Information About Beginning Readers

Information about Beginning Readers

Beginning Readers Must "Finger-Point Read"

Most beginning readers have an emerging, rudimentary concept of word. Concept of word is the ability to match spoken words to printed words demonstrated by the ability to point to the words of a memorized text while reading. The beginning sound of each word should provide an anchor for students, for example, when a student says the word man, he or she needs to have their finger on the word beginning with the letter m. Research shows that a firm concept of word signals a child's readiness for sight word learning and decoding instruction. Finger-pointing helps beginning readers develop a firm concept of word and draws their attention to letter-sound features in words, important for decoding. Please be sure that your child is pointing to each word as he or she reads (do not allow him/her to finger sweep across the line). Students will be required to finger-point as they read until they develop a firm concept of word.

Text for Beginning Readers Must be Predictable and Memorable

Beginning readers are not yet able to recognize many words by sight and their lettersound knowledge is not secure enough to help them sound out words. Their word recognition must be supported by text that is predictable and memorable. As they read and reread the beginning texts that are sent home each week in the Ziploc bag, beginning readers will gradually remember words out of context as "sight words." Very soon they will acquire a bank of words that they can recognize automatically at first sight and be able to use the decoding strategies that they are learning to figure out unknown words. Soon they will be reading text that they will not be able to memorize and they will need to rely on their bank of known sight words and decoding abilities to read the text. Rereading familiar books also provides beginning readers with a sense of success, which is very important while they are developing their reading skills. Reinforce to your beginning reader that his or her oral reading should sound like the way he/she talks-- not too fast and not too slow.

Bear, D.R., et al. (1996). Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction. 3rd edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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