How to Turn Your Struggling Reader into a Super Reader This Summer

By William Roulston and Sidney Turner

A veteran elementary school teacher teamed up with a high school reading teacher to write this book, based on their innovative work with turning around the reading of struggling first grade students. The result is a reading program that breaks "out of the box" and guides parents through easy and fun activities to solve their child's reading difficulties.

Because parents are busy, the book is broken down into twenty short chapters, each one taking only five minutes for the parent to read. Each chapter focuses on one principle of how readers learn to read and explains it using clear examples and analogies.

Next, each chapter details an activity to do with your child. These are not boring school-time activities. After all, it’s summertime and summers are made for fun. The authors say that reading is made for fun, too. Although the activities are designed to be fun for you and your child, the real fun is that they work. They are based in educational research, psychology, child development and the authors’ practical experience in teaching 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders to read on the one hand and rescuing struggling high school readers on the other.

The twenty activities are designed to be done over one to three months during the summer, so the information is presented in manageable chunks. This leads to a stress-free summer instead of scrambling to keep up with a reading curriculum. The book is written in an encouraging and optimistic style and is free of educational jargon.

By the end of all twenty lessons, you will learn an amazing amount about the reading process. The authors admit that there is no magic bullet or secret for learning to read. But they promise that at summer’s end, you will have gained the confidence to guide your child as he grows, and you will watch him transform into a skillful reader who delights in using reading for entertainment and for learning.

How to Turn Your Struggling Reader into a Super Reader This Summer is an investment in your child’s future. Highly recommended for grades K-3.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Roulston and Sidney Turner
• Release date: Jun 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458113283

William Roulston and Sidney Turner

Will has been in education for over 20 years. He has taught preschool at a migrant summer school, Spanish at an elementary school, and writing, English, Spanish, reading, English as a Second Language and drama at the high school and middle school level. He was a consultant for six years at ESD 105 in Yakima, WA, where he synthesized research and led professional development workshops to help 30 school districts to improve their students' academic achievement. He is now an independent researcher, speaker, consultant and author who is passionate about helping parents and schools to develop world-class readers. A book that Will co-authored, Breaking the Poverty Barrier: Changing Student Lives with Passion, Perseverance and Performance, is being published by Solution Tree Press (www.solution-tree.com) this fall (2011). The book tells the story of a high-poverty high school in Washington State that beat the odds, drastically turning around their students' achievement. An entertaining and informative speaker, Will has spoken at conferences across the country and internationally. He is available to present the ideas in this book at conferences and to schools, community organizations and parent groups. Contact him at [e-mail] or visit the website at www.1summer2super.com. Sid has taught for thirty years at first and second grade with a smattering of third grade to boot. She has been involved in teacher leadership and is a highly sought after consultant most especially for elementary reading and writing, but also for her skills in math, science and professional learning for elementary teachers. Besides sharing her expertise with her school district, she worked for five years at ESD 105, helping schools around the area and even around the state to develop better readers and writers. She has traveled to New Zealand in order to learn from some of the best educators in that country. Sid now brings her wealth of knowledge and personable approach to schools and community groups who request her assistance, and she is also available to present at conferences. Sid can be reached at [e-mail] or through our website (www.1summer2super.com).

Book preview

How to Turn Your Struggling Reader Into a

Super Reader

This Summer

William S Roulston & Sidney Turner

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 William S Roulston & Sidney Turner

Discover other titles by the authors at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/WilliamSRoulston

Cover Design: Tania Maria Roulston

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Table of Contents

Introduction

How This Book Came to Be

How to Use This Book

Chapter 1 - Helping Them Do What They Can’t Yet Do For Themselves

Activity: Lap Reading

Chapter 2 - Reading Has to be Fun

Activity: Predictable Books

Chapter 3 - Reading Has to be Fun Part 2

Activity: Alphabet Writing

Chapter 4 - Reading Has To Make Sense

Activity: Reading Talk

Chapter 5 - Readers Need To Track Their Success

Activities: Timed Reading & Tracking

Chapter 6 - Readers Need to Hear Good Reading

Activity: My Turn/Your Turn Reading

Chapter 7 - Reading Takes Time

Activities: Rereading & Retiming

Chapter 8 - Nothing Works Always

Activity: Assessing the Response to Instruction

The Importance of Data

Chapter 9 – Read Like Leonardo da Vinci

Activities: Dictation & Eyes Open and Shut Spelling

Chapter 10 - The Sounds of Reading

Activity: Sound-It-Out Spelling

Chapter 11 - More Ways of Noticing

Activities: Looks-Like Spelling and Similar Words

Chapter 12 - You'll Know It in a Flash

Activities: Flash Words and Phrases

Chapter 13 - Don’t Get Bogged Down in Drills!

Activity: Performance Reading

Chapter 14 - Looking Down the Road

Activity: Look-Away Reading

Chapter 15 - The Other Side of the Reading Coin

Activity: Look-Away Writing

Chapter 16 - Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

Activity: Easy-Peasy Reading

Chapter 17 - Transitioning to Independence

Activity: Silent Reading Together

Chapter 18 - Building Strong Reading Muscles

Activity: Reading Hard Books Together

Chapter 19 - Stalk/Stock the Library

Chapter 20 - Keep the Conversation Going

About the Authors

Appendix

Overview of Our Approach

How Kindergarten-1st-2nd & 3rd Graders Are Different

Kindergarten

1st grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

Summary of Reading Principles

Sample Timed Reading Material

Bees

Dinosaur

Isis Johnson

Timed Reading Chart

Alphabet Writing Chart

Navigation Tips: Clicking on a link in this TOC takes you to that link’s page. While reading the book, click on any chapter title or heading to return to the TOC. Links don't work with the online and text only versions.

Introduction

You bought this book because you need help. Maybe you've learned from your child's teacher that he or she is below grade level in reading. Maybe you're not sure your child will be ready for the demands of school next year. You might be worried about the summer slide, that your child will lose ground over the summer. It might be that your child doesn't like reading. If you've come to this book with any of these needs, you've come to the right place for help.

Learning to read is a complex process. This book is not. You don't have to have any expertise in teaching reading. All you have to do is follow the steps we've laid out, and we'll teach you what you need to know as you go along. Believe us: you really can transform your child's reading from struggling to super this summer.

How This Book Came To Be

Let us tell you why we believe this summer is going to be a life-changing one for your child if you follow the plan in this unique book. We are two teachers with more than fifty years combined experience. Sid is an elementary school teacher. Her experience has been at the first, second and third grades. Her district uses her expertise often in leading professional development for the other teachers in the district. She even spent five years at a regional office helping teachers in 25 school districts to become better teachers of reading. Will is a secondary teacher. Back in the early 1990s, he got interested in how to help middle school and high school struggling readers. He met Sid when he went to work at that same regional office. Here’s Will to tell you his side of the story.

Will’s Story

I was working at an educational service district when Sid asked me to collaborate on a project to improve the reading instruction of elementary school teachers. I had a lot to learn since my specialty was high school reading, but I had a great collaborator in Sid. Sid was the kind of teacher who year after year would get great reading results for the students in her classroom. She felt so confident in her skills that she often was asked to work with some of the most struggling students. By the end of the year, most of them improved to be at grade level or very close to it. Unfortunately, this didn’t always lead to happy working relationships with some of the other teachers. Sometimes they claimed that Sid got better results than they did because she only got the best kids when, in fact, the truth was the exact opposite! I watched Sid in action. I saw how she was able to meet the needs of struggling students and individualize instruction for them. I thought she was the best second grade teacher (the level she was teaching at the time) that I had ever seen.

I left the regional office to go back into a high school classroom as a reading teacher, taking much of what I had learned from Sid back with me. Years went by and Sid and I lost touch, but I kept experimenting and learning new things with my older readers. We eventually had such great results at the high school where I taught that I co-authored a book about it for teachers. It's being published this summer.

As I was finishing up that book this spring, I got back in touch with Sid. One day she called me and asked me if I wanted to come to her classroom and tutor some first-grade students in reading. First graders? I teach high schoolers! Nevertheless, I agreed because I wanted to help kids and I relished the chance to work again with Sid.

Sid’s Story

During my career I have always been concerned and frustrated when not all of my students made grade level. The only extra support for them was Title I, and most of the time once they were placed in that program, they seemed to stay there forever. I knew that it would take out of the box thinking to use interventions that were not the ordinary ones used. Thus, when I knew Will was available, I was sure he would know what to do. He started working with five of my students, some who were already receiving Title services. Will immediately bonded with them and made them comfortable and eager to work with him. Within two weeks the students were making obvious progress. Will made daily notations and adjusted their work and the strategies he used according to the needs of each. The students were eager to work on their goals and understand their progress. At the end of the year all but two were at grade level, and those two were only one and two points away from grade level. Even though the amount of time Will had spent with them was minimal, he had impacted the way they approached reading. Why are they doing so well? Here’s Will again.

Will’s Perspective

Without the foundation that Sid had laid, the things I tried wouldn’t have been as successful. What I did bring, however, was a unique perspective. My high school students were the product of elementary school reading instruction. Most high school students read just fine, but not my students. They were several years behind in reading. A number of them were reading at only a fourth grade level. How had they gotten so far behind? As I analyzed their struggles, I came to believe that not only had the remedial reading instruction they had gotten in elementary school not worked, but it had actually hurt them. It wasn’t for lack of good intentions that this happened, but rather a lack of understanding. People say that hindsight is 20-20. In this case, I thought I could see what had gone wrong with the reading instruction they had received. I vowed not to repeat those mistakes when I went into Sid’s class.

* * *

We believe that the results we have seen can be replicated by parents working with their children at home. The things we do with our students are simple and easy to understand. They are fun. Most importantly, they work. Welcome to our Amazing Summer Reading School for one very special student: your child.

How To Use This Book

The book is divided into twenty chapters, each one taking only about five minutes to read and each one organized as follows:

Each chapter starts with one principle about reading or learning to read that the chapter will focus on. Please take the time to read these. They are our 50-plus years of experience boiled down into the golden nuggets of wisdom that you need to know to help