Before Reading:
- Take a "picture walk" with your kindergarten student. This is a time where you and your child just simply look at only the illustrations of their favorite book. This will help your child to make meaning before even reading. Encourage your student to verbalize what they see to further their predictions and assumptions prior to reading the book.
When You're Reading to Your Child:
- Make sure your child can see the pictures clearly.
- Use plenty of expression when reading. Children love voice changes. This truly brings the story to life!
- As the story is developing, encourage your child to predict what will happen next.
- As you read, point to each word, sliding your finger under the text. This will help to promote one-to-one text recognition. You will help your child to understand that text has meaning. In addition, this also shows a child how print works, from top to bottom and from left to right.
When You're Reading With Your Child:
- Begin reading the story to your child in a speed that is comfortable to your child.
- Encourage your child to point to each word as they read, sliding a finger from word to word.
Strategies to Use When Your Child Comes to a Difficult Word:
Strategy 1: Look at the picture
Look for your child doing the following:
- Looking at the picture for clues before reading and when stuck on a tricky word.
- Pointing under each word with index finger while reading.
- Moving from left to right along the line.
- Moving from top to bottom on the page
Strategy 2: Does It Make Sense?
Good readers make sure that what they read is logical and makes sense. Look for your child doing the following:
- Looking at the picture for clues before reading.
- Looking at the picture to self-monitor while reading.
- Listening to themselves while reading to make sure what they read made sense.
Strategy 3: Get Your Mouth Ready!
Good readers use the beginning sound(s) of words. Look for your child doing the following:
- Getting their mouth ready to help predict a tricky word.
- Thinking of a word that would make sense and start with that particular beginning letter.
Strategy 4: Does It Look Right?
Good readers check their reading by looking through the entire word from left to right and by asking, "Does it look right?" Look for your child doing the following:
- Monitoring themselves by asking, "does it make sense?"
- Monitoring themselves by asking, "does it look right?"
Strategy 5: Reread
When good readers come to a tricky word, they reread to try and figure the word out or to regain meaning. Look for your child doing the following:
- Rereading and predicting what the tricky word could be.
- Have your child reread and think of a word that would make sense and starts with that letter.
Strategy 6: Does It Sound Right?
Good readers self-monitor their reading by asking the questions, "Does it sound right?" and "Can we say it that way?" Look for your child doing the following:
- Asking, "Does it make sense?" "Does it look right?" "Does it sound right?"
- Ask your child, "Does what you read sound right?"
Strategy 7: Look for Chunks!
After good readers use the initial strategies, they "look for chunks." For example, they might look for familiar word families (-at, -an, -ig, -og,), look for familiar words within words, look for consonant clusters (st-, sl-, pr-), and look for familiar digraphs (ch-, sh-, th-, wh-). Look for your child doing the following:
- Looking for chunks
- Looking for similar words (If a student can read /cat/ they can apply their sound knowledge to read /pat/, /hat/, /sat/, and /fat/)
- Using several strategies, not just one.
- Can you retell the story in your own words?
- Were there surprises?
- Who were the main characters?
- What was the setting (where the story took place) of the story?
- What was the plot (problem) of the story?
- What did you like best about the main character? What did you not like?
- What did you like about the ending of the story?
- Did the story remind you of anything that has happened to you?