Development plays a huge role in literacy learning in a supportive, print rich environment where children have access to positive role models and are read to regularly. I have seen this especially with my daughters as I have observed them as they become independent readers and writers. I have always tried to support their literacy by reading to them often, singing songs and rhymes together, playing word games with sounds (in order to promote phonetic awareness), and talking about aspects of print in a natural way, just to mention a few things.
Recently my 5 year old daughter has been asking to read simple books to/with me and although she sometimes reads fluidly based on memory, context clues and other strategies, she may spend a full minute trying to figure out a simple sight word such as "is" or "and." Meanwhile, my 7 year old daughter, listening in, becomes very frustrated and impatient with her little sister for not knowing those EASY words.
I smile to myself remembering how just a year ago, it was the older sister who was struggling with those same words. Now she knows 100s of sight words, but neither she nor I can remember an exact time or lesson that made it all come together for her. There was not one particular lesson (or even set of lessons) that made her learn to read. She gradually became able to read just as her little sister will, with the support of many different literacy activities. It won't happen at the same time since their abilities and circumstances are different.
1 comment:
How and when does one "learn to read"? As you suggest, I don't think there is one day or event that can be picked out as a decisive moment.
Providing a rich environment full of writing, reading and speaking opportunities is crucial, I think. As you are doing.
It is difficult not to compare kids. I recently visited a friend who had a three-year-old girl, and they had another three-year-old that was visiting, a niece. The visitor was so articulate! I really had to hold back any comments comparing the two, but it eas obvious--the elephant in the room. Just to complicate things further, the visitor had a "sense of humor" that the other three-year-old didn't, and this made her seem even more advanced. I don't know how we precisely defind sense of humor, but it relates to literacy, don't you think?
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