Building a large “word bank” is one of the best ways to help children with reading comprehension. Young readers use knowledge about words to help them make sense of what they’re reading. The more words a reader knows, the more they are able to comprehend what they’re reading or listening to.
A simple trip to the grocery store can turn into a real learning experience for your child. Below are some easy ways to build literacy and math skills while getting your shopping done at the same time!
Children go through phases of reading development from preschool through third grade — from exploration of books to independent reading. In kindergarten, children develop basic concepts of print and begin to engage in and experiment with reading and writing. Find out what parents and teachers can do to support kindergarten literacy skills.
Just a few pages from your newspaper can be turned into lots of early learning activities. Here you’ll find “letters and words” activities for the youngest, plus fun writing prompts and tips on how to read and analyze the news for older kids.
Print awareness is the understanding that print carries meaning and that in English it reads from left to right. It also means learning that books contain letters and words, have front and back covers, and are handled in a certain way.
This article discusses current research-supported instructional practices in reading and writing. It also reviews alternatives to ability-achievement discrepancy in identifying students for special education services, as well as introduces the idea that ability-achievement discrepancies should be based on specific cognitive factors that are relevant to specific kinds of learning disabilities rather than Full Scale IQ.
Choral reading gives students practice in reading texts aloud, but individual feedback is tough to provide. Integrate other fluency strategies — such as paired reading — that give you more opportunity to observe and respond to each student.
Mac Barnett is the bestselling author of more than 20 books for children, including Extra Yarn and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, both illustrated by Jon Klassen, and both winners of a Caldecott Honor and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award. His picture books, Leo: A Ghost Story and The Skunk, were recognized as The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015. Barnett also writes the Brixton Brothers mystery series and, with Jory John, The Terrible Two novels. Barnett loves his work because, he says, kids are “the sincerest appreciators of stories, a uniquely receptive and honest audience.”
Print awareness (also called concepts of print) is the understanding that print carries meaning, that books contain letters and words. Print awareness also includes an understanding of what books are used for and how a book “works” — how to turn pages, how to find the top and bottom of a page, and how to identify the title and the front and back covers.
Hearing the difference between similar sounding words such as grow and glow is easy for most children, but not for all children. Children who unable to hear these differences will be confused when these words appear in context, and their comprehension skills will suffer dramatically.
Children go through phases of reading development from preschool through third grade — from exploration of books to independent reading. In third grade, children continue to extend and refine their reading and writing to suit varying purposes and audiences. Find out what parents and teachers can do to support third grade literacy skills.
Discover 20 ways to help children learn about concepts of print — that print carries meaning, directionality in a book, letter and word awareness, upper case and lower case letters, punctuation, and more.
