Children may:
- Read predictable books, their favorite books or books that they have illustrated and written
- Write using both invented and standard spelling
- Implement decoding strategies when coming across unknown words
- Manipulate, substitute, and delete sounds from words to make new words
- Strong development in alphabetic principle, children can sound out words and identify various sounds that letters and combinations of letters represent
- Write down words that they hear, strong sight word recognition
- Leave spaces between words
- Enjoy writing messages to others, writing for a purpose and for pleasure
- Increase in phonics, sentence structure, grammar and punctuation
- Enlarged oral and written vocabulary
- Discuss the features of a story, draw conclusions, predict, relate to characters
- Practice reading with fluency
Strategies for Parents to Help Kids Develop Their Literacy Abilities
- Encourage your children to read books that appeal to their interests, whether it is fiction, nonfiction, fantasy or poetry. If they are interested in the topic that they are reading about, then they will be excited to read and gain knowledgeable information. Going to the town library will offer the children additional resources and books that the school library may not provide.
- If your child really enjoys a particular book that they have previously read, look for other books by that author and illustrator that they might be interested in. A lot of the books for this age group are series, where the characters from the previous books are brought back by the author.
- Promote your children to read aloud to you. Do not interpret there reading if they are ready too “slow” or cannot decode a word automatically. Reading should be done at least a half hour a day, whether it is independent reading or reading aloud to someone. This will allow the child to become a stronger reader.
- Chapter books that can be read over a period of time, including a couple of days, rather than being read in one sitting are beneficiary to children. This will encourage the child to recall what they have previously read and apply it to what they currently reading. Also, these books are more in depth in complexity and will challenge the reader.
High Quality Children’s Books for Parents and Children to Read
Meddaugh, S. (2002). Cinderella's rat. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cinderella’s Rat is a perfect example of a story that demonstrates effective points of view, play on words, character development and animation. The storyline follows the classic fairytale of Cinderella and the children are able to understand that change is not always a bad thing.
An activity that can be completed before reading the book is completing a story map of the story Cinderella. Read to the students a generic tale of the fairytale and using chart paper, guide the class to outline and sequence the main events and ideas in the story. After reading Cinderella’s Rat, compare the elements of the two stories. As you are reading aloud the story, ask the children how they think that the rat feels when it is taken by the fairy godmother and turned into a carriage driver. In addition, ask why the author turns the sister rat into a girl, but instead of talking, she barks. These questions will provide room for the children to share their ideas, since there is no right or wrong answer.
MacLachlan, P. (1985). Sarah, plain and tall. New York: Harper & Row.
Sarah, Plain and Tall explores the theme of abandonment, love and loss. The audio collection of this story allows children to use their imagination while providing them with a history lesson from the 19th century.
The children are forced to use their imagination as they are listening along to the audio version of this book. There are several mature topics that are discussed in this text including feelings of abandonment, death of a parent and the father finding a new wife. Ask the children how they would feel in Anna and Caleb’s shoes? How can they or can they not relate to these main characters feelings of being alone and young? Ask the children how they think Anna and Caleb felt when they saw Sarah return from the town with colored pencils and the illustration that she drew for them of Maine? As a follow up activity, have the children illustrate one of their favorite scenes from the story and write three sentences as to why this was their favorite scene.
Hesse, K., & Parker, R. A. (1998). Just Juice. New York: Scholastic Press.
Just Juice is a compelling narrative that shares the story of a nine year old girl named Juice Faulstich who struggles academically on top of the stresses of her family struggles. This story shares moments of family, love, hopefulness and perseverance during times of distraught.
Ask the children if they think that reading is important. Is it important for just Juice to know how to read or for her whole family? Although Juice struggles with reading, literacy means more than simply being able to read books. What are some different ways that Juice uses her reading skills to help out her Ma? Some people think that Juice’s family is very rich, although they do not have much money. Do you agree with this statement? Do you have to have money to be rich? At the end of the story have a discussion with the children about why Juice does not like going to class. Ask the students why they think that this is and what her classmates could have done differently to make Juice feel more comfortable at school and draft these ideas on chart paper.
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