I Can Read!!

By Kerri Charette

   Reading Opportunities are Everywhere

I was at the grocery store one day and noticed two items on my list that I did not place there.  My large chain supermarket does not stock pee and poop, at least not that I know of. Coincidentally, the night before five-year-old Matt had drawn a poop and pee pizza with extra onions. I think I know who the culprit was.

            Writing is “authentic” when it has meaning for the writer. I learned this fact as I worked to earn a master’s degree in teaching reading and writing. The use of authentic language in early literacy is all around me at home with my two young sons.  Little boys live for toilet words. “Body function” words are short and follow phonetic rules, making them easy to use for beginning writers. What’s a mom to do?

What is Reading?       

 Reading can be defined as gaining meaning from text. Yetta Goodman, Regents Professor of Education at the University of Arizona and one of the top early literacy experts in the country, states that “the daily literacy activities that often occur incidentally in the home help children learn about literacy as much as story reading and journal writing do.” (I Already Know How to Read, Heinemann, 1996).  Goodman, who invented the term kidwatching, encourages teachers to be  observers of the language and learning development of their students (www.u.arizona.edu). 

Parents, too, need to be kidwatchers by embracing every opportunity to provide opportunities for young learners to make connections between print and meaning.   What can be a seemingly insignificant conversation takes on new meaning when the adult is a kidwatcher. For example, when my friend’s family passes large golden arches, both daughters (ages two and four), start singing, "Ba-da-da-dah I'm lovin' it."  These girls are connecting the large M with the commercial they know so well. Distressing?  Not to a kidwatcher!

            My son  was two years old when we pulled up in front of Wal-Mart and Chris  pointed at the "M" in the store's name.  I will never forget what he then yelled: "M for MOMMY!"  Could my child, at two years of age, read?  Yes, if we view reading as gaining meaning from print.

How Do We Learn To Read?

If only  we parents could be as confident in our ability to teach children to read as we are certain we  can teach children to speak!  Children learn to communicate through spoken words even though we do not directly teach children to talk. They interact with us in a language rich environment (Reading Process and Practice, C. Weaver, 1988).  We model language, expect success, focus on meaning, and provide feedback when children in our homes are learning to speak.

These same natural strategies can be used to teach children how to read.  There is no magic formula for becoming literate, but if we follow the same path and make reading as authentic as we make speaking, our early learners will benefit. Frank Smith, author of Reading Without Nonsense, teaches that learning to read is a natural process.  A child picks up and learns to speak instinctively from the world around her and a reader learns the subtle art of language use by being exposed to literacy in many different settings.

            When sitting down to read, a child  is exposed to how language is used in written text.  When a passenger reads directions out loud for a driver, the child in the car sees the map or piece of paper the reader is gaining his information from. When opening the hymnal at church while singing a song, a child notices there is a connection between the printed words in the book and the words she hears around her.

There are many  ways parents can bring reading and writing  into a child’s everyday routine.  Pretending to write grocery lists, reading menus at the dinner table, sorting mail into letters and magazines, drawing with chalk on the driveway; these are all events that help build a child’s literacy experience. Children become confident in their interaction with print and begin to make guesses or predictions about the world around them. This self-assurance inspires them to continue to investigate the link between print and meaning.  “I can read!” has many interpretations to a young learner.

Providing children with literature that is relevant to their lives will help them grow on their journey to become fully literate readers and writers.  If having a few extra items on my shopping list helps Matt confirm he is part of the literate community, I will take a deep breath, count to ten, and remember that I am a kidwatcher!