Literacy: A Parent Primer, Part II: School-age Children

Questions and Answers  

Q: How can I find out what books my child would enjoy reading?  

A: One good place to start is with the award winners. You can go online to get a listing of the Newbery award winners (http://www.powells.com/prizes/newbery.html) or check the suggestions of the American Library Association (http://www.ala.org) or the International Reading Association (http://www.reading.org/awards/). 

If you’d like a list to start you out, the Northwest Regional Educational Lab (which is funded by the Department of Education) offers these suggestions:

For families with children in K-1:

• A, My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer. Dial, 1984.

• Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman. Dial, 1990.

• Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno. Crowell, 1977.

• Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. HarperCollins, 1993.

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. Holt, 1996.

• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. HarperCollins, 1947, 1985.

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. Simon & Schuster, 1989.

• Feelings by Aliki. Greenwillow, 1984.

• Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel. HarperCollins, 1970.

• Good Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins. Aladdin, 1991.

• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber. Houghton Mifflin, 1973.

• Owen by Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow, 1993.

• Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman. Scholastic, 1989.

For families with children in Grades 2-3:

• A Chair for my Mother by Vera B. Williams. Greenwillow, 1982.

• Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles. Atlantic Monthly, 1971.

• Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery by Deborah & James Howe. Atheneum, 1979.

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B.White. HarperCollins, 1952.

• Dr. De Soto by William Steig. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1982.

• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. HarperCollins, 1971.

• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. Viking, 1982.

• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe. Lothrop,

1987.

• Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman. Putnam’s, 1995.

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. Philomel, 1987.

• Wanted Dead or Alive: True Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern. Scholastic, 1977.

• Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. Scholastic, 1991.

For families with children in Grades 3-5:

• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. Crowell, 1977.

• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. Cornerstone, 1964, 1987.

• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. Houghton Mifflin, 1990.

• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Knopf, 1990.

• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Puffin, 1976.

• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Little, Brown, 1990.

• Missing May by Cynthia Rylant. Orchard, 1992.

• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. Dutton, 1988.

• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Houghton Mifflin, 1989.

• Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat. McClelland & Stewart, 1989.

• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. Harper & Row, 1985.

• Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Atheneum, 1991.

• Stone Fox by John Gardiner. Crowell, 1980.

• Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman. Cornerstone, 1989.

For families with children in Grades 6-8:

• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman. Clarion, 1994.

• Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Scribner’s, 1948, 1976.

• Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank. Longman, 1989.

• Diary of Latoya Hunter: My First Year in Junior High by Latoya Hunter. Crown, 1992.

• Fade by Robert Corimer. Delacorte, 1988.

• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Viking, 1987.

• Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. Atheneum, 1981.

• Lupita Manama by Patricia Beatty. Morrow, 1" P lives.?< their change could It it. of part a become they that story in involved so to literature, live [children] Allow experience…. special book each make way your out Go frill. not aloud,,,is Reading>

Q: My child’s already an independent reader. What things should I be doing to help her?

A: The experts at the government-funded Northwest Regional Education Lab suggest that you do the following: 

• Look closely at how time is being used in your home if your child is not reading regularly or enough. Being a good reader at this age means doing lots of reading outside of school.
• Be clever about creating time for reading—allow a later bedtime or excuse children from a chore like washing dishes if he is reading.
• Discuss bits and pieces of books that you read with your child. Find out about what she is reading by asking nonthreatening questions like, “What’s happening in your book now?” or “What are the characters like in the book you are reading?”
• Play games like Scrabble, Spill and Spell, Scattergories, and Balderdash together—they are fun and they reinforce reading skills.
• Limit television viewing to 14 hours a week. Gradually reducing TV time can increase time for reading.
• Make time for the library. Encourage your kids to find different types of books—nonfiction informational books, and poetry, history, travel, and cookbooks—at the library to increase awareness of topics and subjects.
• Encourage children this age to read to younger children and siblings.
• Give gifts that encourage reading and writing: reading lamps, magazine subscriptions, books, stationery, pens, and blank books.
• Agree with your child on the time and place for homework. Make sure your child knows this is a high priority. If there are problems staying focused on homework, start a study group, get a tutor, or make a plan.
• Be confident that it is worth the effort and your child’s complaints to do all it takes to help your child be successful in reading and writing.

Q: What skills—specifically—should I be working on with my child to help her read well and become a lifelong reader?

A: According to the National Research Council and other research organizations, learning to read during the school years involves mastering the skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension as well as the cognitive skills of memory, attention, processing and sequencing. Although the primary roles of parents are to serve as role models and make reading enjoyable, reading skills themselves can be influenced by parents working with children at home:

-- Phonemic awareness - the ability to hear, identify and manipulate the sounds of spoken language and to understand that words are made of sequences of phonemes, the smallest units of sound that make a difference in the meaning of words. Students with developed phonemic awareness skills can judge whether two words rhyme, for example, and are able to isolate and substitute the beginning, middle and ending sounds in a word. Teaching rhymes, songs and short poems and playing simple word games (e.g., "How many words can you rhyme with hug?") help children develop phonemic awareness.

-- Phonics - the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language). Playing games like "How many words can you make using the letters in Mississippi?" works well with older children.

-- Fluency - the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. Fluent readers can recognize words automatically and understand their meaning at the same time. To help develop fluency, children should be encouraged to read aloud to their parents and even re-read the same story several times. Parents should read to their children as well and have them follow along as they read.

-- Vocabulary - the words readers must know to communicate effectively. Parents can help children build a strong vocabulary by teaching them the meaning of important words and promoting the use of a dictionary. They can also teach their child how to use context clues while reading to figure out unknown words.

-- Comprehension - the ability to derive meaning from text. Good readers have a purpose for reading, which is why parents should help their children find time to read for pleasure and find interesting books that they want to read on their own. Parents who discuss with their children what they're reading are also helping them read for meaning.

-- Memory - the ability to store information and ideas, which is essential for word recognition, comprehension of complex sentences and remembering instructions. Engaging children in memory games like 'Concentration' and encouraging them to retell stories help improve memory skills.

-- Attention - the ability to focus on information and tasks, while ignoring distractions. Fluent reading requires sustained and focused attention. To increase attention span, parents should have children set time goals for sticking to a task, like doing homework or reading quietly.

-- Processing - in the context of reading, the ability to distinguish and associate individual speech sounds with their corresponding letter and word forms. Listening games, such as identifying sounds in words that sound like something else (e.g., the s sounds like a hissing snake), help train the ear to capture and interpret sounds clearly and accurately.

-- Sequencing - skills used for maintaining order, such as the order of letters within words or words within a sentence. Creating picture stories in which the order of the images is used to tell the story is an effective way to develop sequencing skills. For those children learning how to spell, mixing up letter tiles and having them unscramble the letters to form a word also helps.

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