the margins, or if words are highlighted in the text, they are there because they are important and because you might not know them.

girl with ipad in bed

While you read:

  • Figure out the main idea. Usually in nonfiction it is named at the end of the first paragraph.  If you own the book, underline the main idea.  If not, start a mind web with the main idea in the middle.
  • Figure out what details are important. Add those to your mind web.  It’s easier to study a mind web than it is to study a whole lot of paragraphs.
  • Highlight or write down every word you don’t understand.
    • Look for clues in the nearby words.
    • Ask an adult to help you.
    • Or look up the words in a dictionary.  Write down what they mean, and read over the words and meanings until you know them.
  • If something is difficult or confusing, ask an adult to explain it.
  • Define important words on your mind web.
  • Summarize each paragraph into one or two sentences to be sure you understand it.  If you can write down what it means, you understand.

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Posted in asking questions, learning, literacy, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, reading strategies, teaching tips, vocabulary, writing makes better readers

Teaching “and” and “but”

Posted on January 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

Learning new vocabulary words in elementary school is important for reading comprehension.  But vocabulary instruction needs to include a deeper understanding of words students use all the time, words they haven’t paid much attention to, such as the conjunctions “and” and “but.”

boy reading

Children know what “and” and “but” mean.  But do they realize they use “and” to connect two words or ideas which are both positive or both negative?  And do they realize they use “but” to join one word or idea they favor and another word or idea they don’t favor?

Helping students learn to read means pointing out the relationships which conjunctions create.  Here’s how.

  • Start with the word “and.” Write a sentence such as “I like ice cream and cookies.”  Point out to the student that you used “and” to join two ideas you feel the same way about.  Ask her if there are any other ways she could say “I like ice cream and cookies” without using “and.”  If she is stumped, suggest, “I like ice cream.  Additionally, I like cookies.”  Or, “I like ice cream as well as cookies.”  Or, “I like ice cream.  Also, I like cookies.”  Point out that “and,” “additionally,” “as well as” and “also” all are used to connect ideas which we feel the same way about, either positively or negatively.

Other words which mean the same as “and” include consequently, because,  moreover, and furthermore.  A semicolon between two sentences usually indicates that the idea in the first sentence continues in the second sentence.

  • Now write a sentence such as “I like ice cream but not anchovies.”    Ask her if there is any other way to say that idea.  She might say, “I like ice cream.  However, I don’t like anchovies.”  Or, “I like ice cream although I don’t like anchovies.”  Or, “I like ice cream even though I don’t like anchovies.”  Point out that “but,” “however,” “although” and “even though” all are used to connect ideas we don’t feel the same way about.  One idea we like and one idea we don’t like.  One idea usually uses a form of “not” or a prefix that means “not” such as un, im, ir, or dis.

Words which mean the same as “but” show contrast.  Some other words are though, despite and yet.

  • To reinforce the difference between “and” and “but” and their synonyms, suggest two ideas, such as summer and winter. Ask the student to say or write a sentence saying how they feel about those two times of year.  Now ask the student to change the word or words they used to connect summer and winter to a word or phrase which means the same thing.  Now do it again to another phrase or word which means the same thing.  Try another relationship, such as snakes and dogs.  Again, ask for synonyms for the connecting words.

Being aware how “and” and “but” and their synonyms create different relationships between ideas is important in reading.  If a child is reading and comes to the word “however,” she knows the thought has just changed to an opposite kind of thought.  If she comes to the word “moreover,” she knows more of the same kind of thought is coming.

Another way of teaching these ideas is to suggest that “and” is something like a plus sign, but “but” is something like a subtraction sign.  Or “and” is something like walking straight ahead while “but” is something like taking a U-turn.

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Posted in learning, methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, reading strategies, teaching tips, vocabulary

How to make kids better readers

Posted on December 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Renaissance Learning offers many ways to make children better readers.  Here are some of their suggestions.

“Give your students more choices.” Let children choose which books to read from a huge selection, both fiction and nonfiction.Young girl 's reading choices include a print book and an eBook.Young girl 's reading choices include a print book and an eBook.

Make sure the reading level is just right.”  A useful gauge is to count the number of words a student misses on a single page.  If it is five or more, that book is probably too hard and will discourage children from reading.

“Devote time to reading practice.”  Designate a certain time every day—before bed, before the morning school bus or during the school day—for reading.  Children will look forward to this time, especially if it is part of a routine.boy reading on the floor

“Build relationships with daily check-ins.” During reading time, talk to your child.  Comment on what he is reading.  Let him know you care.

“Make reading practice a social experience.” Read together with a child, one page for her, one page for you.  Or after you read, discuss what you and the child like and don’t like.

“Create a book-store style display.” On the bookshelf, show off books by their jackets or front covers to encourage a child to choose that book.  Display books you have read so you can talk to the child about why you like the book and why he might.girl reading Junie B. Jones

“Read aloud to students of all ages.” When you read to a younger child, you expose him to books whose ideas he can grasp even though the vocabulary might be difficult for his reading level.  When you read to an older child, you introduce genres which the child might not choose, and you model comprehension strategies such as predicting, asking questions and summarizing.

“Acknowledge and celebrate success.” Praise your child for his reading.  Create a spot to post his reading accomplishments—names of books and articles read, or number of pages read.

For more detailed information, go to http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R60386.pdf.

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Posted in asking questions, methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, reading strategies, teaching tips, vocabulary

When I work with my son on reading, should he read silently or should I interrupt and ask questions?

Posted on September 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

If you are working with your son, you should be involved.  What does an involved reading teacher do?

  • Before he reads a selection, you could read it, understand it, and preview it with your son. That does not mean giving away the ending if it is a story.  But it might mean explaining the setting or motivation of the main character.  In nonfiction, it might mean showing him a map or other graphic to make the reading easier to comprehend.

Tutor teaching a child.

  • Before reading, you and your son together could look at any graphics accompanying the article. You could ask him to interpret the graphics to be sure he understands the data.  You could ask him to read headlines and subheadings, and then ask him to predict what he is about to read.
  • If he has trouble pronouncing words or if he slurs big words, ask him to read a short section at a time aloud. Go back to the words he missed and discuss them, asking him to pronounce them, writing the words in syllables on notebook paper so he can see the structure of the word, explaining prefixes, suffixes or word roots.  If there are vocabulary words you suspect he might not know, ask him the meanings, and if he can’t explain them correctly, discuss their meanings.  Then ask him to read that part of the selection again.
  • Now ask him what it means. Don’t accept, “It’s about a farm,” but ask for more specific meaning.  “It’s about a small baby pig that a farmer is going to kill.”  Ask him if his prediction was right or should he change it.
  • Fluency can only be judged by a teacher if the child reads aloud.  Listen for pacing, inflection, changing of voice tone, loudness or softness.  If you know your child is a fluent reader, you needn’t have him read aloud often for fluency.  But if he is not a fluent reader, you might want to read a sentence at a time using fluency and have your child mimic you.
  • If you read along silently, and your child finishes a selection long before you do, probably he is racing. Ask him about the meaning.  If his answer is vague, ask him to read again but slower.
  • If your child is a competent reader, your job might consist of asking for feedback—orally or written. If your child is reading fiction, you might ask about setting, characters, theme, ups and downs in the story and the climax.  If he is reading nonfiction, ask for the thesis and organization of the article.  Ask a question which the article answers and let the student find and read the part which answers your question.
  • If you can’t be engaged with your child during the reading, you could leave questions to answer so you know the child has paid attention.

Good teachers interrupt when they hear mistakes or hesitancy.  They ask questions if they suspect the student is not understanding.

But if your son is reading strictly for his own pleasure, back off.  Maybe when the day’s reading is done, ask him what his reading selection was about or what he liked, but don’t pressure him.  If he is asking you questions like, “Hey, Mom, what does contentious mean?” or “Why do hunters want elephant tusks anyway?” he is doing what you want—consulting an expert when he doesn’t understand.

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Posted in fluency, methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading tips, vocabulary

Facing dyslexia in a preschooler

Posted on August 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

So you suspect your preschooler has dyslexia.  What can you do?

  • Realize that the younger a child is when identified as dyslexic, the sooner help can begin. If possible, you want to identify the situation before the child becomes frustrated and discouraged, and before the child is labeled as “different.”child making letter T with his body
  • Ask your school district to test the child. Because of the child’s age, the district might balk, and say he will be tested when in kindergarten, or first grade, or later.  Sometimes the district will become involved if you have some “proof” that the child is dyslexic.  This might require private testing at your expense by some recognized expert.
  • From the school district, find out what services your child will receive and when.baby reading a book
  • If the school district “officially” won’t help, make an appointment with your elementary school’s reading specialist. She will probably have ideas you can start with, and she might be able to lend you materials or at least identify materials that will help.
  • Consider hiring a reading tutor, one with experience teaching children with dyslexia. A good tutor will use many strategies, particularly game-like, hands-on approaches that will appeal to a preschooler.boy sees a T in STOP
  • If someone else in the immediate family has dyslexia, there’s a good chance your child has the same kind of reading problem and can be helped the same way. What worked for your other relative?
  • Check out ideas on the internet. Use keywords such as dyslexia, preschooler, reading and learning strategies.
  • Begin working with your child yourself. Focus on the sounds of the language first, and make sure your child can hear them and pronounce them properly.  Only then match sounds with letters.mother works with child reading story book
  • Is letter recognition difficult? Buy an ABC puzzle or letter tiles or a Scrabble game.  Use the letters to play games forcing the child to identify letters.  Unfortunately, most sources for letters use only capital letters, and it is generally lower case letters which cause problems.
  • Work on printing letters properly. If fine motor coordination is difficult, use a computer keyboard instead.  But again, most keyboards identify the keys with capital letters.Mother shows child spelling of her name Kelly
  • Use music. Teach your child the ABC song.  Sing songs together which rhyme or read nursery rhymes.
  • Teach directions. Up, down. Left, right.  Inside, outside.
  • You may find it takes longer for your dyslexic child to master certain skills when compared to a child without reading difficulties. Be patient.  If a younger sibling is catching on faster than the dyslexic child, work with each child independently and out of earshot from one another.  If at all possible, conceal from your child that he is having reading difficulties.  Find ways for him to succeed at learning.A teacher says the first part of a rhyme, and the child says the rest of it.

How about pulling your child out of preschool, or stopping all reading instruction for a year or until the child is seven or until the child reaches first grade?  These are not good solutions.  In pre-K students are expected to know their letter sounds and to match them with ABC’s.  In kindergarten children are expected to read CVC words, high frequency words, and some two-syllable words.  A child who can’t keep up with his classmates develops low self-esteem which can intensify reading problems.

Be proactive.  If you think your three or four-yer-old shows signs of reading difficulty, act as soon as possible for the best outcome.

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Posted in Dolch words, dyslexia, how to make learning fun, letter sounds, methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, reading disabilities, reading readiness., sight words

Should my kindergarten son read aloud to me? How about my third grade daughter?

Posted on May 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Reading aloud to a parent or teacher has two purposes:  to show that the child can decode words properly and to show that the child can read with fluency.  If the child is learning English as a second language, showing proper pronunciation is also a purpose.

child with adult helping to read

First decoding.  Probably your kindergarten son is at the decoding stage, that is, learning how to link language sounds with letters to form words.  If he is at this stage, then yes, he should read aloud.  That way you can tell what he knows, what he needs more practice on, and what he needs instruction on.

If you know from previous reading aloud that your third grader has mastered decoding, then your daughter needn’t read aloud for that purpose.  You might sit next to her as she reads.  If she has questions about pronouncing an unfamiliar word or if she asks about the meaning of a new word, you can help.  Occasionally you might ask her to tell you what she has read to be sure she has understood.

If your older child comes to English from a second language, she might be able to pronounce words perfectly yet have no idea what they mean.  If so, ask her to underline words she doesn’t know so you can talk about them.  If there are context clues, you might help her identify them.  With such a child, you should work on vocabulary development.

As for fluency (reading at a normal speed with voice inflection, pauses for punctuation and emotion in the voice) the kindergartener and ESL child should read aloud.  Some readers who are at the decoding stage spend so much energy on decoding that they miss the meaning.  By listening to how you say a line and then mimicking the way you say it, the child can pull together decoding and fluency.

Your third grader should be able to read fluently within her head.  However, if you notice that your child has trouble with comprehension even though she can decode well, then her reading aloud could help you to figure out why.  Is she ignoring punctuation and lumping parts of one sentence with another?  Is she sliding over longer words without decoding them because she is lazy or in a hurry?  Does she have short term memory problems, allowing her to forget the beginning of a sentence or paragraph before she gets to the end?  Is her emotional voice flat?  Is she missing inferences?  Some of this you can tell by listening to her read aloud, and some by asking her about what she has read.

In general, newer readers should read aloud with instruction and monitoring while experienced readers should read silently.

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Posted in English as a second language (ESL), fluency, methods of teaching reading, phonics, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, reading in kindergarten, reading strategies, working memory

Avoid the “summer slide” in your child’s learning

Posted on May 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Students loose reading skills during the summer if they don’t continue reading.  Educators call this loss the “summer slide.”  It is most severe among low-income students who lose up to two months of reading skills.  Yet it is sometimes nonexistent among middle class students who make slight gains in reading during summer months.  Why the difference?

Summer slide (decline) of reading scores.

 

 

  • A study of 3000 sixth and seventh graders in Atlanta Public School showed that students who read at least six books during the summer maintained or improved their reading skills.  But students who didn’t read lost up to a whole grade of reading skills.  (B. Heyns, 1978)
  • A study of Baltimore students over 15 years found that by the end of fifth grade, Baltimore students who didn’t read during the summer measured two years behind their classmates who did.  They concluded that 2/3 of the reading difference in ninth graders can be attributed to reading or not during summer school breaks.  (K Alexander, D. Entwisle and L. Olson, 2007)
  • A study of students completing third grade who took part in their local libraries’ summer reading programs scored 52 Lexile points ahead of their classmates who did not. (Dominican University)
  •  Children’s absence from reading during the summer is a major hurdle for achieving good reading skills by the end of third grade.  (The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading)
  • The summer slide is cumulative.  Some estimate that by the end of high school the summer slide can account for up to a four year lag in reading achievement, and it can have an effect on high school graduation rates.  According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, “one in six children who are not reading proficiently in 3rd grade do not graduate from high school on time, a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers.”

So how can you combat the summer slide?

  • Sign your child up for your local library’s summer reading program, and make sure your child completes the reading.
  • Go to the library regularly and let your child select books she will enjoy.
  • Help your child to read a chapter book a week, or a picture book each night.
  • Encourage your child to read the newspaper, television guides, magazines and online articles.
  • Reward your child with a trip to the book store to select her very own book.
  • Read to your child every evening, and let him read to you.  Your reading will teach fluency and pronunciation, and establish the notion that reading for pleasure is fun.

(This blog first appeared on May 16, 2014.)

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Posted in fluency, how to make learning fun, lexile score, literacy, picture books, practice reading skills, reading readiness., reading research, summer slide

How lack of vocabulary stymies reading comprehension

Posted on April 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

Three superior ways of acquiring new vocabulary were found by the National Reading Technical Assistance in 2010.  They are

  • Higher frequency of exposure to targeted vocabulary words
  • Explicit instruction of words and their meanings
  • Questioning and language engagement

child with adult helping to read

Working with children daily, I see firsthand how a lack of vocabulary stymies their efforts to comprehend what they read.  For example, in the past week, a fourth grader reading aloud to me

  • pronounced “archaeological” as “architectural” and didn’t realizing his mistake.
  • did not know the meaning of the word “bid” as it was used in the passage. When I questioned him further, he admitted not knowing any meanings of that word.
  • did not know the meaning of “ancestral.” Questioning him showed me he did know what “ancestor” means.  When I pointed out that the roots of “ancestral” and “ancestor” are the same, he was able to figure out “ancestral.”
  • did not know the meaning of “interwoven.” Questioning showed me he did not know what “weave” means.  When I explained “weave” and “interwoven,” he still had no idea what “interwoven” meant in the passage because it was being used as a metaphor.
  • could not pronounce or understand “initial” used as an adjective. When I pronounced it, he still had no idea.  When I reminded him about the initials of his name, he recognized the word, but had no idea what it meant in context.  I explained that initials are the first letters in his name, and that “initial” in context meant “beginning” or “first.”  Then he understood.
  • could not pronounce or understand “notoriously.” He knew “famous,” so I said “notorious” means famous for doing something bad.  Still he was confused.  “Like Hitler.”  “What’s Hitler?”

Even though this boy was reading near his Lexile number, he either missed or misinterpreted chunks of the reading passage because of lack of vocabulary.

I will recommend to his mother that he works on vocabulary each lesson, using one of the many good vocabulary-building series available.  He also needs to read more and widely.

But doing one lesson in a vocabulary book, and then moving on to the next, is not enough.  He needs to hear the new vocabulary words often, review them, be questioned about their meanings, and be able to use them correctly in sentences.

If you are a parent, I recommend you either begin using a vocabulary-building series of workbooks, or if your child uses them at school, review past “learned” words with him or her.  My experience working with children, especially ESL children, shows me they need to engage with the words often in order for the words to become part of their vocabulary.

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Posted in English as a second language (ESL), methods of teaching reading, practice reading skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary

How to make your child a confident, competent reader

Posted on January 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

If you want your child to become a good soccer player, what should your child do?child kicking soccer ball

  • Read the life of soccer great, Pele?
  • Watch reruns of great World Cup games?
  • Practice, practice, practice running, blocking, swiveling, interfering, kicking and scoring?

If you want your child to become a good piano player, what should your child do?child playing violin

  • Prowl through Mozart’s haunts in Vienna?
  • Listen to Erroll Garner perform multiple versions of the same tune?
  • Practice scales, practice chords, practice phrases, practice, practice, practice?

And if you want your child to become a good reader, what should he or she do? boy reading on the floorRead, read, read.  Becoming a good reader, like becoming a good athlete or musician, is a skill.  It  needs to be honed by thousands of hours of practice. There’s no shortcut.

Parents pay me to tutor their children in reading, yet between our lessons, many children do no reading. Would you pay a coach to work with your son in a batting cage for an hour a week and then expect the boy not to wait a week to hit the ball again?  Would you pay an art teacher to work with your child an hour a week and then allow the child not to pick up charcoal until the next lesson?

If you want your child to improve his reading, then he needs to practice daily. Few classroom teachers allocate a half hour or an hour of class time daily to active reading instruction. If you want your child to improve as a reader, it’s up to you to provide reading time for him and for you.

How? Find books, magazines, online information or other kinds of reading that will interest your child. Lists of books by grade and topic abound on the internet. Have him read aloud to you. Notice what his strengths are and what his weaknesses are. Does he have trouble pronouncing words or knowing what they mean? Does he skip punctuation? Does he slur over big words? Does he skip whole lines of type as he reads? Does he miss inferences? Does he read without emotion, without inflection?  Does he mispronounce certain letters?  Then these are areas he needs to practice with you to help him.

Even if you are not an English teacher, you are a reader and can offer your child feedback on his reading. Model how reading is done. Don’t let him read off by himself. You need to be involved, to hear how he reads so that you can offer help.
Good readers self-monitor, stopping when they realize they aren’t getting it, but poor readers don’t. Help your child to get over the notion that one read through is enough.

If you want your child to be a confident and competent reader, you cannot depend on the schools. You must get involved. Even if you hire a tutor like me, you must get involved to be sure your child practices between his lessons. Practice is the only sure way to learn a skill.

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