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Learning to read is like learning to walk or talk.
It is a process that can not be rushed. Each child will move through each
of the five phases of reading development when he or she is ready. Stage 0
through stage 2 are the "learning to read" stages of development. These
are the stages where the child is doing just that... learning to read.
Stage 3 through stage 5 are stages where the child is "reading to learn".
This is where they are reading on their own to learn material to expand their
knowledge base on particular topics. I will only discuss stages 0 through
3 because those are the stages that children will pass through while in
elementary school.
While the progression from one stage to another is
dependent upon mastery of each previous stage, many learners may operate in as
many as two or three stages during their school years. The five stages are
described below. The ages and grades noted for each stage are simply
guidelines. Some first grades may be operating in stage three where some
fourth grades may need some instruction in stage two. As mentioned
earlier, each child will move through the stages when he or she is ready and not
a moment before.
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Learning to Read:
Stage 0:
Reading Readiness/Pre Reading (Birth-Age 6)
This stage is characterized by learning to recognize the
alphabet, imitation reading, experimentation with letters,
and learning the sounds associated with the letters.
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Stage 1:
Initial Reading or Decoding (Age 6-7, Grades 1-2)
Children in this stage are beginning to utilize their knowledge of
consonants and vowels to blend
together
simple words
such as
c-a-t, b-a-t,
etc... This ability
is an integral part of
beginning
reading. Some children may need to go through this stage of sounding out
longer than others.
Over time and with guidance,
they will
eventually
move to reading whole words. Patience is
extremely important while child are moving from
stage 1 to stage
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Stage 2:
Fluency (Age 7-8, Grades 2-3)
Children consider this to be the "real" reading stage.
They are now fairly good at reading and spelling and
are ready to read without sounding everything out. In
this stage it helps to have children reread books frequently
because this allows them to
concentrate on meaning and also
helps to build their fluency
while
reading.
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Reading to Learn...
Stage 3
Reading to Learn (Age 9-13, Grades 4-8)
Readers at this stage have mastered the code
and find it easy to sound out
unfamiliar words and read with fluency. They are now ready to begin the
study of subject matter and the use of informational text.
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Watch Me Grow
First you babble and then you talk
You begin to crawl, before you walk
And once you walk, you start to run
And soon you'll find, to fly is fun
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But as you soar, you have to know
The things you need to help you grow
And since this process can not be rushed
You’ll have to wait – don’t be crushed!
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Like learning to talk and walk and run
Reading is supposed to be fun
So don’t be worried if I can not read
More time may be what I need to succeed
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You can not run before you walk
You have to babble before you talk
And reading is the same indeed
Time and patience is all I need
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One day I will learn how to read
And I may even take the lead
But for now the process may to slow
Just encourage me and watch me grow!
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