This page contains answers to some frequently asked questions.
- What can I do at home to prepare my child for reading instruction?
- What can I do to foster a reading environment at home?
- How can I help my child expand his or her vocabulary?
- How can I get my child to read if my child doesn't enjoy it?
- How do I get my child to think and comprehend at a higher level while reading?
- Do Reading Recovery students continue to make progress in subsequent years?
- Is Reading Recovery a classroom program?
- Why does Reading Recovery serve the lowest achieving children?
- Why is Reading Recovery for individuals rather than small groups?
What can I do at home to prepare my child for reading instruction?
As a parent, you can cultivate readiness for reading in may ways.
The most obvious activity is reading aloud to your child. While
listening to you read, your child learns that stories are
enjoyable, that a book is read from left to right, from front to
back, and that the letters on the page are symbols of words we
have in our spoken language. From the stories, your
child will also gain crucial background knowledge about the
world. This is the knowledge that will give him or her confidence
to share ideas in the classroom or the imagination from which
their own stories can be written. If you start reading to your
child for fifteen minutes a night when he or she
is 6 months old, your child will have 500 hours of reading by the
time he or she is 6 years old. That is more reading time than a
whole year of classroom instruction. Remember, you as the parent
are your child's first teacher.
What can I do to foster a reading environment at home?
If you want your child to be a reader, fill your house with lots
of children's books. Establish good reading habits by making time
for reading. Some families have a reading half-hour every day.
The TV is shut off and everyone reads, even the parents. Nothing
is as powerful as your example as a reader, showing your child
that you enjoy a good book. Help children choose books that will
be of interest to them and that are appropriate to their reading
level. Use the five-finger rule. If a child picks up a book
and stumbles over five words on one page or in a paragraph, that
book is probably too difficult and should choose an easier one
for now that he or she can really enjoy.
How can I help my child expand his or her vocabulary?
On average, children learn 3,000 to 4,000 words a year but only
300 to 400 words are taught directly by the teacher in the
classroom. The rest of the words are learned mainly from reading
books at his or her reading level.
Therefore, to build vocabulary, students must read, read, read!
Students who score in the 90th percentile on state tests read
about a million new words a year. Students who score in the
lowest percentiles read only 1,000 to 3,000 words a year and
often only once, so they don't retain their meaning.
How can I get my child to read if my child doesn't enjoy it?
If your child dislikes reading, it is probably because he or she
is not good at it. Remember that reading is primarily a language
activity and not a function of rote memory or visual skill.
Children who have trouble learning to read English usually have a
basic problem recognizing printed words
accurately and fluently. They do not have a well-developed sense
of the speech sounds that the letters represent in our writing
system. Doing some repair work on phonics and decoding is usually
called for. With the guidance of your child's teacher, you can
help your child practice recognizing the 43 sounds made by the
different combinations of letters in our alphabet.
How do I get my child to think and comprehend at a higher level while reading?
Conversations that you have with your children can lead them to
think deeply about the stories they are reading if you ask the
right questions. Don't ask for one word, literal answers. Ask
Why? What do you think? The way parents talk to their children
about an experience will determine the knowledge they get from
that experience. Ask open-ended questions or questions that might
have more than one answer. Instead of What do you see on the
window pane after a storm? ask why do you think the window is
always dirty after a shower? Where did the dirt come from? In a
story, you might ask, Why do you think the character made that
decision? This will cause your children to think more deeply
about the words they just read and they will talk to you about it.
Do Reading Recovery students continue to make progress in subsequent years?
Numerous research and evaluation studies using widely accepted
standardized measures and/or state assessment tests demonstrate
that Reading Recovery students make continued progress after the
intervention has ended.
Is Reading Recovery a classroom program?
No. Reading Recovery helps low-achieving children make
accelerated gains to reach grade level performance. To achieve
this rapid learning, children have lessons that are individually
designed and individually delivered. Individual rather than
group learning is essential so that children waste no
time with what they already know. Reading Recovery, in
combination with strong classroom instruction, gives children the
best chance for success.
Why does Reading Recovery serve the lowest achieving children?
Two rationales guide the decision to serve the lowest achieving
children.
1. Most children do not require the support of Reading Recovery.
Because it is difficult to predict literacy outcomes prior to the
intervention, the most extreme cases are selected and Reading
Recovery serves as a period of diagnostic teaching.
2. If the lowest achievers are not selected, they may
never catch up to the class average thus requiring expensive
special support programs in subsequent years.
Why is Reading Recovery for individuals rather than small groups?
The most effective and efficient way to bring children who are
struggling with literacy learning in first grade to grade-level
performance is one-to-one teaching. It enables the teacher to
design each lesson to meet the unique needs of each struggling
reader.
