When children are young their parents begin to expose them to reading by sitting with them and reading to them. As children reach school age, or sometimes a little earlier, they are introduced to phonics and sight words. We know that all of this is important for teaching children to read, but sometimes it isn’t enough. Children sometimes need more exposure and practice time with the text. There are 5 tips that I would like to share with you, some of which I am sure you are already doing, but they are tips that I have used to help children learn to read and support struggling readers.
Tip #1 - Use Repetitive Books
Using repetitive books in the classroom is so much fun. I like using books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear; The Little Red Hen; The Gingerbread Man; and The Little Old Lady that Wasn’t Afraid of Anything. There are a lot more, but these are the ones that come to mind. Students enjoy listening to these types of stories, and as you read they easily catch on to the repetitive frames. While you are reading you will soon find that they are chanting the frame. This is nice, but the cool part is that later they will take that book and start reading, or pretend reading, using what they have learned. It doesn’t really matter if they aren’t actually reading all of the words. It is a way for them to build their confidence and get excited about reading. They also become more open to reading along with someone in order to focus more closely on the words they don’t know.
Tip #2 - Use Read Along Resources - Videos/Karaoke Songs
Another really fun way to teach reading is to use read-along videos or kids' karaoke videos. I put together a songbook with the lyrics that go with some kid karaoke songs that I found on YouTube. I like to give students a copy of the book and then have them use it as I play a few of the videos. Playing the videos during a Brain Break or as a cooldown after lunch is a perfect time for this. Students follow along in the book or, of course, they can just see the words displayed on the video.
The thing that makes the songbook such a great idea is that during free reading time students often choose their songbooks in which they are successfully able to read because they have been practicing the songs with the video.
There are a lot of kids' song videos on YouTube, but there are also read-along videos. It is nice to use these videos because usually, students are already familiar with the stories, plus they are short. Students learn the stories quickly and are soon able to read along on their own.
Tip #3 - Use Poems - Read and Color
I enjoy using poetry in the classroom, especially with units of study. Every student gets a copy of the poem, which usually has a black and white picture that can be colored. First, we read the poem together and then students partner read. After students have gone through the poem several times, the next step is to have them read the poem on their own.
Once students have read through the poem, I have them color one part of the picture. They reread the poem and continue coloring in different parts of the picture each time. For struggling readers, I just have them focus on a small section of the poem. I find that they usually work hard to learn the whole poem. I like to have students keep the poems in a folder so that they are able to take the poems out and read them during independent reading time.
Tip #4 - Book Bags - Easy/Appropriate Level
The key to becoming a reader is, of course, practice. I’ve already mentioned a few ways for students to practice reading, but book bags are another great idea. This works really well if you know your students’ reading levels. This allows you to provide them with books at their level to put in their book bags. Students do well with having familiar books in their bags that they can take home each night and practice reading. As they master each book, the book can be traded out for another one.
The key to becoming a reader is, of course, practice. I’ve already mentioned a few ways for students to practice reading, but book bags are another great idea. This works really well if you know your students’ reading levels. This allows you to provide them with books at their level to put in their book bags. Students do well with having familiar books in their bags that they can take home each night and practice reading. As they master each book, the book can be traded out for another one.
One reason for taking book bags home is that some students don't have books in their homes. I know that teachers spend way too much money on their classrooms, but having books for students to take home has always been one of my top priorities. One of the best places to find used books is in the bookstore at your local library.
Tip #5 - Partner Share - Read a Poem, Book, Sentence, Etc. with a Partner
I probably don’t need to say much about this tip, because I’m sure you already know the benefits of students working with a partner, but I don’t want the importance of partner sharing in reading to be overlooked. I think in the past, or maybe even still, this has been referred to as buddy reading. Although buddy reading is often done with a young reader and an older reader. The idea of a partner share is that it pairs readers that are closer to the same level, but having one partner with a little more reading experience is helpful.
Partner shares don’t need to be micromanaged. Often, they are not even planned. Find time in the schedule to allow students to read with a partner. This can be done during free reading time, which is nice, but it can also be done as part of your lesson. I’ve already mentioned doing this with the poems where after reading the poem as a whole class, students practice reading the poem with a partner. This helps to keep them accountable and together students can work on words that they may struggle with.
Partner share does not need to be made complicated. It could be as easy as providing a strip of paper, or a card for students to read together.
If you are doing some of the other things in your classroom such as repetitive reading, book bags, and song books then you will find that partner share becomes something that students will begin to do on their own.
As I mentioned, you don’t want to micromanage, but there are benefits to sometimes pairing up students. One reason might be to break up students that don’t stay on task when they work together. Another might be to help students become more social and allow them time to work with someone that they might not normally work with. The last reason I will mention, which I have mentioned earlier, is to provide support to struggling readers. There are two ways to do this. You could pair a stronger reader with one that needs support, or you could pair two struggling readers together. With two struggling readers the teacher can provide the needed support as appropriate.
There are many ways to support reading in the classroom, but I have shared some of my favorite tips. The key for me is to make reading fun, but the goal is to set students up for success. In doing this you will help to foster their love of reading.
