The Reading House: Blueprints for Building Better Readers

By Diane DiMemmo

The Reading House fills the need for a book to help parents encourage the literacy development of their children at home. Easy to follow and play, these games and experiences can be quickly incorporated into any family’s busy day. In addition, The Reading House describes nine skill sets that must work together for children to become strong, independent readers. These methods will show parents the plan for encouraging language acquisition and reading success from babyhood to the completion of fifth grade.

The Reading House is different from other “how to teach reading” books in that it provides strategies to help beginning, challenged, uninspired, and advanced readers. Central to all of these activities is the importance of loving literature to make reading a fun, eagerly anticipated habit. Easily adaptable to classroom and tutoring scenarios, The Reading House can become a valuable guidebook shared between home and the traditional learning environment to enhance student learning and success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483569598

Book preview

The Reading House

© 2016 Diane Marie DiMemmo

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review, or by bloggers who may quote passages for the sake of commentary and discussion. Unauthorized duplication or transmission is a violation of applicable laws.

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-48356-958-1

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-48356-959-8

Cover Design: Design Squared

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To the children who were in my public school classes, thank you for showing me how to teach. To my children, Daniel & Julianne, thank you for teaching me about unconditional love. To my husband, Guy, thank you for always supporting my endeavors. This book wouldn’t have been written, if not for the encouragement of my students’ parents. Thank you all.

Table of Contents

Forward

Introduction

The Reading House

Perspectives on Teaching Reading

Reading House Premises

What Makes The Reading House Method Unique?

What Exactly is a Literary Experience?

How to Use This Book

Reading with Baby and Toddler

What Does Baby Reading Look Like?

Take a Nature Walk

Mirroring

Family Picture Words

Auditory Processing

Toddler Pre-Reading Activities

The Two-Minute Story

Real Rhyme, Fake Rhyme

Color Reading

Enunciation and Diction

Environmental Print

Build A Library

Loving Literature

The Book Fairy

Puppet Reading

Treasure Chest

Flashlight Reading

Sound-Effect Reading

Comfy Cozy Reading

Library Scavenger Hunt

Story Picnic

Book Birthday

Book Cents

School-Wide Book Swap

Make-Up Characters

The Reading Fort

I LOVE This Book!

You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover!

ABC’s, Phonics, and Book Conventions

Phonics

Print and Book Conventions

Name Games

Blending and Chunking Letter Groups

Sunny Phonics and Letters

Piano Reading

Let’s Go in the C-A-R!

Stick It

ABC Basketball

ABC Bowling

ABC Memory

ABC Go Fish

Alpha Steps

Clay-B-C

Letter Exercises

Letter Fun!

Nickname Alliterations

Fabulously Funny Words

Troublemakers

Reading Routines

Character Voices

Learning Lists

The Reading Chair

Dinner Notes

Greeting Cards

Levels

Poetry Pictures

Clip-Clip Train

Echo Reading

The Reading Suitcase

The Magazine Subscription

Book Choice for the Struggling Reader

Robot Reader

Library Treasures

Reading Routines of the Home

Word Play

Snowball Fight

Spin a Spelling Yarn

College Word of the Week

Repetition Spelling Exercises

Scrambled Eggs

Money Words

Spelling Word Ice Cream Melt

Friends and Family Vocabulary

Vocabulary Balloons

Letter Groupings

Candy Egg Word Hunt

Obstacle Course

Word Pops

Rhyme Climb

Art Vocabulary

Word War

Word Frames

Reading Strategies

Engaging Strategies

The Strategy Bookmark

Dial-A-Strategy

The Picture Clues Strategy

The Sound It Out Strategy

Just a Stroll through a Book Strategy

The Rhyming Pattern Strategy

The Skip It Strategy

Memorize Me!

Rhyme Reading

Percussion Reading

Science Reading

Language Arts

Silly Noun-Verb Sentences

Mine and Yours

DIY Language Arts Lessons

Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs…Oh My!

Order Up Some Story

ABC Card File

Coloring Pages

The Sentence Game

Descriptive Window

Punctuation Reading!

Parts Of Speech

Fact, Fiction or Opinion?

Dictionary Skills

Comprehension

Illustrate a Story

Venn Diagram

Student Teacher

Comprehension Charades

Question in the Cards

A Serving of Story Elements

Comprehension Bookmarks

Character Diary

Story Mimic

Prediction

Picture Traces

Chalk Talk Mapping

Chalk Talk Maps

Effective Questioning

Book Talk

Story Extensions

Let’s Debate It!

Letter Writing

Reflective Journaling

Time Capsule

Book Clubs

Community Action

Signal Signs and Story Ratings

Book vs. Movie

There were three distinct circumstances that led to the creation of The Reading House.

The New Teacher

The blueprints for what was to become The Reading House were conceived during my first year as a public school teacher. At that time I quickly realized that college prepared me more for a theoretical classroom situation than the real one. In the collegiate setting, I was required to create lesson plans for individual reading objectives, but I didn’t understand how each objective fit into the comprehensive structure of reading instruction as a whole.

I did a lot of research, reviewed the grade level reading curriculum, and asked a lot of questions. The curriculum had a long list of objectives and no suggested method for teaching them. Basal readers were not primarily utilized to teach reading in our school (only as a resource), so my classroom instruction was based upon the trade books my students were currently reading.

Which reading skills should I first teach a beginning reader? Was I moving in an order such that specific skills were naturally building on those previously taught? What adaptations should I make if some of my students struggled while others read quickly and wanted more? How could I show them that reading is fun and not a chore?

Being a lifelong bookworm myself, my instincts kicked in and I found myself at the library. I looked for a manual that had a structure, hierarchy, or step-by-step program for teaching young children how to read. I assumed this manual would also give examples of activities that would help me teach the reading hierarchy. I found nothing. So construction on The Reading House began.

The Experienced Teacher

Luckily, I spent five years teaching in a school district that placed a high value on teacher education. We were constantly sent to workshops and seminars, and went to weeklong education summits during the summer. These unique learning opportunities fueled my desire to find reading activities that would address the literacy needs of my very different learners. I started to develop games and reading experiences based upon the techniques I was learning, and then utilized them in my classroom with noticeable success.

A couple of years later I went to work as a Basic Skills teacher in a different district. My responsibility was to provide in-class reading and math support to small groups of children who were struggling to grasp those subjects. I asked the classroom teachers of my Basic Skills students if they wanted me to work with my students separately, or teach reading to the whole class. Two of the three teachers replied that they wanted to watch me teach reading to the whole class, because we never really understood how to teach reading. These were experienced, effective teachers for whom I had the utmost respect. The realization that I wasn’t alone in my worries about correctly teaching children how to read hit me like a ton of bricks. I persevered to create even more activities that promoted reading success and shared them with my colleagues.

The Tutor

When I stayed home to raise my family, I began tutoring children who were struggling with the task of learning to read. Parents came to me in desperation because their child’s academic self-esteem was deteriorating. I understood their concern. I worked with many families over the years that shed tears of frustration over the challenge of learning to read. As a fellow parent I understood at the deepest level how much it hurts to watch your child give up because something is too difficult, and not know how to help.

With minor modifications, the games and activities I used in my classrooms worked equally well with students in one-on-one tutoring sessions. As their child’s confidence became stronger, the parents wanted more and asked what they could do at home to strengthen and reinforce what I was teaching.

I realized there was a need to provide educational experiences to parents who wanted to be actively involved in their child’s learning. Fun reading games took the pressure off having to read and our tutor-parent partnership led to faster results. It’s a testament to the fact that complementary learning experiences, in school and at home, significantly support the academic success of children.

The majority of students who once required my tutoring services do not need the assistance anymore. Their parents inform me periodically of their child’s academic successes as they grow older and many of them have entered the Honors and Advanced Placement programs in our local high school!

Due to the positive results, these same parents encouraged me to document this program for other parents who may be experiencing similar struggles or who are interested in contributing to their child’s academic development. The importance of reading at home was so evident and powerful to us, and that is how The Reading House was built.

Children exist in the world as well as in the family. From the moment they are born, they depend on a host of other ‘grown-ups’—grandparents, neighbors, teachers, ministers, employers, political leaders, and untold others who touch their lives directly and indirectly. – Hillary Rodham Clinton, It Takes a Village

The Reading House is a resource for reading instruction that can be used by parents and family members at home, by tutors or homeschoolers as part of their instructional plan, and by classroom teachers with the entire class, small groups or in learning centers. It is a widely adaptable collection of games and activities for those who want to help children become strong, enthusiastic readers, and have fun in the process. Literacy experiences for babies and toddlers will lay the foundation for pre-reading activities for preschoolers. There then is a natural progression to reading games, cooperative learning tasks and story extension projects for school-aged learners. Minimal supplies and little to no preparation make the tasks easy for any family member or educator to do with children.

My experiences as an elementary teacher in the public education system included classroom and small group teaching in kindergarten, second and fifth grades; as well as Basic Skills for grades three, four, and five. I co-taught with Special Education teachers in my fully inclusive second grade classroom and was lucky to be in a district that placed a very high value on teacher education. I had intensive training on a variety of progressive teaching techniques and programs, including Reading Recovery®, Dr. Kagan’s Cooperative Learning, various methods for Hands-On Instruction, full Classroom Inclusion, Whole Language, Spiral Learning, Developmental Learning, and Family Science.

I’m not sure if it was the outstanding teacher education I had, my love of reading, my steadfast support of the underdog, or a combination of all three…but I found that teaching struggling readers how to read came easily to me. Much of the literature and corresponding activities within educational basal readers wasn’t sufficient to reach the youngsters who couldn’t make meaning out of text. These learners had to be involved in the process. They needed to be exposed to quality children’s literature and they had to know that the ultimate reward of reading a great story was the good feelings it evoked throughout the process.

From my experiences as an elementary teacher, reading tutor, and parent, I’ve found that there are three general reading categories into which kids fit. The first is the classic reader. A classic reader is one to whom the reading process comes easily and who finds reading to be a pleasurable activity. The classic reader’s appetite for books can be insatiable and they will ask to go to the library, bookstore, or electronic reader website very often! Another type of reader is the uninspired reader. Children who are uninspired can read well enough, but think of it as a chore. If given a choice, this type would never choose to read without it being a requirement. The challenged reader is the third reading type. Challenged readers find learning to read an overwhelming and difficult process. They struggle with comprehension and haven’t yet mastered the use of reading strategies. Without educational intervention, this group of children loses their self-confidence as learners and they begin to struggle in other academic areas. The learning difficulties compound over time because reading is the main means of acquiring knowledge in all subject areas. The reading roadblocks that challenged readers experience must be addressed head-on and without delay.

I have witnessed very emotional scenes among my challenged readers over the years. Young learners who have just about given up on reading have broken down in tears from feelings of being overwhelmed and exasperated that they just couldn’t get it. Common statements were: I’m just not smart, This is so stupid, I’ll never get this, I hate reading! and I give up! I took all of these sentiments to heart and promised them that we would change those feelings together.

Learning to read and teaching youngsters how to read is an incredibly complex process. Dr. Louisa C. Moats, a nationally recognized expert, speaker, and consultant on children’s reading issues, states, Teaching children to read IS rocket science! Now, I do not profess to have training in the field of aerospace engineering or even an inkling as to how to get rockets into space, but Dr. Moats does draw an interesting parallel. Both require many distinct processes to work simultaneously in order to achieve an end result. Both initiatives must be exact in their design and execution, and both must be undertaken with a plan to follow from start to finish.

The plan, or in this case the blueprint of The Reading House, gives a great visual of the ordering and interdependence of skill sets that must be addressed when helping children learn to read. The house metaphor is intended to emphasize that the learning environment at home is just as important in helping children become academically successful as the learning environment at school. Our homes are part of our communities and all of the adults in children’s lives play the role of teacher at one point or another. The cooperation between home and school is instrumental in lifting children to their utmost potential as learners.

The proposed skill sets represented within The Reading House diagram will promote and support literacy development from infancy through fifth grade (and beyond). Similar to the need for a solid foundation of an actual house, a foundation of basic reading pre-requisites must be in place to build a successful reader. To always maintain the strength of that foundation, opportunities to celebrate and enjoy literature should take place throughout a reader’s entire school career. The supporting structure of walls within a house lends meaning to the necessity of mastering reading skill sets to bolster the comprehension of text. With comprehension comes the pinnacle of the reading experience, which is the extension of story meaning into the reader’s world.

The Reading House

Perspectives on Teaching Reading

All Reading House activities were developed according to the educational perspectives I gleaned from years of classroom teaching,

observation, and study.

Patterning the Classic Reader

Classic Readers are children to whom reading comes easily and who thoroughly enjoy the process. What better way to train a challenged or uninspired reader than to start emulating the characteristics that support a classic reader’s natural style? The main Classic Reader qualities are:

Confidence in self as a learner

Loves to read

Ability to use strategies interchangeably

Sees literacy models in his environment

Strong alphabetic and phonetic foundation

Involved in his learning

Comprehends by asking questions and seeking knowledge

Most of the games and activities in this book are designed to boost each of these classic reader characteristics.

Loving books

We ask our children to read every day, but who wants to regularly do an activity that is not enjoyable? Care must be put into choosing quality literature that we are confident will excite youngsters to want more. Attention also needs to be paid to drumming up excitement and anticipation regarding the books we share. Activities that enthuse the reader are so important that I dedicated an entire skill set to achieve the single objective of loving books. It is especially important to play these games with uninspired readers.

Starting early

There is much research that proves that the earlier children are exposed to reading, the more likely they are to become strong readers. Many interpret earlier to mean preschool-aged children. I propose that literacy experiences start at birth. Engaging infants, babies, and toddlers in songs and conversations, mimicking their utterances, and providing sensory experiences will all influence and heighten language development. A fundamental and rich understanding of language will develop and form the foundation of a classic reader.

Involving the learner

One of the most distinguishing features of The Reading House is the hands-on nature of the games and activities. Many are familiar with the term hands-on math, which refers to math lessons where students are handling manipulatives and actively working the problem as opposed to just listening to a lesson. Reading is more often a sedentary and independent event, which makes it difficult to maintain the interest of so many of our energetic children. Involving them with interactive games (with a parent or other students) enhances their understanding, helps them gain various perspectives, and energizes them to want more.

Balancing traditional and progressive methods

Repetition and workbook-like practice exercises still have their place in a reading program. Traditional instruction techniques solidify basic concepts that are critical to reading fluency and comprehension. Pairing tradition with more progressive reading approaches (such as allowing children to choose literature or responding cooperatively to a story) maintains their interest in and enjoyment of reading. I find that a balanced approach with various techniques goes a lot farther than a one-method-only philosophy.

Adapting to different learning abilities and styles

One of the most challenging aspects of being a teacher is the task of reaching all learners with the lessons you plan. There may be 28 seven-year-olds in a classroom, but each one of them could not be more different. Some children come to your class full of knowledge and wanting more, yet it is obvious that other students haven’t yet been inspired. Several may be reading two grade levels above their age and other students may not know how to read more