 |
| Photo from South Suburban College |
Purpose of Read Alouds: Part I
ONCE
YOUR STUDENT HAS DEVELOPED BASIC PRE-READING SKILLS, he is ready to learn to read. He’s not really reading yet, and he is certainly not properly literate
yet, but he is at the learning stage.
You will be amazed how fast he progresses. A huge leap occurs from the
beginning of kindergarten to the end. An even larger leap happens from the
beginning of first grade to the end of that year. Those leaps will continue
each year until finally in fourth grade he will no longer be learning to read,
he will be reading to learn!
The
purpose of Reading Aloud to your students is to provide them with an
opportunity to share our common cultures, explore new topics, and learn new
vocabulary. By listening to and thinking about stories, your students will gain
the comprehension skills they are not developing while busy decoding and
memorizing words. Read Aloud to your students for at least fifteen minutes per day. In the process, they will hear
the rhythm and flow of how language is used in complete sentences. They will
gain a better appreciation for how a sentence represents a more complete
thought than mere words and phrases do, and they will experience the joy of
story. Reading Aloud to your students will help them become more effective
writers and communicators. While Reading Aloud to your students, you will teach
background knowledge, build vocabulary, and develop listening, memory, and comprehension
skills. Students who are read to, have a
much easier time learning to read than those who don’t have this exposure
to language and literature. In addition, students who are read to make faster and deeper leaps into
comprehension. They are the ones who
will become properly literate.
TEACH BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Start
building background knowledge from infancy, and never stop. You don’t need to
have a book in your hands all the time. Talk
to your child. Explain everything. Explain how things work, how you use
them and why you use them. Name people, places, things, actions, concepts,
descriptors, and feelings. Look at family photos, talk about family members,
teach family traditions, and look at maps and photos of where they are from. Go
outside and name the trees, and plants. Talk about the weather and how it
affects the plants. Your child has entered the world with a blank slate. Help him
fill it up with any tidbit of information you can think of. As they begin to
grow, children have lots of questions
– answer them, even if you already have. They are trying to understand the
world around them. Help them understand. The more background information they
have the better. You see, books don’t
explain everything. Authors often assume readers know certain things like: vocabulary - what a mountain is vs. a
hill; settings - which animals live
in a jungle vs. a forest or a farm; and characters
- recognizing other people have feelings and emotions too. So, it’s up to parents and teachers to
provide that background knowledge. Without it, reading comprehension will be
slow and frustrating. The more background knowledge your child has, the more
connections he will make, and the easier it will be for him to understand what
is being read to him, as well as, what he is reading independently. Remember our ultimate goal is literacy, true
literacy – not just decoding words on a page. You want your child – or student,
to comprehend and derive meaning from those sentences he just read. So talk,
answer questions, listen to what he has to say, correct misinformation, and
listen again.
BUILD VOCABULARY
Another way to ensure your student will develop reading comprehension skills and become properly literate, is to develop strong vocabulary skills from an
early age. Never be afraid to use big or unfamiliar words in front of your
child. Remember – everything is unfamiliar! Your job is to fill that blank
slate. You are going to do this through the simple act of daily conversation. Over simplifying your word choices undermines
your child’s vocabulary development. Use rich vocabulary. Children are able to
understand more than they are able to articulate. When they hear you use big
words, they will enjoy the challenge of trying to imitate your articulation
abilities. If they don’t understand something you’ve said, they will ask.
Explain what words mean as needed. You don’t need to quiz your child on
definitions, just talk. He will pick up some meaning through the context of the
conversation. Some words he may not understand at all. That’s ok. At least when
he gets to school and comes across that word in a book he is reading it will
not be the first time he has ever heard it. Because he has heard it before, he
won’t be afraid of it. He won’t feel overwhelmed by it. He won’t think, “There
are smart people who know big words, there are people who only know small
words, and I’m in the small group.” By using an elaborative style of speech that provides explanatory detail, your
child will understand that he is expected and capable of learning and
understanding large words and a diversity of topics. Whether as an adult or a
child, reading comprehension is more likely to happen when we are familiar with
90% of the words we read. Remember my earlier example (blog post 6/11/18) of how meaningless a
sports article would be to me. Make sure that doesn’t happen to your child when
he is reading about history, other cultures, American government, nature,
science experiments, and anything else that makes our world so interesting!
Tips for Developing Vocabulary:
·
Use an elaborative style of speech – explain
everything! Provide definitions, context and details.
·
Answer
questions.
·
Build background
knowledge through conversation and Read Alouds.
·
Stay on the same topic or theme for 1-2 weeks so
words and topic become familiar.
·
Read multicultural books.
· Use diverse topics with a Kindergarten
theme and beyond. Choose topics of interest to your
child and family.
·
Pair non-fiction with fiction books on the same topic to help build background knowledge.
·
Use a child’s recipe book for cooking
together.
·
Sing songs together.
·
Recite Nursery rhymes together.
·
Label things
in pictures, and in your home or classroom.
·
Write words on
index cards. Collect words in a word
bank (shoebox), or create a word wall or
notebook.
·
Teach basic concept words using
demonstration and practice: On, under, in, forward, backward, above, below,
beside, between, through, around, whole, half, separated, together, wide,
narrow, small, medium, large, same, different, more, less, inside, outside,
top, bottom, near, far, in front, behind, short, long, pair, in a row, full,
empty.
· Teach attribute words: large, big, small,
tiny, narrow, wide, rough, smooth, soft, hard, thin, skinny, medium, fat, color
words, shape words, and emotion words.
· Teach feature words - Here is a small sample
of household items: toothpaste, telephone, lamp,
vacuum, brush, shower,
scissors, washer, kitchen sink, and refrigerator. Now name the features of those items: Tube, cap, speaker, receiver,
switch, lamp shade, base, cord, plug, bristles, handle, faucet, spout, drain,
shower curtain, curtain rings, curtain rod, blade, buttons, sprayer, drain
plug, door, shelf, and drawer.
· Teach function words - Explain the purpose of all those household items:
to clean our teeth, talk to someone, give light, clean the floor, brush hair,
clean ourselves, cut paper, clean our clothes, wash dishes, and to keep food
cold.
· Go on family field trips, run errands together,
and participate in play groups. It’s
all an opportunity to come across new vocabulary.
· Demonstrate verbs: walk, run, hop, jump, skip,
gallop, toss, throw, kick, etc…
· Use articles in sentences: the, a, an.
· Nouns: Teach
how to identify person, place or thing, by naming nouns.
·
Plural vs. singular: Teach how to tell if someone is talking about one thing,
or more than one.
· Use Punctuation words: period, question
mark, exclamation point, comma, and quotation marks.
Teach the word
“punctuation.”
· Teach how to use Pronouns: I, me, my, mine, you, your,
yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, we, us, our, ours, them, their, theirs. Focus
on one group of words at a time.
1. Play a simple
pronoun game by passing a doll or stuffed animal to family members. As the doll
goes around the circle, your student practices saying, “I have the doll. You
have the doll. She has the doll. He has the doll. They have the doll.”
2. Next, the
child instructs, “Please give it to me. Please give it to him. Please give it
to her. Please give it to them.”
3. After that,
move to the bedroom area. Now the doll will move to different rooms, while your
student practices saying, “It’s in my room. It’s in his room. It’s in her room.
It’s in their room.”
4. Last, the
doll passes to each person again. This time your student practices saying,
“This is my doll. It’s mine. This is your doll. It’s yours. This is his doll.
It’s his. This is her doll. It’s hers. This is their doll. It’s theirs.”
Finally, say, “We will share the doll. It lives with us.”
DEVELOP LISTENING SKILLS
Quality listening skills are essential to becoming a good reader. Listening requires focus
and comprehension. When you listen to someone else read a story, you need to
focus your attention on that person; hear the words they are speaking; have the
background knowledge to understand the meaning of 90% of those words; have the
ability to process the other 10% of words in context in order to guess their
meaning; maintain enough interest and memory to be able to follow the story
with an awareness of the sequence of events; understand the consequences of
cause and effect; keep track of the characters and setting; understand what the
problem is and how it is resolved; and infer the author’s purpose for writing
the story.
So
how many kindergarteners can do all that?!! Not many! This means, they need to
learn how. Remember your kindergarteners are still at the pre-reading stage. What I just described is the listening skills of
a good reader. Learning to listen takes time, patience and a lot of repetition.
This is one of the reasons young children ask to hear the same story over and
over again. They know they didn’t get it all the first time! It’s also the
reason kindergarteners interrupt with
lots of questions and comments. It’s not realistic to expect all
kindergarteners to sit still and quiet 100% of the time. However, in a
classroom setting, it would be chaotic to have students constantly yelling out
their questions. So, of course Rules for
Read Alouds need to be in place: Hands
quietly raised, turns taken, and questions and comments relevant to the story and topic. For parents, reading at home
with fewer children, it can be a more casual time. Just be sure to emphasize
your expectation that they follow the teacher’s rules in the classroom and not
interfere with other student’s learning time.
When
students finally become readers themselves, they will be listening to the
author’s voice in their head, or at least to their own voice sounding out the
words. If they don’t know how to truly listen they will never understand what they have read. There
are many ways to develop listening skills. The most important will be in
practicing listening to you – their parents and teachers. Face your child; make
eye contact to hold attention. Speak clearly and in complete sentences. Modulate
your tone and facial expressions for emphasis, comedy, and drama. Use rich
language filled with detail and a wide variety of vocabulary. Model listening by looking at your
child and listening with your complete attention when they ask questions, tell
you their problems, or share their interests. Repeat some of what your child
has said to show you are paying attention. Remember parents, you are your child’s most important teacher and role model.
Your child wants to be, is trying to be, just like you.
Listening games for School:
Improve skills
for focus in noisy classrooms, by learning
to ignore distracting information. Walk on a string placed on the floor, while
carrying a spoon filled with water, while everyone in the room is making noise,
waving arms, and swaying side to side. Teach to listen first, react second.
Avoid lecturing. Listen to music
and identify: horns, drums, strings, flute, piano.
· Listen to 1-step
directions. Instruct, “Please repeat the directions.” Give the same directions
again, this time for an activity you have set up. As students are able,
increase to 2-step, 3-step, 4-step, and 5-step directions.
· Listen to someone
explain how to play a game. Ask, “Did you understand the directions? Try to
repeat the directions.” Then play the game, to check for understanding.
· Listen to
different dialects: Boston, Southern, Standard English, African American/Urban,
Maine, New Jersey, Texas, and others. Try talking the way they do. Listen
again. Can you name the dialect? While you are at it, pull out a map or globe,
and point out the various regions, as well as where you live. Make everything about building background
knowledge.
· Listen to a
statement vs. a question. What’s the difference? What happens to the tone in a
question? (goes up) Can you identify it with your eyes closed? Which one needs
an answer?
· Listen to and
clap out syllables in a word.
· Listen to and
clap out words in a sentence.
· Listen to and
identify beginning sounds vs. ending sounds in words.
· Listen for the
space between words in a sentence. How many were there?
· Play Simon Says.
Your student will have to listen very carefully!
· Listen to
alliteration and identify the beginning sound.
Listening to Stories:
·
Teach students to
first listen with eyes closed. Focus
on one instruction per story, talk
about the experience, listen again with eyes open, and then end with number 9 or 10 (except when using
instruction number 1).
1. Imagine the
pictures in your head. Which pictures did you like best – the ones you imagined
or the illustrators? Why?
2. Who - Imagine
what the characters look like, where they are, what they are doing, and how
they are feeling. Listen for words that provide clues.
3. What - Imagine
the objects in the story (name a few things for students to focus on). What
does it look like? What does it feel like? How do you feel about the object?
4. When - Think
about the weather and time of day. Listen for words that provide clues.
5. Where - Imagine
where the story is taking place. What does it look like, smell like, sound
like, feel like?
6. Why - Think about the problem in the story. Why did the
situation become a problem?
7. How - How
was the problem resolved? Think about how you would have handled it.
8. Genre - Is the
story real or make believe? How do you know?
9. Text - Now
listen to the same story with your eyes
open. Keep your eyes on the speaker and on the pictures. Did your
understanding of the story change? Why/Why not?
10. Illustrations
- How did the illustrations help you
understand the story better?
· Listen to nursery rhymes, songs, fairy tales,
fiction, and non-fiction. Repeat lines.
· Listen to how
people express an emotion. Are they
surprised, angry, happy, sad, playful, cozy, safe, silly, thankful, hurt,
sorry, lonely, grumpy, mad, afraid, shy, quiet, worried, or curious?
· Listen to rhyme words. Which part of the word
rhymes? (end) What sound did it make?
· Use Read Together books. Your child must
listen in order to anticipate what his “word” will be.
· Read Predictable books. Your student must
listen carefully and think about what will happen next. Ask what evidence he is
using for his prediction.
· When reading, use
an expressive reading style to
emphasize meaning.
· Re-read as needed when your child doesn’t understand something. Answer questions.
· Parents - you can stop reading if your child loses
interest. Remember you want listening to a story to be an enjoyable activity he chooses to do, not a forced lesson he resents.
·
In the long run,
the goal is for students to listen to a story for up to fifteen minutes. That’s
a long time in the early months of kindergarten, so be patient. This skill will
develop over time.
Purpose of Read Alouds: Part II will appear in an August post!
Other titles by Laura S. Pringle:
Laura S. Pringle is the author of The Pringle Plan, a series of educational guides.
See books by Laura S. Pringle on Amazon
©2018 Laura S. Pringle. All Rights Reserved.
