Reading is and will always be a huge part of life. It will entail you to read things when you study, work, buy, play, communicate, do business, and almost all activities done by a person in his lifetime. That is how crucial this skill is.

For young learners, helping them become fluent readers can be quite challenging. A teacher should be as patient and persevering as he/she can to ensure that the pupil does not only learn to read letters to words but to make sure they wholly understand what they are reading. Comprehension is a must.

When your young reader starts to recognize letters and words, it is time to exercise his/her skills in reading with comprehension. Here are the essential points to consider:

1. Noting details. Exercise pupils on how to note details of the reading material. The details could be the characters, places, time, and events. It could be a main point to a story. While reading, guide the pupils to note details that can help them understand what the context is saying.
2. Point out the general significance of the reading material. With this, you can read through with your pupil at first while helping them figure out the main points of the text. Later, as they become adept to finding the importance of a reading material, you can allow them to just continuously enhance this skill.
3. Encourage your pupils to make inferences and predict outcomes. This can be a challenging at the same time fun activity for young readers. Provide reading materials that can exercise this skill among them.
4. Provide reading materials that help pupils follow directions. This is another skill they can learn but once they are able to get main points, they will find learning this skill easier. Provide lots of exercises for this so they always practice.
5. Provide lots of reading materials that can improve reading speed and comprehension. For this skill, time and lots or work are needed. Guide them and allow them to choose reading materials appropriate for their level so they would not get discouraged when they become bored or when they find difficulty understanding the text.

Producing good readers is achievable. Again, it takes perseverance and choosing appropriate reading materials hand in hand with proper guidance and your pupils are on their way to becoming the best readers you can be proud of.

References:

 Keith Rayner, Barbara Foorman, Charles Perfetti, David Pesetsky, and Mark Seidenberg (November 2001). “How Psychological Science Informs the Teaching of Reading”.

Pearson, P. David. “The Roots of Reading Comprehension Instruction.” http://www.postgradolunguistica.ucv.cl. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved October 14, 2014.

Tompkins, G.E. (2011). Literacy in the early grades: A successful start for prek-4 readers(3rd edition), Boston, Pearson.

 

By: Ruel P. Labrador | T – III | Morong Elementary School