Reading is the foundation for everything we do and encouraging reading form a young age should never be given a second thought. One thing that stood out to me in the readings this week was the importance of reading aloud to children or allowing for them to have their own independent reading time. Reading aloud to students or allowing them to cozy up in the reading corner on the bean bag chairs allows for everyone, regardless of reading time at home, to gain a love for reading- all while building their oral vocabularies (Allington and Cunningham, pg 34)
Independent reading is something I had not thought much about, which surprised me. My daughter and I read every night before she goes to bed but until now I had never really thought of her as "reading" as she sits by her self, looking at her books and making up stories to the pictures she was seeing. I guess I just chalked it up to her creative imagination but what I didn't realize was this is another way her reading foundation was being built!
"Pretend reading" is a fabulous thing for emergent readers to engage in. Allowing children to explore their surroundings, books, writing, and reading really does build a foundation for their literacy.
ReplyDeleteOne of the priceless moments I remember when my olderst first began "pretend reading" was watching her read to an imaginary friend or audience. She was holding the book and touching each word as she signed the words to her audience.
ReplyDeleteShe would, also, make her younger sister sit while instructing her in the proper way to sign the story. I did not realize it at the time, but she was independently reading as well.
I think it is very important for children to do "pretend reading" when they are young. While they may not be able to say what the words are, they can learn so many great print concepts through the mimicking of adults. We all hear stories of little ones memorizing a favorite book and then excitedly reading it to people...with the book upside down. As funny as this is to see, it is obvious that those children have a good foundation in the joys of reading!
ReplyDeleteMy little cousin pretend reads and it is actually an amazing thing to watch. By looking at the pictures, she can come up with a story that matches the context of the images she sees. It is interesting to see the imagination that a child possesses and somewhat of a bummer that many children at a much older age lack this kind of imagination due to poor reading skills.
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