PHONICS FOR KIDS

Have you ever come across a statement, saying or part of a book  that sums up exactly what you want to say?

I have just finished studying a book entitled “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.”

In it I found a summary of my view of the initial stage of learning to read.

My experience working with scores of children who struggled with reading and writing backs this summary up.

The book was published in 1983 and is still available probably because parents are looking for a program that will help their child with reading.

I have been very fortunate to have had a long and varied teaching career and seen many of the changes in teaching and learning in Victorian (Australia) schools.

Changes for good I must say.

Teaching and learning research findings have filtered down to the teachers in schools particularly here in Australia. We are learning and implementing them all the time.

Modern education here in Victoria is fantastic particulary since the introduction of the integrated curriculum and technology.

Now reading is the fundamental skill we all need to participate in modern society.

Learning to read is like learning to play a piano. The sophisticated reading an adult does comes from years of practice. It can be likened to the playing of a concerto on a piano.

As the authors of ‘Teach Your Child to read……..’ point out  ’the ultimate goal of reading instruction is to prepare children for the concerto of reading. It involves  reading complicated material silently, at a reasonably fast rate, and understanding the details of the message the author presents.”

Now for the information from this book that says what I believe based on years of teaching experience.

“Decoding-is the central skill in initial reading. Most of the other skills are nothing more than language skills. Once a sentence has been decoded, it is like a spoken sentence that may have been presented slowly. If the child has the language skills necessary to understand the spoken sentence, the child has the skills necessary to understand the decoded sentence. The central issue is not that of teaching the child to understand, but of teaching the child how to decode the sentences that are to be understood. We should not require the child to read sentences that are beyond the child’s understanding,…”

As a former colleague of mine said, “Thirteen years of formal education before studying for a career occur because it is necessary.”

My wish is for every child to receive the benefit of what modern education has to offer by ensuring the fundamental reading and writing skills are developed in the early years of schooling.

Many researchers, teachers and scholars have contributed to the education debate and will continue to do so.

I would like to pay tribute to the authors of

“Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”

Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox and Elaine Bruner  

1983 Fireside Books, Simon and Schuster

for their contribution to my professional understanding.

Learning to read begins very early in life, alongside learning to talk.

Learning to talk is the fundamental skill that a young child needs to master and reading is an aspect of language.

Babies love bright colors and need large colorfully illustrated books.

When a trusted parent or adult talks about the pictures and words a child begins to realize that the information in a book never changes.

A child who is used to being read to will begin to mimic the adult reading behavior and begin to hold the book the right way up, turn pages correctly, ‘read’ and chant from known parts of the book. All aspects of learning to read.

Young children who have their own books ‘read’ their favorites or ask to have them read to them again and again.

I still have a vivid memory of my young son protesting when his father took a short cut and left out parts of his favorite story. He knew this story by heart!

During the early phases of learning to read your child is remembering word patterns and learning about the language of books.

This is a very important part and often underestimated aspect of learning to read.

There is no need for formally teaching a child at this stage. Incidental teaching when the need arises is of course valuable. The aim at this stage should be to develop an interest in written language through sharing and discussing books and other written material.

Once this foundation has been set the next stage is recognizing and noticing letters in their own names and in books. The first letter my sons discovered was the letter K. This was the letter on the K Mart store. They called the letter kmarto and searched for it in every piece of print they could find.

Much fun and laughter ensured as they did this.

Before starting school, some children take the next step and begin to notice letters from their name or recognize a word or two as books are read together.

Many children don’t, though. This is normal, because children all develop at very different rates.

I have noticed that many young children begin school knowing their letters and sounds and words that begin with them thanks to television and computer programs and of course interested parents.

Phonics or letter sound relationships are firmly established.

There should be no stress placed on the child to learn letter names and the sounds they represent.

In years past a strategy for teaching children to read was by using words on cards. When you knew enough words, you were given a book to practice.

Teaching methods have certainly changed for the better since those days.

As close as forty years ago, books for young children often had poor illustrations and very simple language. The illustrations were regarded as secondary to the reading of text.

Things have improved due to the change in teaching and learning.

Today quality texts, where the language sounds good and the illustrations often stunning, play an important part in developing children’s reading skills. Often a whole class is taught to read together through the use of a big book so everyone can see and join in as the teacher points out letters, words and sentences. Reading and writing are linked.

The modern classroom and technology provide a wide range of activities that encourage every child to succeed at developing their literacy skills.

A website that offers great information and activities is

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/index.shtml

Paul Jennings is a phenomenon in the world of children’s books.

His first book was ‘Unreal’ published in 1985. He has been voted favorite author by children in Australia over 40 times and he has won every children’s choice award available in Australia.

His tales of the strange and the fantastic, encourage children to be enthusiastic skilled readers.

Before becoming a successful writer Paul worked as a special education teacher, speech pathologist and senior lecturer in an institute of advanced education.

He has written more than one hundred stories and sales of his books exceed 8 million copies.

Paul is passionate about helping children learn to read especially those with difficulties. He acknowledges the role of phonics for kids but emphasizes it is only one of the tools we use when we read. Absolutely true!

Phonics for kids according to Paul Jennings is “a difficult tool to use and must be handled with care. There are two major problems. The first relates to the complexity of the system and second is the individual differences in children.”

In his book for parents, teachers and caregivers of children, entitled  ”The Reading Bug…. and how to help your child catch it” he presents a guide that cuts through all the jargon and the controversies that surround children and reading and presents  practical and effective ways for helping any child to catch the reading bug.

The book also contains lists of recommended reading for children of all ages and stages.

Some of the points he makes follow:

• anyone who can read can teach reading
• reading to and with a child is an act of love
• there is no such thing as a book for reluctant readers
• an easy-to-read book can be wonderful
• good stories help us become good people
• every child matures at a different rate
• phonics a strategy not the strategy
• personal writing is a great way to teach reading
• kids love reading pictures
• a computer program cannot replace a parent

I wholeheartedly recommend Paul Jennings’ book, The Reading Bug…… and how to help your child catch it.

He has spent years teaching, lecturing, writing and parenting.

Now you can benefit from his experience and advice.

The Reading Bug……. is published by Penguin Books.

Gillilan Strickland  (1869-1954) was an American poet and humorist.   

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea.
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth;
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.
I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.
I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness lent with his final breath.
I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-
Stories that stir with an upward touch.
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!
You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be –
I had a Mother who read to me.

10 Secrets on How to Get Your Child to Love Reading
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Shawn_Snyder]Shawn Snyder

Are you aware that there is a crisis in the American educational arena today? That the children who live in the greatest super power country of the entire world are no longer the brightest nor the best educated children any more! In fact, colleges are crying out for help because the average freshman college student does not have the reading comprehension to read an assignment, contribute to a class discussion and certainly not able to write a college term paper.

What can we do? Educators in all grade levels are pointing away from the high tech gadgets that today’s child spends countless hours on and towards an old forgotten favorite; books. But some say that their children are not interested in reading, that they don’t enjoy nor like reading. Here are 10 different ways to help your child to love reading.

1. Set the example for reading. Let your child see you read an assortment of different items from the mail, to the newspaper to books. Be willing to share from your reading, is there a story in the paper that will affect your community, a funny section from your book. The dinner table makes an excellent place for everyone to share something from what they are reading.

2. Read out loud to your child everyday. Get into the story, use different voices for the characters, be as silly as possible. Lower your voice in soft parts of the story and then grow loud at exciting times. Reading isn’t just for bedtime; make a tent in the living room and snuggle with blankets and pillows. Or enjoy a story outside on the back porch. That’s the beauty of books, they can go anywhere.

3. Make a weekly trip to the library. There is usually a story hour at the library and sharing a story with others is always fun. For older kids have them join a book club or start one if there isn’t one going. Make sure to check out some books before you leave the library! Make some of the books fun and at age level also get some books that will challenge your child’s thinking and imagination. Different topics in different areas; stories, science, history. Open up different areas for your child to see and explore.

4. Ask questions when you are done reading. What was your child’s favorite part of the story, which was their favorite character? How would they of liked the story to have ended?

5. Let your child follow their interests in their reading material. Do they love horses; are they into World War 1? What a great way for them to learn and enjoy their favorite subject. And don’t worry; their interests usually shift before they run out of books in that topic. Especially, if new topics are available for them to glance at.

6. Give books as gifts. This is the perfect time to invest money into nice hardbound books of a favorite author or series. To finish the series that the child knows or to introduce a new author, ask the child. What a perfect time to build a nicely stocked library in your home. A child can’t grab a book and enjoy a few minutes of quiet time if you don’t have books in your home.

7. Make time for reading. Turn off the TV, limit the computer. Have a “20 minute read-a-thon.” Have a fun reading contest; whoever reads the most pages in a set time wins a fun prize (maybe a trip to a bookstore!) There is reading contests through businesses were the child can earn a free prize. Pizza Hut offers a free personal pan pizza, Dairy Queen, a free ice cream cone. Ask your local businesses about the contests they run or just stick with creating your own.

8. Have your child create their own book. They can print the story, illustrate it. Have a write up about the author. Laminate it, make a special cover. Share the books at the dinner table.

9. Teach your child to respect books. Books are our friends, we need to show the child not to mark on the pages nor tear them. Books aren’t meant to be thrown on the floor; there is a correct way to put a book on the book shelf. That way the book will last longer and be able to be read later by others.

10. Stress breaker! After an afternoon of reading stories of long, long ago in far, far away lands with your child. Who couldn’t love an adventure that would take you away from the stress for both you and your child?

Visit us at http://kidzfunmedia.com/ for great ideas on personalized childrens books. Also, http://kfmpersonalizedkidsbooks.com/ has books and other ideas to get your child to love to read.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shawn_Snyder http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Secrets-on-How-to-Get-Your-Child-to-Love-Reading&id=3274844

In 1955, a book entitled “Why Johnny Can’t Read (and what you can do about it)” was published in the USA.  This book was a best seller and caused a lot of controversy.

The author, Rudolf Flesch wrote the book for the millions of parents whose children were being, according to his research, handicapped by the teaching methods of the day.

Flesch explained how he came to write the book and the research he did before publishing it.

The book contains lessons on phonics and is still available today. It is marketed as the classic book on phonics and endorsed by Readers Digest and the method recommended by the US Department of Education.

Below is a summary of the phonics lessons in his book.

We know a lot more about how reading and writing is mastered today. Because the activities are so important for people in modern societies enormous sums of money has been spent on scientific research.

Flesch was a forerunner in speaking about how to master the English Alphabetic Writing system. He was aware that reading is much more than decoding words but without this ability one cannot read. It has been my experience over the years that if a poor reader cannot decode (sound out) the words he is reading very little progress is made.

If a reader cannot read fluently they will not developed the comprehension skills that enable them to process information from print.

If you would like to learn more about helping your child with reading please visit

www.superlearner.com.au

A successful reader must understand and speak a language.

Learning a language is a complex activity and begins at birth when loving parents speak to their baby.

Language development in young children must be monitored carefully.

A child learns language by being surrounded by people who interact with him or her constantly.

If you have any concerns about your child’s speech seek professional help immediately. This can be done through your local doctor, pre-school or school.

For a young child to learn to read he or she must recognise word boundaries. That is when one word starts and ends and to recognize the next one.  At the same time a child must know the meaning of the words and the sentence and relate it to their own world. Language also has grammatical rules that have to be mastered.

Observing young children develop language is awesome.

There are many people who have not mastered reading and writing and it is not their fault. Learning to read is a skill and teaching it was often hit and miss and  many children struggled often due to inadequate reading theory and uninformed teaching.

Today things are looking much better but many children are still at risk if their

reading Instruction is based on human reason rather than solid scientific research.

Reading success in the past was largely accidental – due to parental input, intelligence, talent and the integrity, knowledge and the integrity of teachers  who were also poorly trained..

 Because reading and writing are such important skills in modern society a lot of scientific research is continually being undertaken.

Scientific research is testing theories to see whether they work and produce the same results constantly.

Reading Research is only around 25 years old.  

 Most educators have their students interests at heart and many fads rather than solid scientific research were seized upon to help students. The results of reading research is now filtering down to educators.

Systematic phonics teaching as part of learning to read is commonsense as well as supported by research.

Unlike learning language which children model from those around them learning to read is not an inate skill and aspects of it need to be taught specifically.

“Early, systematic, explicit phonics instruction is an essential part, but only part, of a balanced, comprehensive reading program,” maintains John J. Pikulski, International Reading Association President.

To be effective in the modern world it is important to be an expert reader.

Modern research can help.

If you have any questions about this article please do not hesitate in contacting me.

If you would like information about how phonics can be taught  systematically I have written an ebook that explains this. Visit www.superlearner.com.au for more information.

Once again the press reminds us that many students lack literacy skills appropriate for their age.

The statistics indicate one student in ten in secondary school is functionally illiterate.

Why is this so? Why are we letting kids down? It is time to look at the teaching not the child.

I am a teacher with thirty plus years experience and know first hand the effect poor literacy skills has on the learning and more importantly the self esteem of many students.

I have not met one child who does not want to learn to read, but I have worked with hundreds who find the task difficult and frustrating. Why?

My view is there is not one approach to teaching reading and writing that is best for everybody.

Many learn to read and write easily. However there is one basic skill that is needed for proficient reading and writing and I believe it must be taught thoroughly before beginning formal reading and writing instruction.

Modern research tells us that one of the basic skills necessary for proficient reading is –

The ability to hear the individual sounds that make up words – called phoneme awareness.

Marie Clay, the developer of Reading Recovery, a successful intervention program for students in grade one says, “And it is clear that becoming aware of phonemes is essential for becoming good at word recognition”

Children who are developing as successful readers are able to do that but many “children find it extraordinarily difficult to separate out the sounds of the language they are hearing or speaking.”

We learn the sounds of our native tongue when we are too young to be conscious observers of what we do. We are biologically programmed for language.

Reading and writing are skills that need to be taught. They are not caught.

Many children do not have parents who read to and with them – a great determinant of future reading and writing success.

The reason why so many children fail is not because they are somehow deficient but because students are not taught explicitly the basic principles of our alphabetic writing system.

A reader needs to know the sounds of spoken language. Many students need training to hear these sounds, many more than those who receive speech therapy.

It is the sounds in words that the letters represent. Individual letters, letter pairs and sometimes three or four letters in a row stand for only one sound in a word.

Children need this pointed out. I have, time and time again, noticed that struggling students had little phonemic awareness or understanding of the way sounds are represented by letters in written English.

As a literacy support teacher in a Technical School in the early eighties, I realized the students at risk all had no idea how words were decoded.

I presented a basic program of phonics. I taught that when we speak we make sounds.

In English there are forty four sounds used to make up the words we speak.

We learn these sounds as babies when we are too young to be conscious observers of what we do or think.

We are programmed for language.

But reading and writing are skills.

Skilled behaviors have degrees of competence. Skilled behaviors need practice to develop. “Early, systematic, explicit phonics instruction is an essential part, but only part, of a balanced, comprehensive reading program,” maintains John J. Pikulski, International Reading Association President.

I agree but must emphasize phonics is a strategy but not the strategy.

Teachers are not trained to teach phonics effectively.

As Paul Jennings states, “Phonics is dynamite and must be handled with care’’

We need dynamite and phonics!

Phonics can be stimulating for a student to learn. I propose that we check the phonemic awareness of teachers and students and give some phonics instruction to any student whose literacy skills are underdeveloped.

It would go a long way to alleviating a serious problem in our education system.

One of my technical students said angrily, “Is that all that was wrong?” His words still echo in me.

Mem Fox in her book ‘Reading Magic’ defines reading as :

‘The magic of print, the magic of language, and the magic of general knowledge.’

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone experienced this?

If you would like information about phonics (letter sound relationships) I have written an eBook outlining a systematic approach. This book outlines step by step the phonics knowledge your child needs to understand and provides downloadable activities that make learning fun.

Please go to www.superlearner.com.au to find out more.

I welcome any queries and questions you may have.