reading methods

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Home : 2003 : September : 20

reading methods
By Mary

Hi Amanda,

I am a kindergarten teacher in the state of Virginia. I teach reading to kindergarten students. We use The Scott Foresman Reading program which is phonics based. Teaching through phonics works extremely well
with young children, however; I feel that it is just as important to include sight words and spelling into your program. This will help cover all of the learning styles of each student. For example, some children may learn soley through phonics and others students may learn better through the whole language approach. By encorporating both teaching styles, you ensure success for all types

of learners. I also believe that reading and writing go hand in hand with one another. Very young children need to use invented spelling to help sound out words. This keeps their creative flow going and then as they learn how to spell words correctly, you can focus on spelling and grammar corrections. We also have centers while the reading groups are working. We have several levels of readers and not all groups are meeting at the same time. While some of the students are in reading goups, the other students are working independently in a phonics center, spelling center, writing center, listening center and computer center. This works well. The reading groups and centers run for approximately 30 minutes. There is a great book out called, "What are the Other Kids Are Doing While You Teach Small Groups?" by Creative Teaching Press, which gives some terrific ideas for individualizing your literacy workshop. Also, another great book is "Peak With Books" 3rd edition, by Marjorie R. Nelsen and Jan Nelsen-Parish. The most important thing for teaching reading is finding out the interests of your students and including them in your program. My goal is to have each child to learn to love to read. Encourage the parents to let their child read whatever their child wants, as long as it is appropriate, no matter what reading level they are on. Too many times parents are concerned that their child is reading material that is "too easy" for their child. If the parents continue to discourage them from reading, their child may lose interest altogether. If they let them choose books of their choice, eventually they will read more advanced material. Also, children become interested readers when they see their parents reading. Reading to children is also very important no matter how old they are. I hope this helps and good luck to you