Kohia Centre 3: Reading Approaches

Content: 

Part 1: 

• Learning about print  

Part 2:

• Shared reading

Part 3: 

• Reading assessments 

Learning about Print
Emergent readers and writers of English texts need to acquire a knowledge of the essential conventions of print (that is, the conventions of written text). They learn that:

• print contains a message 
• text is written and read from left to right with a return sweep to the left for the next line 
• there is a one-to-one match between each spoken and written word 
• sentences start with capital letters and end with full stops 
• print on the left-hand page is read before that on the right-hand page 
• the print on a book’s cover and title page gives the title and other details, and the cover picture generally suggests what the book is about 
• illustrations convey meaning and relate to the text on the page.

Approaches to teaching Reading
Reading to children is an approach that can be used strategically in order to:

• promote and foster a love of reading 
• develop vocabulary and a knowledge of book language and text forms 
• develop awareness of the sounds, rhythms, and patterns of language 
• engage children in conversations about texts 
• encourage children to respond imaginatively to a variety of texts 
• promote oral language development 
• develop skills in listening comprehension and critical thinking 
• provide opportunities for children to visualise aspects of a text 
• help children to develop effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar
• vocabulary and building meaning 
• support children who are learning English 
• create opportunities for retelling and ideas for writing.

The teacher’s role is to:

• maintain the focus by skilled use of questioning, prompting, or modelling of what good readers do 

• encourage the students’ personal responses and sharing of insights 

• encourage genuine conversations in which responses and points of view are valued 

• help the students to explore text features and challenges 

• encourage the students to share how they worked out unknown words or drew inferences from the text 

• develop the students’ comprehension and critical thinking 

• probe the students’ understandings and ask them to clarify their statements where necessary 

• ask the students to justify a statement or opinion by going back to the text 

• model ways of responding critically to text (for example, by using questions or thought-provoking comments) 

• foster enjoyment of the text and a sense of discovery 

• give feedback that is specific, that informs, and that builds further understanding.

For beginning readers, the focus is on getting through the reading successfully. 

As students become more fluent, more time will be spent in discussion and comparatively less in reading. 
But, from the beginning, students should expect to think and talk about what they are reading. The discussion should be enjoyable and engaging for both students and teachers.
Using an easel or whiteboard gives a visual focus, for example, when:

• examining word-level features, such as letter-sound relationships, spelling patterns, onsets and rimes, and new vocabulary 
• recording and plotting the main ideas or facts in the text 
• noting words or ideas that sparked debate, to return to later.

The text may lend itself to further activities. 

These may be planned beforehand to help meet the teacher’s objectives, but others may arise as result of monitoring during the session. Such activities may include:

• making a timeline, story map, chart, or graph 

• writing character sketches 

• sorting or generating word lists, such as “words beginning with a prefix” (for example, “un-”) 

• retelling the text or innovating on the text 

• creating art work and adding captions 

• reading other texts with a similar theme or form 

• a mini lesson to teach or reinforce a reading strategy.

Shared Reading

Shared reading is an essential component of the daily literacy programme. It allows for a high degree of interaction and is a great way for teachers to help students to increase their understanding of themselves as text users. It’s an effective approach, which can be used with both large groups and small groups to develop students’ strategies and their knowledge of how written texts work.

Shared reading conveys messages about the joys of reading. It also provides a supportive instructional setting in which teachers can systematically and purposefully:

• develop positive attitudes towards reading 

• model fluent, expressive reading 

• deliberately teach specific strategies for reading 

• develop students’ awareness of visual and phonological information 

• teach specific vocabulary and identify particular word features 

• build students’ understanding of text forms and structures 

• encourage thoughtful and personal responses, including critical responses, to text 

• develop a sense of community in the classroom 

• expose students to a wide range of texts.

 Big Book - TKI - Resources Online

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Monday Orientation: Introduce text Look at front cover and read title together  Have students look at the title page. What clues for the story can they see?  Teacher reads the text while students listen  Students using pictures to predict what they think is going to happen by looking at the pictures  Introduce all the new vocabulary and topic specific vocabulary. Don’t assume the children have this language in English.	Tuesday:  Read the text together  Why might some animals not like baths? Have you given your pet a bath? What does Mrs Wishy-Washy have to do to give the sheep a bath?	Wednesday: Read the text and discuss focusing questions Notice the words asleep and awake - clarify the meaning What other opposite words can they think about? What did Mrs Wisy-Washy mean when she called “Bath!Bath!”? Why do you think the animals stayed asleep?	Thursday: Notice the high frequency words  I, am, said, the	Friday: Words that contain the same letters in a different order e.g was/saw, no/on Change words in text and have students discuss and notice the difference

Reading Assessments

• PM Benchmarks
• Running Records