I am not a great baker but the other day I decided to bake a cake.
It has been years since I had last baked anything. I had to think about what I had to do.
First I had to remember the ingredients. Flour, yes, sugar, yes, eggs, yes, anything else? Ah yes, butter and maybe some milk.
Despite not having baked for years the cake turned out OK.
But what if I had forgotten an ingredient? What if I hadn’t added the egg?
The result would have been very different, possibly inedible.
Same with learning to read.
To be successful readers children need the right ingredients.
A recent article said that declining reading scores had been tuned around by giving children a simple test that checked that they had the right ingredients to make reading happen and, if not, were given extra support to help them acquire the skills (ingredients) they needed.
Reading scores soared.
Here is a list of essential ingredients to make a successful reader.
1 A large amount of Vocabulary (Reading is about knowing words)
2. A dash of Phonemic awareness (Sounds in words matter too)
3. Several cups of Phonetics (The nitty gritty of reading)
4. A large dose of Meaning (The words have to make sense)
5. A good amount of Purpose (or why start?)
Stir all together with a large amount of love and enjoyment (because reading together is about love and reading alone is about enjoyment)
Allow all to develop with your help and then sit back and know that you have created a successful reader!!
Miss out one skill and reading becomes a struggle and leaves a bad taste..
When teachers insist on one way of teaching reading, they miss out one or more of these skills. No wonder some kids struggle to learn to read.
To help kids learn to read quickly, easily and enjoyably they need a program that helps them develop all the ‘ingredients’ they need.
Check out my program Leading to Reading https://leadingtolearning.com and start making a reader.
