2.+Early+Years+Readers

Page 2: Early Years Readers:

For early year’s readers in the primary school classroom, reading occurs on a number of different levels, according to the teachers lesson planning and the child’s confidence and ability. Reading is either a shared or independent experience and at an early reading level, these forms are both explored. In the classroom the early readers that I observed were presented with a form of modelled reading whereby the teacher reads to the children in the class, from a variety of different texts eg picture story book, big book, poster etc. Whilst the teacher is reading the child is encouraged to look at the pictures and to follow along with the story. This I found was an enjoyable experience for the children especially when the teacher asked questions throughout the reading and asked children to make predictions about the text.

Shared and guided reading are more prevalent forms of reading in the early years classroom. This method offers more support to grade 1 and 2 learners and helps them to become familiar with high frequency words. It also helps them to practice their pacing when reading aloud, and encourages them to join in when the familiar sentences are read out or actions are to be made. My experience in a grade a grade 1 and 2 classroom saw this kind of reading being done during reading groups, where children were guided by a teacher, read in pairs and read along with a sound recording at a listening post. Each form of guided reading gave the children an alternate experience of the text and allowed for them to familiarize themselves with focus text of the week.

During these reading group sessions, children also have a small window of time for independent reading, where they are asked to take their text away and have a go at reading it themselves. This particular primary school also included a library program where children were able to attend the school library weekly and pick out a book for independent reading purposes at home. This was a great way to encourage reading development, as children were offered a wide choice of text and able to choose something of which appealed to them.

From the experience of reading with a grade 1, seven-year old boy, certain aspects of his reading ability were brought to light. One main observation that was made was that the child was far more engaged and willing to participate when reading texts of which he already enjoyed. Even more so the child was fond of putting on character voices and doing actions to match the text. For the text that the child had already read before, this was especially evident. Using texts that are more relevant to a child and are actual literary texts seemed to be a more interactive and effective way of learning as “literature based programs may enhance students enthusiasm and foster positive attitudes towards books”(Dickinson, Neuman 2003 p.354). Often in classrooms books are used which are designed primarily to teacher children to read. From my experience this grade 1 boy preferred reading a text about something enjoyable and interactive and more importantly, something that he could relate to. Perhaps on further observation in classrooms this may be a common trend that is observed.