Guided Reading Levelled Readers: How Succeed With A Home Reader Program

There is a definite process to gaining new skills, and that's what learning to read is - a new skill. Many is the method that has been tried and trialled in the quest for the 'best' method for teaching young children to read. To date, conventional wisdom seems to come down on the side of a phonological approach combined with mastery of a sight word vocabulary method such as M100W. How the phonological part of the equation is taught is open to interpretation, with everything from THRASS to Jolly Phonics guiding the elementary teacher's approach. But one thing that everyone seems to agree on is the benefit of frequent practice. But with only one teacher and often up to 24 children in any one class, how is it possible to offer the guided reading experiences needed by beginning readers on a regular basis? In an ideal world, all young children would be reading and being heard to read every day, at least once a day, but is this really possible?

Enter that wonderful person in the world of any small person - the parent / carer (for remember that not everyone who goes home from your class at night goes home to a parent in the traditional sense). Parents and caregivers can be asked and encouraged to have involvement in the guided reading levelled readers program in many ways:

as classroom helpers - hearing children in the grade reading aloud from levelled readers that have been set by you, as teacher, and pre-arranged into graded or coloured boxes for easy access

as individual student supporters - playing games, helping with vocabulary lists and doing shared reading activities with vulnerable students who are at risk of reading difficulties

as home supporters of the guided reading levelled readers program - by listening to their own child read aloud, checking their record books and writing positive and helpful comments about the reading experiences

as feedback providers - by giving you feedback about the quality of readers being sent home from school, and which ones worked or didn't work for their child

as advocates - by encouraging others in the wider family circle to participate in guiding reading levelled readers experiences

Here's some tips for success when it comes to involving parents /carers in the guided reading levelled readers approach to learning to read:

Simple and Understandable: have a reading method at school that is easily understood and makes sense to everyone - too complicated (as methods such as THRASS sometimes can be) and half your potential support group has wandered out the door feeling disenfranchised and bewildered.

Low Committment Level: Some parents /carers want to be involved but can only offer a small amount of time each week, or can do so in an infrequent way. Encourage their contribution regardless of how small or occasional - it is still valuable.

Communication: Make it easy for parents / carers to communicate with you, and ensure you offer regular communication to the parents in your grade as well. Parents can often feel 'out of the loop' when it comes to helping their children learn to read, so make sure you use notes, communication books, email messages or class newsletters to tell parents what is going on.

Social Activities: A coffee morning or social activity is a great way of building interest and motivation in helping with the guided reading levelled readers program, and it is also a handy way to share information with parents.

Anne Vize is an Australian author. Her most recent books are 'Into Reading Books 1 and 2' published by Phoenix Education. These books contain around 100 pages of high interest, low text short stories, non fiction articles and general community based reading pieces for adolescents with lower literacy skills. Each book contains a range of reading opportunities written in 'student first' language, and directed to the student. They are ideal for using as class sets or for individual self paced learning with adolescents and young adults who are struggling readers. Priced at $22.95 each, they are an affordable option for parents wanting to support a young person's home based reading.