Making the Transition: Chapter Books

For those parents bridging their children into the world of chapter books, the task can be a bit daunting. A few ideas:

• Before your child is ready to read the books for themselves, begin by modeling the reading to your children -- read chapter books to them, a bit each day, so they get used to following a changing plot line through the course of several days.


• Start with books like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Betsy, Tacy, Tib, or Encyclopedia Brown, where each chapter is like a mini-story, with central characters present in each section.


• Read books to your children you liked as a child. When you share books you adore, your children are ripe for the same magic you remember.


• Select books that still have a few illustrations. (We all love pictures.)


• Don't forget the voices during read-alouds!


• Take turns: one night they'll read, the next night you read.


• If you are reading a book aloud over the course of many weeks, choose books where your children have already seen the movie. This will help them from getting lost in the story or forgetting what has already happened.
  

One of my favories for Christmastime is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Tell me you remember it. It's an absolute classic!

(P.S. And don't forget to talk about the book as you go -- why the characters made the decisions they did, and what your child predicts may happen next.)

Resistant Readers: Helping them Fall For Reading

Who was it that coined the phrase about "To have a child is to have your heart forever go about walking outside your body?" Whoever they were, they were right. And when you send your child off to school struggling to read, you worry. It's inevitable. School curricula are so intense these days. There's always more you can do as a parent. It's so easy to begin measuring our own self-worth by our child's phonemic awareness. At the end of an exhausting day, the nagging, perpetual worry about a child's low reading level creep in.

As much as you and I try and be the solution, the aid, the help in our child's difficulties -- sometimes, we just make it worse.

Here's a small thought, just something to think about as you work with your child: Am I having fun? Because if you're too caught up in the angst, your child will be, too. They might not know why, but it won't be fun anymore. And that can be a contributing factor -- sometimes, a pretty powerful contributing factor -- to resistant readers.

There's still reason to smile, though. In fact, the answer can be that simple. If you think your child isn't enjoying reading (whether or not it has anything to do with you,) try these ideas -- or add your own in our comments!

• Have your child re-read books on an easier reading level. Praise, praise, giggle, praise. Make silly jokes, be impressed with what they can do, lavish them with adoration and smiles and glee. Success breeds enjoyment, and enjoyment breeds desire to continue.
• With books clearly beyond their reading level, take a minute to scan the page. Before they continue reading the story, pre-introduce one or two of the larger words to your child. Tell them what the word is, sound it out yourself, have them sound it out, and then explain the definition. This should be a brief, quick exercise so that it doesn't interrupt the flow of the story, but will help keep them from discouragement as they read.
• As the On The Lap blog has hinted before, don't feel the need to correct every effort, or to belabor every attempt they make. Sounding out every word on a page just isn't fun. (If I had to do the same thing in a foreign tongue, I'd want to die, wouldn't you?)
• Make sure you ask your child's teacher for independent and instructional reading level. At an instructional level, they should still be able to read 95% of the text without help.
• Offer to read a book taking turns with a child, and make goofy voices for different characters.
• Allow them opportunities to teach. They can "teach" younger siblings about letters; you can innocently ask, "What sound does CH make, again, honey?" as you are reading the newspaper (and then you can model sounding out a word! This shows them we all struggle and need reminders/assistance.)
• Ask school and local librarians for books on some of your child's favorite subjects. Choose some you can read to your child, and some to read together.
• Consider older children your child looks up to: older siblings, cousins, neighbors, babysitters, etc. and enlist their help. Have them model independent reading, and have them ask your child to read to them. When they shower praise upon your child, you have just multiplied your own efforts.

What else have you done with struggling readers to help them stay interested in reading, even when it feels challenging?

Girls and Book Clubs

Whether the girl was a struggling, below-grade-level reader or an off-the-charts overachiever, if a parent asked what more they could do for their girl, I always recommended the same book. And I came across it again, just the other day, while dusting and de-junking. What made this book so special was its ability to expand reading; to make it a lively, boisterous activity -- not just something nerdy kids do quietly in the corner. And how does that happen? Book clubs.

100 Books for Girls to Grow On is Shireen Dodson's miracle. She makes it possible for parents (mothers, particularly) to have the kind of discussions that teach their daughters how to be flourishing readers, and teach readers how to think. These dialogues can truly make a well-trained educator envious. But more than that, they bond the girls to their mothers.

Each book she recommends has a brief (single paragraph) introduction and summary, many thoughtful discussion questions, a few lines about the author, and intriguing ideas about how to address the themes of the book in ways that lend themselves to a group discussion. (The book was published in 1998, so some of my newer favorites aren't included. Like Stargirl. You can't live without Stargirl.)

Her book is, as you can imagine, designed to be implemented in a group setting: mothers, daughters, all gathered together, laughing, listening, interrupting each other and occasionally sparring about their interpretations of characters. And, of course, snacking on refreshments. (Doesn't it sound delightful? Don't you want to be invited?) Forming just that kind of group can be a bit daunting, but not once you've read her first book, The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, laugh, and Learn Through Their Love of Reading.

Book clubs are hardly just for girls. Often, I feel boys benefit even more substantially. (That's another post for another day!) However, Shireen's books are written with girls in mind. Two other books worth mentioning along this line include:

Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs
The Mother-Daughter Book Club, a fictional series geared to girls 9-11

More Meaningful Re-readings

Having spent the better part of the past two weeks partially on bedrest, partially at the hospital's labor & delivery wing, and partially succumbing (quite cheerfully) to endless nursing sessions, my Bea and I have spent waaaaay too much time with the same dozen or so of her choicest books. In absolute desperation, I developed a few new strategies for myself -- and hopefully for all those mothers who wonder if they can endure even one more reading of Corduroy. The strategy I wanted to mention today is that of deepening, and it is best suited for children 2-4 years old, give or take a bit.

Think of re-reading as a "deepening" activity -- a time to take comprehension to a new level. Most importantly, re-reading really needn't be an actual verbatim, rote repetition of those same old words. Give yourself permission to make it more of a time for summaries and conversation instead. (There is definite power in re-reading, don't get me wrong. But there are countless concepts we can introduce if we choose!)


With Older Kids:

• Talk about the emotions characters feel, the setting, the relationship between characters, cause/effect, problem/resolution, order of events, and even traits the characters possess.
  
• Have older kids pick out or find a familiar letter ("Your name starts with A. Can you find an A on this page?")
• On each verbatim re-reading, choose a single sound from a single letter (i.e. just the hard "k" sound from the letter c) to introduce. Whenever you come across that letter at the beginning of a word, take a moment to emphasize the sound, point to the letter, and name the letter. Don't take more than a moment each time, or the child will lose interest. The idea here is repeated teaching of a basic principal rather than deep comprehension of an analytical idea.
  
• Intersperse actually reading various pages with asking the child for a summary on other pages. ("What's happening on this page?")
  
• Ask the child what is going to happen next before turning the page.
  

With Younger Kids:

• Don't be afraid to use a brief summary to help them think through the plot in another way. It works well for older kids, as modeling this strategy is very fitting and preparatory for the school days ahead when teachers will be asking them to complete the summary independently. But it also works well for younger kids, as they can grasp the plot a little better hearing it in a simpler, more casual format.
  
• I like to focus on details in the illustrations -- things that can enhance and reinforce previously introduced concepts. Start a conversation about shapes, colors, setting, or familiar objects. Try including a good dose of "Oh, look at that! What animal is it? What does it say?" or "See that? It's called a tricycle. Cousin Anna loves her tricycle.")
• If you're trying to read a longer book, try staring in the middle for a change. Often, children's attention wanes throughout the story and it may be that they are often missing things this far into the text, or you're not getting that far into the book, period. If nothing else, it may save your sanity.
  
• When reading rhythmic books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom or And Here's To You! (two of my favorites) have your child chime in when you're to the part that is continually repeated.

If you've got any other ideas to share, I'd really love to hear them!

Meet Mrs. Shea

My first name is hardly a secret -- but I so miss teaching (particularly reading, which I was always my first love) that I can't resist going by Mrs. Shea here at On The Lap.

I taught fifth grade for four years before bringing my daughter, Bea, home from the hospital. She was too mesmerizing to every consider signing another teaching contract. Now, at just over two years old, I have the delight of teaching her from the coziness of a down comforter and a sea of pillows. And in our jammies. It just doesn't get better -- or won't, until we welcome our next daughter in early May!

I graduated summa cum laude in Elementary Education with a state-certified reading endorsement. I even served as the upper-grades reading coordinator, which was both a delight and terror. I am beyond passionate about the role reading plays in nurturing a child, and most particularly in helping them become well-rounded. Reading is more than phonics and even comprehension -- it's a tool to teach values, consequences, empathy, critical thinking, meditation, specific subject matter, and of course, has a lovely "sheer enjoyment" factor.

I can't wait to spill some of the strategies I've been using with Bea to help her love books and build a strong foundation for her future reading attempts. (And share a few things I learned in the upper grades, too!)