Reading: Ages 4-6

The Big Five in Reading

 

            Today's Snack: Rhyming words are a huge factor in building phonemic (foe NEE mik) awareness. When a child is very comfortable with the sounds that the alphabet letters make, the child is "primed" for reading! So today, as you snack with your child, try to eat healthy things that you can think of rhyming words for. Have a "grape" - don't be an "ape." Eat a "carrot" - it has "merit." Jam on your "bread" could be strawberry "red." Who knew that snacking . . . and reading . . . could be so much fun?

 

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            Parents, as you choose books to read aloud to your child, making your weekly trip together to the public library (!), and as you read together, keep in mind these five "biggies" that will really set up your child to become a good independent reader.

 

            The best way to instill these five pre-literacy skills in your child is to do just what you're doing - read aloud with your child, as often as you can, for as long as it's fun for both of you.

 

            Read aloud with your child snuggled beside you so that he or she can see the words as well as hear you say them aloud. Do it over and over and over and OVER - best of all, having fun as you read!

           

 

1. Phonemic awareness:

The ability to hear and remember the order of the sounds that the letters make in words.

 

2. Phonics:

The ability to match the sounds the letters make to the written symbols on a page, and to decode them as words, quickly and accurately.

 

3. Comprehension:

The ability to understand and remember the concepts read.

 

4. Vocabulary:

The English language has more than 750,000 words, yet many people have a working vocabulary of just a couple of thousand words. The bigger your vocabulary, the easier it is for you to read and understand text, and the farther you'll go in life. A big vocabulary is the No. 1 correlate of success in life. It is more tied to success than having rich parents, going to a great school, having experienced teachers, etc. The best way

to get a big vocabulary is to read a lot.

 

5. Fluency:

The quick, efficient and accurate decoding of words. You read fluently when you read rapidly and with expression, with little conscious attention to the task, few errors, and high automaticity.