1.+Learning+To+Read

Learning To Read

** ‘Reading is the process of constructing meaning from print and from other symbols’ **** (Hill, 2006, p 139). **

‘Print awareness is a child’s earliest introduction to literacy’ (WETA, 2004). It includes knowing that books are read left to right, top to bottom left page to right page. It also includes the knowledge that sentences start with capital letters, end with full stops, what a title is, what an author does and where the front of the book is. (WETA, 2004). In their early years of literacy learning, children will discover the connection between written words and the pictures. They will find that what the written words say, the picture will demonstrate and by viewing the pictures they can make accurate predictions about the text and what might happen next. They may also be aware of the connection between the words written on the page and read aloud, that is that they represent each other. The spoken word represents the written word and the written word represents the spoken word. Here is a video of a 6 year boy reading a book. As he reads, he checks what she is reading with the pictures, while also using the pictures to assist his reading of the words. He also makes links between individual letters and their sounds and effectively sounds words out.

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When reading, students need to have an understanding of Speech Sounds, Phonemic Awareness and Phonics. These are interconnected and very important for beginning readers. Speech Sounds are Phonemes. That is, the sounds that are found in words. For example, the speech sounds (phonemes) in the word ‘fork’ are: /** f **/ - /** or **/ - /** k **/ Phonemic Awareness is the ability to identify, hear and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words. (Reading Rockets). Phonemic Awareness will help new readers to recognise the individual and similar sounds in a word and how all words are made up of various sounds. The /** f **/ phoneme sounds like the /** ph **/ in ‘** phone **’ The /** or **/ phoneme sounds like the /** or **/ in ‘** cork **’ And the /** k **/ phoneme sounds like the /** c **/ in ‘** cake ** ’ It is important for students to identify these speech sounds and phonemes in words, so they can sound out the words as they read them. Phonemic Awareness is a strong predictor of future success in reading. This is a THRASS chart. It contains both vowel and consonant phonemes and graphemes. This is what children at Bellaire Primary School in Highton use to learn phonemes. Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills, THRASS, was a workshop I completed at the start of this year. Children learning phonemic awareness through the THRASS program in Grade 1/2 are already aware of all the consonant phonemes and can list them off without referring to their sheet.

Phonics is the understanding that there is a relationship between letters and sounds through written language. (Hill, 2006, p 71). ‘Word Families’ are used to show children that words can be broken up, and the same letter combination can be used to create other words. For example: ** br **own ** br **ushes ** br **oom According to Hill onset ‘consists of any consonant sounds that precede the vowel’. (Hill, 2006, p174). The blue letters are the onset. The ‘rime’ is where the word is broken up after the vowel and the remaining consonants. For example: br** own **br** ushes ** br** oom ** The blue letters are the rime. The goal of phonics is to teach children the alphabetic principle ‘the idea that there is an organised, logical and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds’ (WETA, 2004). As stated in Hill, 2006, p173, ‘early readers take on four roles when they begin to read.’ This is where children use their knowledge of sound letter relationships and high-frequency sight words to decode print. This includes knowledge of the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, letter knowledge and phonics. This is where children read to understand. They use cues such as the print, illustrations and word order to gather understanding of the text. This is where children identify what type of form or genre the text is and use their knowledge of that type of text to determine how they will read it. This is where children evaluate the author’s purpose and intent of the text. Children naturally develop language through their interactions with others but books involve children with words and sounds that are not apart of everyday conversations. (Hill, 2006 p 145)
 * Code Breaker **
 * Meaning Maker **
 * Text User **
 * Text Critic **

Hill, S. 2006, //Developing Early Literacy: Assessment and Teaching,// Eleanor Curtain Publishing, Prahran WETA //2004, Reading Rockets: First Year Teacher Program//, WETA, retrieved 15/03/2008 < __ http://www.readingrockets.org/firstyear/fyt.php?CAT=27 __ >