Supporting Literacy at Home
Written by Regan Becker
Reading is an umbrella term for a wide array of skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, and fluency. Reading is important, because it helps us understand and access the world!
Phonemic Awareness is the ability to focus on and manipulate phonemes (sounds) in spoken syllables and words. This includes giving children exposure to and experience with hearing and identifying similar word patterns (sound matching) and listening for and detecting spoken syllables (counting syllables). Phonemic awareness is essential to language development, because children must be able to hear and make oral sound patterns before they can identify these patterns in print.
Phonics refers to the symbolic relationship between sounds and letters in print. Although they are often low-interest to children, BOB books are often used to practice phonics, because they are repetitious and help build phonics decoding skills. In the Montessori primary classroom, learners practice phonics using Montessori materials (such as Sandpaper Letters and the Movable Alphabet), as well as in oral singalongs at circle time and in rhyming activities.
The Movable Alphabet
Vocabulary is the ongoing collection of specific terminology we accumulate over time. Vocabulary can be expressive (what words we know how to say and use correctly) or receptive (what words we understand in meaning).
By age three, many children have an expressive and receptive vocabulary of 1,000-1,200 words.
By age six, many children have an expressive vocabulary of 2,500 words and a receptive vocabulary of 20,000 words!
This demonstrates the “explosion of language” during the preschool years, as well as the importance of adults modeling precise vocabulary. Children ages 3-6 benefit greatly from all forms of auditory input, including adults modeling precise vocabulary, adults reading aloud bedtime stories, and children listening to audiobooks (for a variety of oral expression).
Decoding Botany nomenclature cards
Reading Comprehension also happens when a child is “looking at pictures”. Skills such as retelling and using descriptive words can be cultivated when reading a wordless picture book. Children’s picture books are usually 32 pages long with very few words on each page, and the font size should be quite large. This allows a child to see a few key words clearly to avoid visual fatigue. Reading comprehension can be activated when adults ask a child:
literal evidence questions (who, what, when, where, why, and how), predictive questions (“What do you think will happen after…?”),
two to three steps in a process,
to count aloud or name aloud,
to rhyme words (“Bat… hat… cat… sat …”)
to continue a story, and
to complete a sentence (“After school, we are going to the …”).
Decoding & Fluency often develop at age six or seven. Children ages 3-6 should be encouraged that they are indeed reading in their way. Children sometimes feel discouraged when they are told they are “not readers” (when adults often mean decoders), which may dim their enthusiasm for reading. Adults can support and build a child’s reading confidence by celebrating with them all of the skills they can do!
Reading aloud with young children is a joyful way to experience intimacy with literacy:
Sit next to each other, so that the child can see the words (if any) and illustrations. Move your finger under words as they are read. This increases hand-eye coordination!
Invite the child to turn the page. This encourages participation!
Notice when a child starts to recognize words before (or as) you read them aloud. This demonstrates cognition of symbols!
If a child is decoding words, give them time to sound out the word before asking them the beginning sound. This boosts confidence!
Give a child time before you read aloud a word they are trying to decode. Repeat the word together. This instills a sense of success!
If reading above a child’s comprehension level, limit auditory time to fifteen minutes. Observe your child’s interests and allow them to put the book away if they lose focus.
Parents and caregivers can model how to hold a book, locating the front and back cover, and reading aloud the title, author, and illustrator. Adults demonstrate to children the value of reading texts (in print) for pleasure. Children often read in their head (mentally) before vocalizing — especially if they want to perform perfection. Reading is non-linear.
Invented writing using the Movable Alphabet & matching Botany image cards
Other ways to extend literacy at-home and in the world outside school:
Play “I Spy” on your commute or walk
Post letters around the house to label the environment (example: t for table, k for kitchen, b for bed)
Read cooking instructions aloud when cooking near/with your child
Read words on foods in a grocery store
Read words posted in the real world, like signs
Treasure hunt for interesting covers at the public library
Children can dress up as a character or play/act a story they read
Encourage funny books, including comics.
Reading is a super power!
