Read! Read! Read!
Our goal in Edina Public Schools is to create avid readers, students who can and do read.
Why is this important?
Eighty-five percent of our curriculum is transmitted through reading. In fact, the best predictor of success in high school is the level of reading ability a student has acquired by the end of third grade. Studies show strong readers reading 2,000,000 words per year by fifth grade, poor readers 8,000. And the poor readers rarely catch up. Families and other adults can help children read, and enjoy reading.
The goals of the Edina Public Schools literacy program are progressive:
- Learning to read and write
- Reading and writing to learn
- Loving to read and write
We suggest the following:
- Read to and with children (of all ages) at home every day.
- Invite adults without children in the home to read to children.
- Read children's writings at family meals or family gatherings.
- Find books to match children's and young people's interests and use books to celebrate special events.
- Check with schools or libraries for age-appropriate books and stories./li>
- Take children to readings at libraries and bookstores.
- Discuss books and articles with teenagers to keep them engaged with a broad range of literature and nonfiction writing.
- Visit Web sites to leave messages for authors.
- Be a model--read, read, read!
"Reading is essential to success in our society. The ability to read is highly valued and important for social and economic advancement. Current difficulties in reading largely originate from rising demands for literacy, not from declining absolute levels of literacy. In a technological society, the demands for higher literacy are ever increasing, creating more grievous consequences for those who fall short."
National Research Council, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
A Reader's Bill of Rights
Whereas, all students need access to the kinds of reading opportunities that will allow them to grow up to be successful members of their society and
Whereas, it is everyone's responsibility to offer support for providing these opportunities, and
Whereas, the ultimate goal of reacting education is to create Communities of Readers where each student can fulfill his or her potential and experience the joy of reacting,
Whereas, be it resolved that all students have certain inalienable Reading Rights.
- Success as a reader. Every child is capable of learning to read and to enjoy reading. That expectation must be shared by all and must form the foundation of all approaches to reading education.
- Access to appropriate books. Appealing books for a wide variety of interests, and covering all reading levels, must be available in classrooms, homes, school and public libraries, and other locations. Library schedules must be flexible so students can obtain their next book as soon as possible after completing the last one.
- Time to read. Reading like any other skill, must be practiced to be perfected, Schools must provide dedicated time during the school day to read for a variety of purposesÑfor pleasure, for information, for exploration.
- Read-aloud experiences. All children must have regular opportunities to hear books read aloud to them. At early ages, reading aloud introduces them to the magic of print. As they grow, read-aloud encounters stretch their vocabulary, introduce them to new ideas, and demonstrate to them that adults value reading highly.
- Time for book discussions. Discussing books is one of the strongest ways to build Communities of Readers, and to develop students' thinking skills. Schools must make time for book discussionsÑnot only between teacher and student, but among students sharing books they have enjoyed.
- Reading role models. In Communities of Readers, all adults in school, at home, and across the community show by example how they value reading and guide young people to make reading a priority in their lives. Peers and older students can also serve as reading role models.
- Literacy rich environments. Everything in students' surroundings must show that books and reading are valuable, from the presence of books in the classroom and open access to the library, to posters, bulletin boards, public recognition, and community events celebrating reading.
- Library support. Libraries must not be just storage places for books. They must be dynamic places providing services specifically designed to engage young people's interest in reading. Both school and public libraries must play their parts in building the Community of Readers.
- Family support. Parents, grandparents, and other family members must be encouraged to involve themselves in reading to and with their children. Opportunities must be created for families to participate in reading activities at school and community levels. Especially, since one-on-one tutoring has been proven to be the most effective way to improve reading performance, all adults, whatever their own reading abilities, must be encouraged to assist children to grow as readers. Tutoring activities can be basic, such as reading aloud to children, or require some training such as paired reading.
- Community support. Programs involving all adults, not just parents, must be developed to give to the community meaningful ways to be involved with reading development. Funding for books and reading events is one way for businesses and other community members to get involved. Giving time for one-on-one tutoring activities is perhaps the most effective way for individuals, such as senior citizens, to make a contribution toward the growth of literacy.
To secure these Reading Rights as stated, all members of every community should pledge their support, time and resources.
Adapted from the Indiana Middle Grades Reading Network's
Reading Bill of Rights for Indiana's Young Adolescents
Want to learn more?
Check out these website resources
- Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA)
- Children, Youth and Family Consortium
- ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education
- National Center for Early Development and Learning
- National Center for Family Literacy
- National Council of Teachers of English
- National Research and Development Center on English Learning and Achievement
- State Literacy Resource Centers
Books
- Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, by Katherine Snow (Ed.), 1999
- Ready*Set*Read for Families, U.S. Department of Education, America Reads Challenge, 1997
- Helping Your Child Learn to Read, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1993
- Phonemic Awareness in Young Children, by M.J. Adams, B.R. Foorman, I. Lundberg and T.D. Beeler, 1998 (Available from Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co., 800-638-3775)
- Classrooms That Work: They All Read and Write, by P. Cunningham and R. Allington, 1999
How to help
Ways for parents to help children love reading:
- Read to them every day.
- Talk to your children and explain things to them. You are your children'sfirst and most important teachers.
- Listen to your children. They are willing and able to have very interesting conversations.
- Remember to read to them daily. It is the single most important thing your children
- Answer your children's questions about writing.
- Encourage your children to write their name on belongings and to writer messages to grandparents, other relatives or friends.
When to read:
- During meal time
- When a child is sick (or grumpy)
- While traveling
- Traffic and street signs while traveling
- Waiting in line (at the grocery store)
- Read the Sunday comics
- Waiting at the doctor's office
- While children are taking baths
- To calm a child after a nightmare
- When a child is happy
- For the heck of it!
How to encourage writing:
- Write messages to your children.
- Write down what your child tells you about her/his drawings.
- Point out words in print on signs and packages.
- Let your child watch you write letters and shopping lists.
- Provide children with plenty of paper, pencils, crayons, felt-tip pens and chalk to write with.
The benefits of reading
Family storybook reading experiences:
- Help children build a storehouse of information about the world outside of family and everyday life.
- Help children develop a sense of how stories are constructed.
- Provide children with the meanings of worlds that may not be a part of their everyday speech.
- Provide children with an opportunity to hear a variety of language patterns that are not usually a part of their everyday speech.
- Engage children in language play that is centered on the sounds of language.
- Foster the ability to learn.
- Allow children to practice oral turn taking.
- Help children become aware of literacy conventions.
- Teach children that books are for reading, not for manipulating.
- Make children aware that in book reading the topic of conversation is controlled by the book being read.
- Teach children that language is symbolic, that the words and pictures in the book are not things but representations of things.
- Help children understand that book events occur outside real time.
- Teach children to distinguish between personal and real firsthand experiences and fictional representations of similar experiences in books.
- Help children become aware of the difference in the sound of the real and personal language of oral conversations and the fictional language written in books.
- Teach the social behavior that accompanies reading instructions in school.
- Allow children to observe and practice the comprehension strategies of expert readers.