Hollis’ Parent Literacy Night

Practical Tips for Parents to Help Your Child Develop Literacy

Oral Language

Oral language (listening and talking) is the foundation for literacy.

Listening

Writing

Reading

Writing

Talking

Writing

Listening Skills

• In Kindergarten, your child:- follows 1-2 step oral directions - listens to understand age-appropriate stories read aloud- follows simple conversation

• In First Grade, your child:- follows 2-3 step oral directions- remembers facts taught in class

• In Second Grade, your child:- follows 3-4 step oral directions in order- understands words about place and time (behind, next to,

before, after, yesterday, tomorrow)- answers questions about a story

ASHA (2012)

Listening Skills• In Third Grade, your child:

- listens well in groups

• In Fourth Grade, your child:- gives an opinion based on facts- listens for important details in discussion/stories

• In Fifth Grade, your child:- Listens and makes conclusions about different

subjects such as math and science

ASHA (2012)

Tips to Develop Listening Skills• Encourage active listening while following directions,

listening to stories, forming opinions, and making connections to daily life

• Help your child listen to sound patterns in words (e.g., rhyming words and beginning/middle/end sounds within words)

• Use sequence and time words like first/next/ last or before/after when giving directions and talking about daily activities

• Do daily activities with your child like folding the laundry and making dinner. As you do them, talk about what you are doing and give them directions to follow.

ASHA (2012)

Talking Skills• In Kindergarten, your child:

- answers simple yes/no questions (Did you have fun today?) and open-ended questions (What did you eat for lunch?)

- retells parts of stories/events- talks about things that happened during the day- asks/answers questions, asks for information, makes comments- shows interest in talking with others

• In First Grade, your child:- says all speech sounds clearly- tells and retells a story in the correct order- uses complete sentences to talk about ideas- uses most parts of speech or grammar correctly- asks and answers wh-questions (who, what, where, when, why, how)- starts conversations with others, takes turns and stays on topic when talking

ASHA (2012)

Talking Skills• In Second Grade, your child:

- use oral language to inform, persuade, and entertain- starts conversation, stays on topic, takes turns, uses appropriate eye

contact, and ends conversation properly - asks and answers more complex questions- explains words and ideas- uses more complex sentences when speaking

• In Third Grade, your child:- asks and answers questions- uses words taught in subjects such as math, science, & social studies- stays on topic and introduces new and related topics- retells a story correctly- knows how to talk in different ways in different places (quiet voice in

library vs. outside voice on playground)

ASHA (2012)

Talking Skills• In Fourth Grade, your child:

- understands and uses figures of speech (“It’s raining cats and dogs!”)

- summarizes information in the correct order- uses words and ideas learned in subjects such as

math, social studies, & science

• In Fifth Grade, your child:- participates in discussions about different subjects- tells about information gathered in group activities- gives a summary with main points during discussions- makes inferences based on given information

ASHA (2012)

Tips to Develop Talking Skills• Talk to your child often• Ask your child to tell you 1 or 2 things that happen each day• Talk about what your child is reading and ask questions• Discuss connections between what’s read and heard at school, home

and other daily activities• Talk about how things are the same and different• Talk about new words your child hears• Use drawings, wordless picture books and/or cartoons to tell a story or

describe concepts• Use figures of speech (idioms, similes, metaphors) when opportunities

arise and talk about its meaning• Ask opinion (“what do you think?”), prediction (“what do you think will

happen next?”) and inference (“why do you think that?”) questions when reading or during daily activities

ASHA (2012)

Key Areas for Reading Instruction

1. Phonemic Awareness2. Phonics3. Fluency4. Vocabulary5. Text Comprehension

NIL (2006)

Phonemic Awareness

• Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, identify and manipulate the individual sounds or phonemes in spoken words.

• Before children learn to read print, they need to understand that words are made up of speech sounds or phonemes.

Why is Phonemic Awareness important?

• It improves students’ word reading and comprehension.

• It is essential to learning to read in an alphabetic writing system because letters represent sounds.

• It helps students learn to spell.• It is a strong predictor of children who

experience early reading success.

What are examples of Phonemic Awareness skills?

• Rhyming – identifying and producing rhymes• Segmentation – isolating the first sound, the

last sound, and finally all the sounds in a word.

• Blending – combining the separate sounds in a word in order to say the word.

• Sound Manipulation – changing sounds in a word.

Phonics

• The basic reading instruction that teaches children the relationships between letters and sounds.

• Knowing these relationships helps children to read familiar words, analyze new words and write words.

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics work together!

• Phoneme awareness instruction linked to systematic decoding and spelling instruction is a key to preventing reading failure!

• At home parents can:– Practice the sounds of language.– Take spoken words apart and put them together.– Point out letter-sound relationships.– Read every night and model the use of phonics to

read unfamiliar words by “thinking aloud”.

Reading Fluency

Reading fluency can be defined as the ability to read accurately, with

proper pace, and effortlessly, using appropriate expression and creating

understanding. Fluent reading “sounds good” to our ears.

Fluent Readers

Read with Accuracy

Fluent Readers

Read with Smoothness

Fluent Readers

Read with Proper Volume

Fluent Readers

Read at a “Just Right” Pace

Fluent Readers

Adhere to Punctuation

“ ? ! . ,

Important Fluency Activities

• Repeated Readings Reread of short texts

Poetry Readings www.gigglepoetry.com

• Fluency Phrases• Scooping Phrases• Reading Aloud

• Being Read Aloud to by a Grown Up

Sight Words/High Frequency Words

Sight Words- The most frequently used words in the English language, "sight words" are words that a reader automatically recognizes without decoding or using picture clues.

High Frequency Words- Words that appear often in printed material.

Comprehension Strategies

• Ask wh- questions (who, what ,where, when, why and how) when reading

• Make connections to yourself (This reminds me of or when ...)• Visualize (What do I picture in my mind?)• Draw a picture• Label pictures, look for new vocabulary (What does this word

mean?), and use the words in a sentence• Ask opinion (“what do you think?”), prediction (“what do you

think will happen next?”) and inference (“why do you think that?”) questions when reading

Comprehension Strategies Continued…

Monitor

Being aware of miscues, the pronunciation of unknown words, and comprehension processes during reading to develop the ability to correct

oneself.

ClarifyIf it doesn’t make sense, reread the part that didn’t make sense and clarify

understanding.

Read to Your Child

Reading aloud to your child is one of the most effective approaches

to helping them learn to read.

References• “Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching

Children to Read-Third Edition.” 2006. National Institute for Literacy.

• “Building Your Child’s Listening, Talking, Reading and Writing Skills: Kindergarten to Second Grade.” 2012. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

• “Building Your Child’s Listening, Talking, Reading and Writing Skills: Third Grade to Fifth Grade.” 2012. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

• Vacca, J.A.L., Vacca, R.T., Gove, M.K., Burkley, L.C. Lenhart, L.A. & McKeon, C. A. (2009) Reading and learning to read. Boston: Pearson Education, Incorporated.