Chapter 2 was an enlightening read for me! As a 1st grade teacher, I spend my days instilling a joy of reading in little ones. Interestingly enough, the joy that I have for teaching this subject hasn't related as well to my own son. He loves numbers! He absolutely LOVES them! He reads because he has to, but NOT because he wants to. So, I thought completing an activity from this chapter would help to shed a little light on the joy of reading for him.
The author, Mariah Bruehl, states that there are 4 developmental stages of reading.
(1)Children begin reading by enjoying listening to favorite picture books being read to them, then move on to (2) reciting memorized stories. Next, something magical happens! (3)The vocabulary a they have developed from being read to combines with their knowledge of letters and sounds for them to begin reading on their own! (4)Last, but not least, children begin moving into different levels of reading.
As children are becoming independent readers it is critical that they are exposed to "good fit" books. These are books that are at their appropriate reading level. When looking for a "good fit" book consider books that have:
- Text that accurately coincides with the illustrations
- Text that contains simple words that are a part of your child's everyday vocabulary
- Text that is repetitive and predictable
- Pages with no more than one or two sentences each
After talking with my son, DJ, about reading books that are a good fit for him, he chose which of the activities that supported this chapter he would like to do. He chose Collecting Words.
We chose two magazines and a notebook with one of his favorite characters on the cover. Then, he cut out words of his choosing. When he was done, I asked him to categorize the words into groups. He could choose to group them however, he liked....long words, short words, things he loves....
He chose to sort them by color. After grouping the words by color, he circled each group and labeled them. Now, he has a new collection of words, he can go back to and read that he may use to create his own stories!
Before going to bed, we also made sure he had a brand new bin for his "good fit" books and a cuddly friend to share them with! He's in that magical stage where everything has come together. He may not love reading like he adores math but he IS reading. Best of all....now, I get to enjoy listening!
Thanks so much for letting me spend this time with you! Please click the picture of the "Good Fit Books" poster to grab a copy for yourself!
~Mrs. Dwyer
love this ida...def something theycan go back to =)
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I just put together a basket of "good fit books" for my 5 year old. Now she can feel confident reading them to her dolls or her little sister during quiet time. :)
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