Beginning Reading

Some children learn academic subjects faster than other children do. It has always been that way. When I was in school more than fifty years ago, the teacher just repeated the material until almost all the children memorized it. Sister Mary Germaine taught the fifty-five children in my first grade class without any assistance, worksheets, or workbooks. (I'm quite sure that Sister is residing in heaven now.) Fifty-four children followed along while one child read Dick and Jane stories from the reader. About ten percent of us never learned to read well, but the rest of us have had business or professional careers. Of course, there was no TV, computer games had not been invented, and all the stores were closed at night. After dinner and homework, there was little to do except go to bed, so students were rested and not over simulated when they came to school.

Later on, when my children were growing up, there were three reading groups in a class. The teacher would conduct a group while the others did independent work. The students in the lowest group either worked far behind the others or used an easier book. These students tended to get "stuck" in that group, and never have the chance to learn what the other students were learning. There was quite a bit of competition among parents to have their children in the highest group. It was also difficult for the teacher to supervise independent work while teaching a group. Thus the three-group system was eventually abandoned.

In today's schools beginning students read stories that include a lot of repetition at first. There is little accommodation to individual differences. All the students are expected to learn at a rate fast enough to have a large reading vocabulary by the end of the first grade. If the student doesn't read at the expected level, then remedial efforts begin. Students who fall behind in the fast-paced race toward reading competency have to struggle hard to catch up. They need additional teaching from parents, assistant teachers, tutors, or specialists. This difficult struggle can leave students discouraged, unmotivated, and stressed-out.

One way to avoid some of the problems that cause so much distress is to provide plenty of practice in basic skills for students who need it before they start to fall behind and experience discouragement. Even before the first day in kindergarten today's children are expected to recognize upper and lower case letters of the alphabet and to write some of them. Many children acquire these skills in preschool and/or by watching educational programs on TV. However, not all children do. In order to prepare children for kindergarten, parents can use alphabet puzzles and letter sets to teach the upper and lower case letters. They can also have their children trace the letters. If these activities are done for a short period every day, their children will be ready to respond fully to the kindergarten program. During the kindergarten year, parents and assistant teachers can begin to practice beginning letter sounds in words and to list rhyming words. By the end of the kindergarten year, children need to associate most of the consonant sounds with letters and to write most of the letters. During the first semester of the first grade students learn to sound out and spell words with short vowels and with long vowels. They also learn to recognize high-frequency words, such as "was", "again", and "said". By the middle of first grade students must recognize a large variety of new words with only a little repetition. Parents and assistant teachers can help by having students practice spelling the weekly lesson words out loud every day. Reading the stories in the reader with children several times during the week is also very helpful. Parents did these activities when I was in school. The conditions of society have changed greatly, but children are still children. They still need plenty of practice at the early levels of reading and writing.

Academic practice isn't popular in schools today. Children are supposed to achieve high levels very fast. However, no one is surprised when children have to practice soccer or swimming in order to play. Perhaps teachers and parents should take some cues from coaches and provide plenty of practice before expecting performance. If that could happen, beginning reading would be a lot more fun for everyone.

Mary Sue Laing, M.Ed.
Resource Teacher, St. Ambrose School
newskill7@msn.com

by Mary Sue Laing, M. Ed., New Skill, Inc. Academic Tutor