The main source of information in this article is the report of the National Reading Panel, Teaching Children to read.
This report along with other reports, offer more research –based information about how children learn to read and write.
Let’s look at the research which tells us that to become a more skilled and confident reader, children need lots of opportunities to:
- Build spoken language by talking and listening
- Learn about print and books
- Learn about the sounds and letters of the alphabet
- Be ready to and read on their own
- Spell and write
- Develop their ability to read quickly and naturally (this is called fluency)
- Learn new words and build their knowledge of words (this is called vocabulary)
- Build their knowledge of the world
- Build their ability to understand what they read (this is called comprehension)
These pieces of information are a good starting point for parents interested in assisting their children.
More information will follow in subsequent newsletters.
