Preschool Reading Problem

A problem that I'm facing right now is how can I get 80% of the students in my class to become readers? My preschool students are who is involved. Relevant data is the number is testing that I use to see what percentage they are reading at and can recognize sight words. My goals for this problem is to have the students know all the sounds that they letters give and how to put them together and sound them out. Some possible strategies to reach a solution are listed in the articles below. However I believe and see that young children learn through repetition. This problem hasn't been solved yet because my class is mixed up with three through five year old students. Therefore, everyone's learning abilities and style are different, now yet known, and are a work in progress.


http://schoolreadiness.suite101.com/article.cfm/teaching_preschoolers_to_read

According to Denise Oliveri we should keep learning fun.

She stated that the first important thing to remember is that in order to make learning a success you need to make learning fun. Preschoolers learn better when you make it fun. There will be times that you think they are not paying you any attention but they are learning. Any lesson can be learned by turning it into a song, drawing, arts and crafts and more.

Start your reading session by dressing up as one of the characters in the book and offering a costume for your child to wear as well. It may just be a hat, a mask or a jacket but try to fit the part. You will grab your preschooler’s attention and she will enjoy reading with you. Because it is fun to learn for the children, your teaching and reading time will consist of smiling, laughing, running and playing.

http://www.helium.com/items/696107-how-to-teach-preschoolers-to-read-and-write

According to Theresa Willbye there are many ways to teach letters, you need to find which method allows your child to develop whilst also remaining enjoyable. Children have stages in their life (2 and a half and 4 years) at which they automatically absorb phonetics. This method of teaching letter sounds is great as it allows children to read instantly any word that is phonetic once they know all the letter sounds in the alphabet (there are a lot of phonetic words). If you use this approach create materials for your child to read like flash cards word strips phonetic books, allow them to read to you this gives them a great sense of achievement.

Phonetics is not a suitable approach for all children though I worked with a boy once who was diagnosed with autism. I spent a long time trying to tech him phonetics but to no avail. Through trial and error and a little help from Thomas the tank engine we came to realize the boy had a strong ability to sight read. The boy could read every engine name ever to have been on Thomas the tank engine and so we built on that foundation and used his passion to tech him other words. Within 1 year he went from being unable to read 1 word to being grades ahead of his age in school. Remember every child is individual.

I think some teachers may often forget to alter their lesson for special needs learners. I can remember first hand watching my classmates with special needs get lost in class unless we gave him/her the answers. Preschool is a wonderful time for parents to learn what type of learner their child is. This can help their future education.

Reading rockets has lots of wonderful suggestions for teaching preschoolers to read. I especially love the one that states "know when to stop!" Teachers often want to drag lessons through even though they've lost the class in the process. Preschoolers have a very short attention span and need short lessons of no more then 10 minutes.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/7833

Read together every day

Read to your child every day. Make this a warm and loving time when the two of you can cuddle close.

Give everything a name

Build your child's vocabulary by talking about interesting words and objects. For example, "Look at that airplane! Those are the wings of the plane. Why do you think they are called wings?"

Say how much you enjoy reading

Tell your child how much you enjoy reading with him or her. Talk about "story time" as the favorite part of your day.

Read with fun in your voice

Read to your child with humor and expression. Use different voices. Ham it up!

Know when to stop

Put the book away for awhile if your child loses interest or is having trouble paying attention.

http://www.iched.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=iched&item_id=teach_writing_prek-1

Dr. Lance insists that “Children who are encouraged to draw and scribble ‘stories’ at an early age will later learn to compose more easily, more effectively, and with greater confidence than children who do not have this encouragement.” This finding is based on research literature reported by the U.S. Department of Education (What Works: Research about Teaching and Learning, second edition, 1987). This same article goes on to comment:

Even toddlers, who can hardly hold a crayon or pencil, are eager to “write” long before they acquire the skills in kindergarten that formally prepare them to read and write.

Studies of very young children show that carefully formed scrawls have meaning to them, and that this writing actually helps them develop language skills. Research suggests that the best way to help children at this stage of their development as writers is to respond to the ideas they are trying to express [italics added].

Very young children take the first steps toward writing by drawing and scribbling...others may dictate stories into a tape recorder or to an adult, who writes them down and reads them back...it is best to focus on the intended meaning of what very young children write, rather than on the appearance of the writing [italics added].

Children become more effective writers when parents and teachers encourage them to choose the topics they write about, then leave them alone to exercise their own creativity. The industriousness of such children has prompted one researcher to comment that they “violate the child labor laws” (p. 9).

The preschool years provide parents with the opportunity to build a solid base upon which good writing skills will be developed in later years. Use this critical time in a child’s development by providing paper, crayons, large pencils, good modeling on your part, and most of all, lots of encouragement and supportive response.

Emergent literacy is also very important in the process of having preschoolers to read and write. Reading and writing go hand in hand. What adults consider scribble is the attempt of a child to express themselves through writing and should be respected as so.

http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/preparing-preschooler-to-read.gs?content=738

Lastly according to Barbara Graber we should:

Make Literacy a Part of Every Day

Kids learn best through direct experiences that let them safely experiment and explore their world. Offer your child choices and let her be the leader in deciding which activities she wants to do. Each child learns and develops language skills in her own unique time frame, but all young children need the following:

• Opportunities to develop and practice emerging skills.
• Encouragement and praise for effort.
• Understanding that ongoing learning is a family value.
• Parents and other caregivers to help plan learning activities that are appropriate for her development.
• A special place of for reading and hands-on learning activities.

I think that if I take note and attempt to use some of the aforementioned suggestion by the authors I will see an improvement in my students reading and writing skills.