Learning+to+Read

LEARNING TO READ Learning to read for students in the early years is quite a task as there is a lot that they need to learn and know about before any text can be made meaningful. This is shown through the roles of readers discussed in Teaching Reading. There are a number of ways a child can learn to read and these are commonly used during the early years learning block. This block usually starts with a whole class focus on reading for about 10-15 minutes and this is where students can learn by shared/ modelled reading. This usually involves the whole class and allows the teacher to give a structured demonstration of what skilled readers do when they read, (Winch pp 80.) The 40 minutes of the reading block is small group focus on reading. This is when the class is separated into groups of students with similar reading abilities and shared reading and guided reading can be used to help the student learn. This is also where the teacher may just read to some of the very beginner students. During shared reading the students maybe asked what they think the book is about and then give information on what they know about this topic. The teacher will read the text and invite the students to join in where appropriate. Language experience is where what the children say can be written then read by the students, this teaches the students that thoughts can be talked about, written about and read about. Guided reading ‘…. involves a teacher working with a group of children reading individual copies of the same text’ (Hill p.80). The students each read an unknown or unfamiliar text independently and the teacher moves around the group to each child teaching and or prompting at any point of need. The last ten minutes of the reading block is whole class share time where students learning is reflected and celebrated on. These three steps of the reading block in the early years with the combination of readers’ roles is how students begin to learn to read which is not at all an easy process.