Meeting the Literacy Challenge CD
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INTERACTIVE READING STRATEGIES
Interactive reading strategies promote active participation in the reading interactive. Children are given multiple opportunities to talk, think critically, and engage in reading. These strategies have been empirically proven to facilitate listening, talking, thinking, reading, and writing.
READ WITH ME!
A summary of the six basic interactive reading strategies that make up Read With Me! is provided below. For more information, see Meeting the Literacy Challenge CD (available on this website)
Click on the Booklists tab above to see suggested books for each strategy!
ECHO READING
This very simple strategy encourages children to begin to understand that what is written on the page matches the words that are produced orally. Although it is not a natural strategy, it is an easily taught and highly effective method of actively including even very young children in the reading interaction – so that parents are reading “with” children, not just “to” them. This strategy has the adult read a short phrase and then ask the child to repeat what was read by using prompts such as “Copy me!” or “Say what I say!” Books that are most appropriate for echo reading have short, simple phrases (generally one per page) complemented by highly engaging and child-friendly illustrations and story lines. This strategy can also be used with older children to help them learn a book quickly and gain confidence in their ability to eventually read the story alone.
Suggested Books for Echo Reading
PAIRED READING
Paired Reading (sometimes referred to as Shared Reading) is the very natural strategy that adults use with children in which they read part of a phrase (or book, or story) and their child “reads” another part. Through the effective use of pausing, intonation, and stress, adults signal to the child that it is their turn to “read.” Books with repetitive, predictable, and/or rhyming phrases allow pre-readers to anticipate what is coming next and chime in with confidence. Again, the goal is to encourage children become more involved in the reading process rather than being a passive participant.
As with echo reading, we never pressure children into pair-reading a story. Rather, we invite them to participate by selecting books that are appropriate for each child’s age and interests as well as books that support the use of a paired reading strategy. However, once children are “hooked” on a book, it is almost impossible to stop them from taking their turns! This is an effective and fun technique for helping children become happy and confident readers.
Suggested Books for Paired Reading
FRIENDLY QUESTIONS
RWM! advocates that parents and educators of young children use an open-ended question style (“friendly questions”) that encourages children to think critically about the story, to use more complex language, and to reduce the pressure that often results when there is just one “right” answer. While there is a time and place to use fact-based questions (“scary questions”) to monitor comprehension, we do not believe that very young children should be “drilled” about the story, even when adults mean well. By accepting all answers, adults encourage children to verbally participate in the interaction without fear that they might say the “wrong” thing.
In addition to reducing stress, open-ended questions encourage children to produce longer verbalizations and use more complex language than merely answering with a rote response (which tends to be one or two words in length). Compare the answer children might give to the following questions:
1) What color is Mary’s dress? (fact-based, “scary” question)
2) Why do you think Mary is wearing a red dress? (open-ended “friendly” question
Another reason to use open-ended questions is to encourage children to use their critical thinking skills. The development of good thinking skills is extremely important to the academic and eventually, the vocational, success of children. Unfortunately, many teachers express their concern about the inability of children in their classrooms to solve problems by using their thinking skills. Adults can help children develop these skills by using strategies, such as open-ended questions, that facilitate these important competencies. For instance, the adult can ask different questions each time a book is read to encourage children to think differently about the characters, the action, and the consequences of the story.
Although all children can benefit when adults employ more “friendly questions” in their reading interactions, it is especially important to encourage parents and educators f children with language delays or disorders to use these questioning strategies.
Suggested Books for Asking Friendly Questions
PREDICTING
Like asking friendly questions, encouraging children to make predictions about a story helps build critical thinking skills and encourages longer, more complex verbalizations. during a reading interaction. Since prediction in its purest form is only available the first time a book is read, adults learn that they need to read a new book through in it’s entirety before they read it with their child to determine if it has good potential as a prediction story. Some books provide visual prediction cues about what might come next (e.g., Look! Look! Look!), For others, children must rely only on the words of the story (e.g., Is Your Mama a Llama?) and their own imagination to help them predict the next event. Both types of books are excellent resources for building language and thinking skills.
Suggested Books for Predicting
WORDLESS BOOKS
Wordless books help children discover that what they say can be written; and what is written can be read. The use of wordless books as vehicles for adult/child interaction related to literacy is especially appropriate for parents who may not be proficient in English as well as those who are themselves not literate. Because they are not hampered by a set story line, children (and adults) are able to become the “author” of the story and tell it any way they wish. Children also gain experience in sequencing, thinking skills, predicting, and editing. Wordless books help children learn to read without words!
Suggested Wordless Books
READER'S THEATRE
This strategy capitalizes on a child’s natural interest in dramatic play by encouraging children to engage their whole bodies and minds in a story. Reader’s Theatre can be as simple as a fingerplay, such as Five Little Monkeys, or as complicated as creating a dramatic representation of the story using puppets or even commercial props.
Children who are at risk for an impoverished or delayed development of dramatic play skills, such as children with autism and children with language disorders, can particularly benefit from practicing play in the familiar and safe environment of adult/child reading interactions.
Suggested Books for Reader's Theatre
..
Click on the Booklists tab above to see suggested books for each strategy!
ECHO READING
This very simple strategy encourages children to begin to understand that what is written on the page matches the words that are produced orally. Although it is not a natural strategy, it is an easily taught and highly effective method of actively including even very young children in the reading interaction – so that parents are reading “with” children, not just “to” them. This strategy has the adult read a short phrase and then ask the child to repeat what was read by using prompts such as “Copy me!” or “Say what I say!” Books that are most appropriate for echo reading have short, simple phrases (generally one per page) complemented by highly engaging and child-friendly illustrations and story lines. This strategy can also be used with older children to help them learn a book quickly and gain confidence in their ability to eventually read the story alone.
Suggested Books for Echo Reading
PAIRED READING
Paired Reading (sometimes referred to as Shared Reading) is the very natural strategy that adults use with children in which they read part of a phrase (or book, or story) and their child “reads” another part. Through the effective use of pausing, intonation, and stress, adults signal to the child that it is their turn to “read.” Books with repetitive, predictable, and/or rhyming phrases allow pre-readers to anticipate what is coming next and chime in with confidence. Again, the goal is to encourage children become more involved in the reading process rather than being a passive participant.
As with echo reading, we never pressure children into pair-reading a story. Rather, we invite them to participate by selecting books that are appropriate for each child’s age and interests as well as books that support the use of a paired reading strategy. However, once children are “hooked” on a book, it is almost impossible to stop them from taking their turns! This is an effective and fun technique for helping children become happy and confident readers.
Suggested Books for Paired Reading
FRIENDLY QUESTIONS
RWM! advocates that parents and educators of young children use an open-ended question style (“friendly questions”) that encourages children to think critically about the story, to use more complex language, and to reduce the pressure that often results when there is just one “right” answer. While there is a time and place to use fact-based questions (“scary questions”) to monitor comprehension, we do not believe that very young children should be “drilled” about the story, even when adults mean well. By accepting all answers, adults encourage children to verbally participate in the interaction without fear that they might say the “wrong” thing.
In addition to reducing stress, open-ended questions encourage children to produce longer verbalizations and use more complex language than merely answering with a rote response (which tends to be one or two words in length). Compare the answer children might give to the following questions:
1) What color is Mary’s dress? (fact-based, “scary” question)
2) Why do you think Mary is wearing a red dress? (open-ended “friendly” question
Another reason to use open-ended questions is to encourage children to use their critical thinking skills. The development of good thinking skills is extremely important to the academic and eventually, the vocational, success of children. Unfortunately, many teachers express their concern about the inability of children in their classrooms to solve problems by using their thinking skills. Adults can help children develop these skills by using strategies, such as open-ended questions, that facilitate these important competencies. For instance, the adult can ask different questions each time a book is read to encourage children to think differently about the characters, the action, and the consequences of the story.
Although all children can benefit when adults employ more “friendly questions” in their reading interactions, it is especially important to encourage parents and educators f children with language delays or disorders to use these questioning strategies.
Suggested Books for Asking Friendly Questions
PREDICTING
Like asking friendly questions, encouraging children to make predictions about a story helps build critical thinking skills and encourages longer, more complex verbalizations. during a reading interaction. Since prediction in its purest form is only available the first time a book is read, adults learn that they need to read a new book through in it’s entirety before they read it with their child to determine if it has good potential as a prediction story. Some books provide visual prediction cues about what might come next (e.g., Look! Look! Look!), For others, children must rely only on the words of the story (e.g., Is Your Mama a Llama?) and their own imagination to help them predict the next event. Both types of books are excellent resources for building language and thinking skills.
Suggested Books for Predicting
WORDLESS BOOKS
Wordless books help children discover that what they say can be written; and what is written can be read. The use of wordless books as vehicles for adult/child interaction related to literacy is especially appropriate for parents who may not be proficient in English as well as those who are themselves not literate. Because they are not hampered by a set story line, children (and adults) are able to become the “author” of the story and tell it any way they wish. Children also gain experience in sequencing, thinking skills, predicting, and editing. Wordless books help children learn to read without words!
Suggested Wordless Books
READER'S THEATRE
This strategy capitalizes on a child’s natural interest in dramatic play by encouraging children to engage their whole bodies and minds in a story. Reader’s Theatre can be as simple as a fingerplay, such as Five Little Monkeys, or as complicated as creating a dramatic representation of the story using puppets or even commercial props.
Children who are at risk for an impoverished or delayed development of dramatic play skills, such as children with autism and children with language disorders, can particularly benefit from practicing play in the familiar and safe environment of adult/child reading interactions.
Suggested Books for Reader's Theatre
..