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In this article, Sharon Zinke, a Reading and Resource Specialist in Oakland, California, reminds us of the importance of reading to and with our children. Sharon works with teachers to implement these strategies in elementary schools. This is a powerful technique for parents to use at home too. We at Let's Go Learn, Inc. have been consulting with Sharon since the inception of our company; she is a trusted source. We love her ideas about reading "To, With and By" children and we know you will too. Enjoy!

Amy Pedigo
Director of Education
Let's Go Learn, Inc.

Reading To, With, and By

Reading To

Emerging, developing, and fluent readers of all ages benefit from being read to just as much as preschool children do. There are many reasons for this. Books are filled with structures of language and plot, character, content, etc., with which children will not become familiar unless they hear it read aloud. Sentence structures are much more elaborate in literature than they are at our dinner tables. Making one's way through these complex structures without having heard language read aloud is a very difficult task. Many of our struggling readers are stopped in their tracks because they have no prior knowledge of the vocabulary that they encounter when they read a piece of literature. The same is true for content area material. Listening comprehension comes before reading comprehension. Students of all ages should be read to on a regular basis in the classroom, and parents must be strongly encouraged to keep reading to their children after they become independent readers.

In our classrooms, we need to read to children at all times of the day, sampling many genres, across all areas of the curriculum. When we read to them, we demonstrate the value that we place upon reading. We demonstrate the reading process when we make miscues while always making sure that what we are reading makes sense to ourselves and to our listeners. We share our own delight in good books and familiarize students with book language and the conventions of print. Research tells us that children who have been read to consistently have the highest rate of success in school.

Reading With

Emerging and developing readers need many opportunities to read with a fluent model. They need to see the print at the same time as the reading process is being demonstrated to them. Shared reading (when everyone can see the print and there is voice support) can be done with Big Books, sentence strips in pocket charts, on the overhead projector, with print on charts or up on the walls, chorally with multiple copies, with books and tapes, or even partner reading (if one partner is more fluent than the other). Language experience charts or individual booklets provide a powerful vehicle for reading together. Shared reading is critical for emerging and developing readers and for older students who are having difficulty learning to read. Beyond this, it is beneficial for all readers because 1) it develops fluency and 2) it provides support so that more developed readers are able to smooth out areas of weakness.

Shared reading allows children to participate in successful reading from the beginning. As students feel more and more comfortable with the group process, they take more of a part in the actual reading. The teacher invites discussion of pictures and content, involving all children in the process. The teacher's voice support provides a non-threatening, failure-free environment in which students are able to read stories that they would be unable to read for themselves. This allows students at varying reading levels to feel successful and to develop strategies that will help them become more independent.

Materials that are chosen to be read together can be at an instructional or even frustration level because voice support is provided. There are many ways to read together to improve fluency. Various forms of choral reading can be done using poems on the overhead projector. First pages of chapter books can be read and discussed with the whole class on the overhead projector to stir up interest for independent reading. Shared reading is also a perfect opportunity to focus on skills in the context of meaningful print.

Reading By

Students should have an extended period of time each day for self-selected independent reading. This provides an opportunity for children to build up reading mileage at all stages of reading development. Independent reading is critical for building up reading fluency and for practicing strategies learned during shared reading. Even though students choose their own books, it is important that teachers pay close attention to what is being chosen. With few exceptions, students should be reading books that are at an independent level for them so that they can experience success in the actual act of reading. This means that the book should be easy enough to read and understand without assistance, even if some of the words are difficult. It is important that plenty of books are within reach that are familiar to students. Primary classrooms should have a generous supply of predictable books for emerging and developing readers and chapter books for those students who are fluent. Upper-grade classrooms should be filled with picture books and easy chapter books in addition to books deemed "appropriate" for the grade level. We need to base our choice of materials on the children that we have in our classrooms and their wide range of abilities and needs, rather than on someone's idea of an appropriate standard for that grade level.

Independent reading time is a teacher's golden opportunity to help students learn to use good strategies to get meaning from text. It is when one child is reading aloud (alone with the teacher) that the teacher can see that the child is reading for meaning...or not, using strategies effectively...or not, and then suggest strategies that will help the student to be a more proficient reader.

We, as teachers, need to make sure that parents realize the importance of helping their children choose books for independent home reading that are at their independent level, and that it's OK if the book appears to be too easy.

In fact, it is best if the book is easy, so that the child does not struggle and can build up fluency. Parents can be shown which books are appropriate for reading TO children, which can be read WITH them, and which can be read BY children independently. This will vary depending on the reading level of the student.

Sharon Zinke 2001

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