Many elementary educators use a multi-modal approach to develop children's literacy, incorporating the building blocks of learning to read. One example is the Four-Blocks(TM) Literacy Model developed by Patricia M. Cunningham and Dorothy P. Hall. Designed for the early elementary classroom, much of the Four Blocks(TM) concept can be used at home and is an excellent format for at-home learning activities. Using the Four Blocks(TM) approach on a daily basis involves:
- Guided Reading
- Self-Selected Reading
- Writing
- Working with Words
The summer months give you the time to do each of the four blocks daily. It just takes a small bit of planning and preparation. Use your computer to find ideas for writing and word building activities.
Guided Reading and Self-Selected Reading
Plan weekly trips to the library to choose books for guided and self-selected reading for a week. During your library trips, let your pre-reading or beginning-reading child choose books that you will read to him that week. Whether it's a too-easy or too-difficult book won't matter, it's his interest in the book that will guide these selections. For older reading children, the purpose of self-selected reading time is to choose books for both independent and parent reading. Because most children don't develop true reading fluency until late in elementary school, you enrich his literacy skills and reading motivation by choosing highly interesting juvenile fiction for parent reading throughout elementary school. Choose many books to take home, particularly until you get a sense of which books are just right for him to read. While you're at the libary, don't forget Children and Poetry.
Guided reading time can be accomplished when you read to your child or he reads to you. If your child reads to you, guide him to learn unfamiliar words and to comprehend what he is reading. If you read to your child, stop every 2-3 pages and talk about what you are reading to build comprehension. Find more ideas in Summer Reading for Your Elementary Child.
Working with Words
We love words at our house, so discovering new words and playing with words just comes naturally to us. You can use these ideas to build your child's word knowledge:
- Ideas for Learning Language and Reading Skills
- Steps to Developing Language Fluency in Young Children
- Word Games Online
- Guide Picks - Board and Card Games to Build Language Skills in Older Children
- Guide Picks - Preschool Reading Toys
Writing
A simple writing strategy that also teaches comprehension during summer reading is the Story Pyramid from CanTeach. Another idea for daily writing is to write the words from the home word wall; and, then write sentences using each word. Keep it fun with these ideas:
First Page > Introduction - Help Your Child Learn to Read
