Reading

Hearing what good reading sounds like is very important for the developing reader. We are finding many ways to Listen to Reading in the ESL classroom. Ms. Hashimoto's students have been using Online Books to have many opportunities to listen to different stories read. The program that they are using also gives the children an opportunity to read books at their own reading level.

In the small group setting, we are also working on reading, using songs and familiar rhymes. We use our Songbooks to begin to connect songs and rhymes that we know to the print on the page. You can see this process in action in this short video clip. as well, notice how focussed on the text the child in the photograph is as he sings a familiar song.

Another important way children learn to read is by reading every day. Here is a student who is spending his reading time wisely, exploring both the words and the pictures on the page as he tries to read a new book.

The children are learning that there are several ways that they can read a book: by looking at the pictures, reading the words and retelling the story. When they read the pictures in the book, they pretend that they are detectives looking for clues about what the story is about. They ask many questions of themselves and wonder what is happening in the story. When they read the words (or someone reads to them) they can add in new information to their understanding of the story. Good readers are good problem solvers.

In the coming weeks, we will be building our reading muscles (stamina) as we read for a little bit longer every day. So far, we have been able to read for 10 minutes without stopping!

Best,
Ms. Gladman