Thoughts from Kate's Mom

When I think about Kate's reading, I start with thinking about how much I have always loved reading myself. One of my earliest memories is going to kindergarten and imagining that I was going to learn how to read, but in those days they didn't start teaching reading until first grade.

When Kate was born, I started reading to her right away. I wondered if I was jumping the gun on this, but when she was six months old we started reading a couple of books a night. I always thought that because I loved reading, Kate would be the same. Then again, I met my stepdaughters when they were 4 and 6 and I was a little surprised that they were reluctant readers. I wondered why they just didn't jump into reading like I had. When they grew to be teenagers, I talked to them about it and they told me that by third or fourth grade, things just clicked into place and they wouldn't put books down.

In kindergarten, Kate and I read the little (leveled) readers at home that they read in school and then in first grade the same.  Kate was progressing, although slowly.  I found out that she had been reading with you and her teacher suggested I talk with you, and that's when our relationship began. I can't thank you enough. I've been thinking about what has helped Kate move ahead and here are a few of my thoughts.

First of all you and Kate have clicked. You've taken the time to listen to her and get a sense of where she's at and what will help her. You've also given us books that we both enjoy and that she can read--books that are more interesting and fun than the simple leveled books. Kate can also be quiet. She kind of goes with the flow, and sometimes that means she can get lost in the shuffle. Her time with you really turned that around.

Kate is also very focused on the "level" she reads, and she can tell you where every single kid in the class is reading ... "so and so is a C" or a D, or a J. Reading other books beside the little level D readers has helped her see that she's a better reader than she might have thought.

Watching you read with Kate was huge! Before Kate was born, I was going to school to be Montessori teacher for kids 2 1/2 to 5 years old. We were taught to follow the child. When Kate started to read, I would just listen and maybe do a little correcting but basically I was letting Kate work it out and struggle with the difficult words.

You made it more fun quite frankly, and you were so accurate when you said that readers will lose the flow of the story if you focus so much on individual words. You let me know that I could make it more fun and not so hard, and that it was okay for me to read along with her in some parts. I learned to lighten up a little. 

I really do believe Kate will be an excellent reader. We care about her and her success and it feels like she's following the path of her big sisters.

I'm so glad you can see how summer gets so crazy. She didn't always read on her own as much as we'd planned, but I never give up on reading to her because it's such a nice way to end the day. She just hunkers right down beside me and snuggles up. It's good to know it's the reading that's important, no matter who is reading to whom.  This all makes her feel really special. I just love this kid!

Thanks so much, Kathy, for taking time with Kate.  You are the best!

"Just Right" Book Titles, Grades Pre K-3

Matching books and readers is magical! Last week Danny ran down the hall and breathlessly asked me, "Do you know why I'm a better reader? Mouse Tales!"

This was and was not a surprise. I had chosen several books like Mouse Tales (Frog & Toad, Mouse Soup, Fox in Love) because I knew he would enjoy reading them with me, and this was the title he had enjoyed the most.

What I hadn't anticipated was that he was thinking meta-cognitively about his own learning! The book was a win-win choice, for sure. But Mouse Tales wasn't what educators would call a "just-right" book. Rather, I had launched Danny into reading it by sharing the reading--in this instance we took turns as the narrator and Mouse--and only after many readings can he now read it on his own.

In contrast, "just right" books, also called leveled books, are books we intend that kids will read independently. (Younger readers often benefit from a first or second reading by a more experienced reader, but they then can take off on their own. I often compare the importance of this first reading with hearing a piece of music before you can play it yourself--both to know how it sounds, as well as to serve as inspiration. This also means the 5-finger rule--put up one finger for each word you don't know in a book, and when you come to 5, you know it's too difficult--is not always helpful before kids have heard a book. But I digress.)

Most primary classrooms have tubs of "just right" books, coded alphabetically (usually guided reading levels, as determined by Fountas & Pinnell), that kids read during independent reading time. Ideally, each tub has many books, both fiction and nonfiction, so kids have lots of choice. The intent is not that all kids will read all of the books.

The challenge for families is that these sets of books are more readily available through educational publishers. Most are not found in book stores.

To help out, I promised several posts ago to provide the titles of books and their levels that you can find in your library or bookstore. These are available in my local library system, and hopefully yours. If you track some of them down, you can get a sense of how they are progressively more challenging. Below you will find levels A-P, or roughly what we would expect preschoolers through third graders to read. (If you would like the lists as PDFs and in bookmark form, contact me via email.)

So here are the lists! And here is a picture of 9-year old Nick, reading independently. The 20
minutes a day he spent on these books launched him as a reader, albeit several years after his peers.

Level A (Kindergarten)

Count & See / Hoban
Do You Want to Be My Friend / Carle
Good Morning, Good Night / Grejniec
Growing Colors / McMillan
One Hunter / Hutchins
Sunshine / Ormerod

Level B (Kindergarten)

Have you Seen My Cat / Carle
Have You Seen My Duckling / Tafuri
I Like Stars / Brown
Let’s Go Visiting / Williams

Level C (K-1st)

Baby Says / Steptoe
Big Pig & Little Pig / McPhail
Brown Bear Brown Bear / Martin
I Went Walking / Williams
Mice Squeak, We Speak / Shapiro
Now We Can Go / Jonas
Jump Frog, Jump / Kalan
Blue Sea / Kalan
A Rainbow of My Own / Freeman
Spots, Feathers, and Curly Tails / Tafuri
Yo! Yes? / Raschka

Level D (1st)

Alphabet Under Construction / Fleming
Bears, Bears, Everywhere / Milios
Berenstain Bears Ride the Thunderbolt
Big Brown Bear / McPhail
Chick & the Duckling / Ginsburg
Click Clack Quackity-Quack / Cronin
Feathers for Lunch / Ehlert
Fire Truck / Sis
Hide & Snake / Baker
How Many Bugs in a Box / Carter
I Like Books / Browne
I’m Not Scared / Wilhelm
Little Bear / Namm
Max’s Birthday / Wells
Mole in a Hole / Gilman
Quack & Count / Baker
Sam’s Cookie / Lindgren
School Bus / Crews
Tomorrow’s Alphabet / Shannon

Level E (1st)

Clifford’s Christmas / Bridwell
Clifford’s Puppy Days / Bridwell
Hats, Hats, Hats / Morris
Herman the Helper / Kraus
More or Less Fish Story / Wylie
Oh, A Hunting We Will Go / Langstaff
Quick as a Cricket / Wood
Spring is Here / Gomi
This Old Man / Adams

Level F (1st)

Bread, Bread, Bread / Morris
Clifford's Thanksgiving Visit / Bridwell
Curious George / Rey
Curious George and the Pizza / Rey
Growing Vegetable Soup / Ehlert
Harry Takes a Bath / Ziefert
Just Like Daddy / Asch
Lady with the Alligator Purse / Westcott
Mother, Mother I Want Another / Polushkin
Nobody Asked Me If I Wanted a Baby Brother / Alexander
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish / Seuss
Pumpkin, Pumpkin / Titherington
Shortcut / Crews
Soccer Game / Maccarone
The Teeny Tiny Woman / O'Connor
Who Will Be My Friends? / Hoff

Level G (1st)

Buzz Said the Bee / Lewison
Curious George at the Beach / Rey
Feathers for Lunch / Ehlert
I Like Me / Carlson
Jason's Bus Ride / Ziefert
Jump, Frog, Jump / Kalan
Just for You / Mayer
One Monday Morning / Shulevitz
Peanut Butter and Jelly / Westcott
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See / Martin
Sheep in a Jeep / Shaw
Spot's First Walk / Hill
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed / Adams
Titch / Hutchins
When You Were a Baby / Jonas

Level H (1st)

Building a House / Barton
Gilberto and the Wind / Ets, Marie Hall
Goodnight Moon / Brown
Jafta / Lewin
Just Me and My Dad / Mayer
Just Me and My Puppy / Mayer
Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry... / Wood
Oliver / Hoff
Picture for Harold's Room / Johnson
Sammy the Seal / Hoff
Sleepy Book / Zolotow
We Are Best Friends / Aliki
Where Are You Going, Little Mouse? / Kraus
You'll Soon Grow into Them Titch / Hutchins

Level I (1st)

Barney's Horse / Hoff
Big Dog & Little Dog / Pilkey
Fix-It / McPhail
Fly Guy / Arnold
Goodnight, Owl! / Hutchins
Happy Birthday, Sam / Hutchins
Hattie and the Fox / Fox
Henny Penny / Galdone
Jim's Dog Muffins / Cohen
Leo the Late Bloomer / Kraus
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire / Cohen
Little Toot / Gramatky
Mama, Do You Love Me? / Joosse
Messy Bessey / Rookie Readers
Messy Bessey's Garden / Rookie Readers
Mirror, Mirror / Fowler
Never Spit on Your Shoes / Cazet
No Good in Art / Cohen
The Quilt / Jonas
Small Pig / Lobel
Spot's Birthday Party / Hill
This is the Bear / Hayes
Three Billy Goats Gruff / Brown
Tidy Titch / Hutchins
The Trek / Jonas
Trucks / Gibbons
Trucks / Rockwell
The Very Busy Spider / Carle
We're Going on a Bear Hunt / Rosen
We're in Big Trouble, Blackboard Bear / Alexander
When Will I Read? / Cohen

Level J (1st)

A Color of his Own / Lionni
Angel Child, Dragon Child / Surat
Arthur Babysits / Brown
Ask Mr. Bear / Flack
Bear Shadow / Asch
Moonbear's Bargain / Asch
B-e-s-t Friends / Giff
Feed Me / Hooks
Fox All Week / Marshall
Fox on the Job / Marshall
Funnybones / Ahlberg
Good Morning Chick / Ginsburg
The Good-Bye Book / Viorst
Great Day for Up / Seuss
Green Eggs and Ham / Seuss
Harry and the Lady Next Door / Zion
Henry and Mudge / Rylant
Hop on Pop / Seuss
The Horse in Harry's Room / Hoff
How Kittens Grow / Selsam
I Can Read with My Eyes Shut / Seuss
I Was So Mad / Mayer
Jennie's Hat / Keats
Jimmy Lee Did It / Cummings
Knots on a Counting Rope / Martin
Let's Be Enemies / Udry
Little Bear / Minarik
Little Bear's Friend / Minarik
Little Bear's Visit / Minarik
Little Blue and Little Yellow / Lionni
Little Gorilla / Bornstein
The Little Red Hen / Galdone
Max / Isadora
Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia / Parish
Milk and Cookies / Asch
The Missing Tooth / Cole
Morris Goes to School / Wiseman
Mouse Soup / Lobel
Mouse Tales / Lobel
Mr. Putter and Tabby series / Rylant
Otto the Cat / Herman
Owl at Home / Lobel
Peace at Last / Murphy
Peter's Chair / Keats
The Popcorn Shop / Low
SkyFire / Asch
Starring First Grade / Cohen
There's a Wocket in My Pocket / Seuss
There's An Alligator Under My Bed / Mayer
There's Something in My Attic / Mayer, Mercer
Too Many Rabbits / Parish
Too Much Noise / McGovern
Uncle Elephant / Lobel
The Very Hungry Caterpillar / Carle
Where the Wild Things Are / Sendak

Level K (2nd)

A Letter to Amy / Keats
Bear Goes to Town / Browne
Bear's Toothache / McPhail
Bedtime for Frances / Hoban
Best Friends for Frances / Hoban
Bony-Legs / Cole
The Bremen Town Musicians / Gross & Kent
Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express / Coerr
Caps for Sale / Slobodkina
The Case of the Double Cross / Bonsally
Chester / Hoff
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom / Martin
Clara and the Bookwagon, Levinson
Clifford, the Big Red Dog / Bridwell
Clifford, the Small Red Puppy / Bridwell
Curious George / Rey
Ducks Don't Get Wet / Goldin
Earrings / Viorst
Farmer Duck / Waddell
Flash, Crash, Rumble / Branley
Frog and Toad All Year / Lobel
Frog and Toad Are Friends / Lobel
Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper / Leedy
Geraldine's Blanket / Keller
The Growing-up Feet / Cleary
Harold and the Purple Crayon / Johnson
Is Your Mama a Llama / Guarino
The Island of the Skog / Kellogg
It's Halloween / Prelutsky
Jafta--The Town / Lewin
Jamaica's Find / Havill
Just Us Women / Caines
Keep the Lights Burning / Roop
Madeline / Bemelmans
Madeline's Rescue / Bemelmans
May I Bring a Friend? / DeRegniers
Messy Bessey's Closet / Rookie Readers
More Tales of Oliver Pig / Van Leeuwen
Nate the Great series / Sharmat
No Fighting, No Biting! / Minarik
The Old Woman and Her Pig / Kimmel
On Mother's Lap / Scott
A Pocket for Corduroy / Freeman
Sam Who Never Forgets / Rice
Sand Cake / Asch
Sheila Rae, the Brave / Henkes
Stone Soup / Brown
The Surprise Party / Hutchins
Three Bears / Galdone
Three Up a Tree / Marshall

Level L (2nd)

Amazing Snakes / Eyewitness
Animal Tracks / Dorros
Annie and the Old One / Miles
Arthur Meets the President / Brown
Beans on the Roof / Byars
Big Al / Clements
Chang's Paper Pony / Coerr
Dolphins! / Bokoske
George and Martha / Marshall
The Gingerbread Boy / Galdone
Good Work, Amelia Bedelia / Parish
Grasshopper on the Road / Lobel
Great White Man-Eating Shark / Many
Gregory, the Terrible Eater / Sharmat
The Grouchy Ladybug / Carle
Happy Birthday, Moon / Asch
Happy Hippopotami / Martin
Harry Goes to Day Camp / Ziefert
Hill of Fire / Lewis
I Am Eyes--Ni Macho / Ward
I Know a Lady / Zolotow
Jack and the Beanstalk / Galdone
Katy and the Big Snow / Burton
A Long Way to a New Land / Sandin
Madeline's Christmas / Bemelmans
Make Way for Ducklings / McCloskey
Miss Nelson is Missing / Allard
Mitchell is Moving / Sharmat
The Mitten / Tresselt
Mop Top / Freeman
Mr. Gumpy's Outing / Burningham
The Mud Pony / Cohen
Mystery of the Tooth Gremlin / Graves
No Jumping on the Bed! / Arnold
One Fine Day / Hogrogian
Over the Green Hills / Isadora
Owl and the Pussycat / Lear
Perfect the Pig / Jeschke
Picking Apples and Pumpkins / Hutchings
Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia / Parish
The Post Office Book / Gibbons
The Quilt Story, Johnston & DePaola
Seven Blind Mice / Young
Surprises / Hopkins
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble / Steig
The Tale of Peter Rabbit / Potter
Three Little Pigs / Galdone
Three Names / MacLachlan

Level M (2nd/3rd)

Afternoon on the Amazon / Osborne
The Art Lesson / De Paola
Aunt Flossie's Hats / Howard
Baseball Pals / Christopher
Bathwater Gang / Spinelli
Blueberries for Sal / McCloskey
Chicken Sunday / Polacco
Chinese Mirror / Ginsburg
Dirt Bike Racer / Christopher
Dr. De Soto / Steig
Fables / Lobel
Fossils Tell of Long Ago / Aliki
The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night / Spier
Harold's Circus / Johnson
Hattie Rabbit / Gackenbach
Heckedy Peg / Wood
The Hit-Away Kid / Christopher
The Hundred Penny Box / Mathis
If the Dinosaurs Came Back / Most
Ira Sleeps Over / Waber
Island Baby / Keller
Jenny Archer, Author / Conford
The Knight at Dawn, Osborne
Lions at Lunchtime / Osborne
The Little Engine That Could / Piper
The Little House / Burton
The Littles series / Peterson
Magic Tree House series / Osborne
Man Out at First / Christopher
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel / Burton
The Mitten / Brett
My Father's Dragon / Gannett
Night Tree / Bunting
The Patchwork Quilt / Flournoy
A Promise is a Promise / Munsch
Sleeping Ugly / Yolen
The Story of Ferdinand / Leaf
The Sun, Wind, and the Rain / Peters
Tallyho, Pinkerton! / Kellogg
There's No Such Thing as a Dragon / Kent
The Valentine Star / Giff
The Village of Round and Square Houses / Grifalconi
The Wednesday Surprise / Bunting, Eve
When I Was Young in the Mountains / Rylant
William's Doll / Zolotow
Wise Woman and Her Secret / Merriam
Write Up a Storm with the Polk Street School / Giff

Level N (3rd)

A-Z Mystery series / Roy
Be a perfect person in just three days! / Manes
Buffalo woman / Goble
Catwings series / LeGuin
Chicken Sunday / Polacco
Drive-by / Ewing
Gung hay fat choy = Happy New Year / Behrens
Library Lil / Williams
26 Fairmont Avenue / DePaola
On my way / De Paola
Pompeii: Buried alive / Kunhardt
Silver / Whelan
Smiffy Blue: Ace Crime Detective / Myers
Story of the Three Kingdoms / Myers
Why did the Underwear Cross the Road / Korman

Level O (3rd)

Boxcar Children series / Warner
Bill Gates: Helping people use computers / Simon
Bunnicula series / Howe
Fantastic Mr. Fox / Dahl
George’s Marvelous Medicine / Dahl
Rain Forest Secrets / Dorros
Stone fox / Gardiner
The Black Snowman / Mendez

Level P (3rd/4th)

Magic School Bus series / various authors
Felita / Mohr
Yang the Youngest & his Terrible Ear / Namioka
Captain Underpants series / Pilkey
Tar Beach / Ringgold
Wayside school series / Sachar
Time Warp Trio series / Scieszka
Brainstorm! 20 stories of 20 American kid inventors / Tucker
Battle for the Castle / Winthrop
Dragon prince: A Chinese Beauty & the Beast tale / Yep

Can I Take That Book Home?

What could be more fun than to be a literacy learning geek who gets to hang out with our four year old grandson. Talk about observing early reading up close! Morgan was here last week, and asked to take a book home with him for the very first time. That inspired this post.

I've written before about texts for beginning readers, but this time I think I'll write out excerpts from the books Morgan most enjoys and think aloud on the topic. I'll follow these with an excerpt from a phonics-based (or decodable reader) so we can all see/hear the differences. To get the full benefit, you will want to read the excerpts aloud.

I advocate that from the earliest ages, readers experience a range of reading engagements--a structure I worked out over months of reading with Nick. I've simplified these to three (beyond reading aloud), to help teachers and parents try their own hand at them.

In addition to hearing books read aloud, readers benefit from 1) independent reading from books they read on their own after hearing them read aloud several times. In school these are often called "just right books" or leveled readers. Next, readers benefit from 2) shared reading experiences, where they read along with a more experienced reader, taking a part or chiming in as they are able. Finally, readers should 3) read books about topics of keen interest. At early ages, this might mean reading the pictures, or reading captions, or asking someone to read pages that most interest them.

Here is how my suggestion plays out with four year old Morgan.

Independent Reading
Morgan's favorite book to read independently is the one he asked to take home. I read it to him several times before he started chiming in on the second or third page. Now he reads it on his own, using his memory of the predicable pattern and the pictures to read the text.

Before I Go to School

Before I go to school
I make my bed

Before I go to school
I put on my clothes

Before I go to school
I eat my breakfast

Before I go to school
I wash my face

Before I go to school
I brush my teeth

Before I go to school
I put on my backpack

Now I'm ready to go to school!

While these "just right books" for early readers offer simple stories, the language patterns that are easy to reread invite young readers to pick them up again and again. I have 10-12 of these kind of books on hand to read with Morgan, yet this is the first one that he has asked to take home. All readers have preferences, and it's amazing how early they kick in!

(This book was a sample from a collection of "leveled" books at school, and is the most difficult for parents to find for purchase. I"ll do some research on this issue and post suggestions soon.)

Shared Reading
Morgan chimes along with many books, but these are two favorites. The first is David Shannon's popular, NO, David!

David's mom always said, No David!
No, David! (as he reaches for the cookie jar)
No, David, no! (as he tracks mud in the house)
No! No! No! (as the bathtub water overflows)
Come back here, David! (as he runs down the street in the nude)
DAVID! BE QUIET! (as he bangs on a pan)
Don't play with your food!
That's enough, David! (as he chews with his mouth open)
...

This book is compelling to Morgan, and although it's longer and more complex than Before I Go to School, it's also more supportive of his emerging letter/sound knowledge. He focuses on the name David ("like Daddy"), and the word NO, and looks more closely at the actual print than he does in Before I Go to School. Yet, my guess is that he asked to take Before I Go to School home because he currently relates to it (he goes to preschool three days a week) and he feels most successful reading it.

Another favorite shared reading is Pig Pig Grows Up, by David McPhail.

Pig Pig was the baby of the family. His brothers and sisters had grown up and left home long ago. But Pig Pig refused to grow up. (picture of Pig Pig in the sandbox)

He still wore his sleep suit, though it was too tight, and he continued to sleep in his crib, even though his feet hung over the end. (picture of a very big pig squeezed into a crib)

At breakfast, Pig Pig sat in his high chair. He ate Pablum and strained fruit.
...
Pig Pig's mother grew tired of it. "You're a big pig now, Pig Pig," she said. "You've got to grow up."

But when she took away his old blanket and bought him a real bed, he sobbed like a baby all night long.
...

On this last page above, I read "his old blanket and his binky ..." as Morgan gave up his binky last summer. He scrutinizes the illustrations in this longer text, and asks to hear it at least once a day.

Reading about a keen interest
Morgan's favorite nonfiction book these days is Trains. This is hardly a surprise, as trains have been his most intense interest for two years. He's happy to hear the text read aloud, or to look at the pictures and to name the different kinds of trains: passenger train, locomotive, freight train, bullet train. He recognizes the Amtrak train he rode to Portland, and after hearing the term "sleeper cars," asks, "How do you sleep there?" He is most verbal when reading this book.

What makes these texts successful?
No doubt your predictions are similar to mine: These books focus on topics from his life, topics of interest, and topics that pique his curiosity. The language is also rich, and and he can figure out new concepts (sleep suit, pablum, sleeper car) based on the illustrations and his own experiences.

Reading theory suggests that Morgan is able to use all three cueing systems as he reads along with me: 1) grapho-phonemic, or letter/sound knowledge (what people often call phonics), 2) syntax (grammar system), or how language sounds, and 3) semantics, or the meaning of the text. Taken together, these three systems at play fully support readers. This complex support frees him to zero in on NO, or David ("like Daddy"), or to repeat lines that stay with him in other contexts ("Just this once!" he recently said to me, quoting the title and repetitious refrain from another of his favorite books).
In contrast ...
There are other educators who advocate for a simpler theory of early reading that focuses on just one of the cueing systems, phonics. It begins with individual sounds that are taught and combined (sounded out) to make simple words. These are paired with a short list of sight words (words that can't be sounded out and that are memorized) to create decodable readers. Here is an example:

The Wig

Tag is a pup.
Kit is a cat.
Kit ran to get Tag. (an outline of a cat scampering after a dog)

Peg has a wig.
The wig is wet. (an outline of a girl with a dripping wig on a wig stand)

Peg set the wig on a big log.
The log is in the sun.
It is hot in the sun.

The log got wet.
Peg ran to get a rag.

Tag ran up to the log.
The pup can get the wig.
...

Reading a text like this one is an exercise. I can't imagine curling up in bed to read it, or what connections Morgan might possibly make. When it crossed my mind to try it out on him, I realized I wouldn't even waste the time it would take to do that. Too many books, too little time!

An invitation
I'll end this post with an invitation to try your hand at any of these reading engagements with the young readers in your life, or to share an experience that came to mind as you read. I would love to hear from you!

Reading with Beginning Readers, Ages 6 & 9

In response to my first post, Jacqueline asks about the kinds of literacy curricula used in primary classrooms and how she might play a backup role when what's happening in her daughter's classroom is not what she hopes for. I'll try to keep this post both simple and helpful, and focus here on reading.

What can a parent look for?

* Instances of best practices in reading (the original organization of more/less comes from Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, and also includes writing, math, and science). These lists can help you think about general increases and decreases in particular teaching practices over the last 10-15 years. We know, for instance, that asking children to read "round robin" (or sitting in a group reading one at a time) is less effective than pairs of students reading and talking together.
* A 90 minute literacy block. Kids might also be using reading and writing across the day, so consider this a general rule.
* A range of literacy materials, including different kinds of writing materials and pens/pencils. A large assortment of print materials, including picture books, big books, "just right" books, poetry, and nonfiction. Charts on the wall likely include ideas like how to choose the right book or what to do when you're reading and get stuck.

When I worked with fourth grader Nick, who started the year reading much like a kindergartner, and when I worked with Maris to determine her strengths as a first grader, I used three kinds of reading engagements. Their moms also read aloud with them regularly, so I've added read aloud as a fourth engagement.

Look for these kinds of reading in the classroom, and if they're not yet in place, you can try them yourself at home. I'll list three characteristics of each one in the school setting, and then how they played out with Nick over many months and with Maris in 2 hours.

READ ALOUD
• Purposefully chosen texts.
• Read aloud, with feeling!
• Few interruptions so listeners keep the momentum of the reading. Read again and talk about your responses.

Both Nick's and Maris's families read aloud with their kids on a regular basis. This NCTE resource includes strategies and sure fire read aloud titles: Read Together: Parents & Teachers Working Together for Literacy. IRA also offers parent resources.

INDEPENDENT READING
• Many kinds of print materials and genre available for students to read.
• The books keep the students engaged as readers--not too simple to disinterest the reader or too difficult for them to stick with the reading.
• In primary grades, students may read quietly aloud, alone or in partners.

The books I used with both of these readers are the Benchmark and Bridging books from the Dominie Reading & Writing Assessment Portfolio, by Diane DeFord (the kid books are available separately on a school purchase order), but there are many good options. Often called leveled readers, these books are organized by difficulty and allow one to predict a reader's approximate grade level. With beginning readers I read each book first, then invite the child to read it. With this support, Nick was quickly able to read first grade books, and within a month or two, books at the second grade level. We did this kind of reading for 20-30 minutes a day, and he read several of them repeatedly over 10-12 days before setting them aside.

Maris readily read one of the first grade books, giving me an indication of her ability as a reader. I recommend that interested parents ask to check out "just right" books from the school if they aren't currently available for homework reading. And if you're not sure if a particular book is a good one for your child, read it aloud. If you enjoy it, it's likely your child will too. If not, enough said!

SHARED READING
• Engaging texts that all readers can see and read together.
• Texts available for readers to later read independently or in small groups.
• Use to support readers as they participate in reading texts beyond their current ability.

This strategy--whether used with songs or poetry or chapter books--helps readers read texts along with you that they wouldn't be able to read alone. I used Roald Dahl's Enormous Crocodile with Nick, a slim chapter book with outrageous characters and absurd events. The story contains a lot of dialogue, and with me taking the role of narrator, he was soon able to chime in as one of the characters. I read quietly along with him if he got stuck, keeping the emphasis on the story and expressive reading. Reading short chapter books like this one helped Nick see that his skills were much closer to his peers than he might have believed.

Maris and I read Mouse Tales together. She really enjoyed the story and read her part with gusto, putting a smile on her mom's face. Books like these are readily available in school and public libraries. The Fox books by Edward and James Marshal are also favorites. This strategy is called Readers Theater if you invite a few other young readers to join you.

INQUIRY, OR READING TO LEARN ABOUT A TOPIC OF KEEN INTEREST
• Opportunities to study a topic of interest.
• Text sets of materials compiled to explore the topics and answer learners' questions.
• Opportunities for learners to study their topics firsthand (i.e. creating their own rocket, or observing birds at a bird feeder) and then to use the text sets to learn more.

Nick and I first explored books on soccer (he is a highly skilled soccer player) and then settled on studying crows together. We talked about what Nick knew (crows live in the neighborhood and chase other birds) and what he was interested in learning (what does 'caw caw' mean, where else do crows live), and then took our cameras to the beach to watch them in action. In two hours we took over 50 photos, watched a crow pecking the eyeball out of dead fish, and watched several flocks of crows feeding on the ground while a sentry looked out from a tree top.

When we returned home, Nick browsed bird books with enthusiasm. Over the next month we created a PowerPoint presentation with text, photos and video footage to document everything we'd learned. Studying crows was an engaging inquiry for both of us.

In preparing for my session with Maris, I gathered books on several topics that I predicted would interest a first grader, and I had guessed right. She chose two books on big cats (one was a Zoobook and the other a 30 page "show me book" for young readers from the Dominie materials). I offered each of us post-its and asked her to mark three interesting pages from the book she preferred. After a few minutes we shared. She chose each of her pages with photos because they were "cute." I then shared mine: a page that showed 8-9 different big cats, as I can still confuse ocelots and jaguars; a picture that showed a Siberian tiger, with a caption that stated that each tiger has a unique striping pattern; and a picture of a mother lion licking her cub (I admit it--I told her I chose that one because it was cute!). When we met with mom, I asked Maris to share both of our marked pages, and she surprised us by reading the italicized caption about tiger striping patterns. It seemed likely to me that Maris had not yet been asked to use her developing literacy skills to learn about the world around her. I was happy to report to mom that she was well on her way as a reader.

Finally, I advocate for such a range of reading engagements from the beginning, as without them, young readers are offered the most simplistic and meaningless texts, e.g. Dan can fan the man. Can the man fan Dan? The man can fan Dan. (The actual words from a book I used early in my career!) One guideline is that books should always sound like real language. A second is that it's never too early to learn through reading!

I know this is a lot of information, but there is nothing I would love more than to hear from parents who give one or more of these reading engagements a try!

If you would like academic information on learning to read, you might be interested in a position paper on the topic from NCTE's Commission on Reading.