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The Stages of Reading Development

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Introduction The twin concepts of fluency and comprehension, the related experience of absorption, and the concept

of critical consciousness are central to understanding the stages of reading development. This overview

explores these fundamental ideas, in order to provide a foundation for understanding the four stages of

reading development that inform Institute of Reading Development’s curricula.

Fluency and Comprehension Fluency means that the reading process is automatic, that the reader recognizes the overwhelming

majority of words by sight and does very little conscious decoding. (Decoding refers to the process in

which a reader consciously uses phonics and other related skills to figure out the pronunciation of a

printed word.) Fluent readers read smoothly, linking words together into meaningful phrases rather than

reading word by word. Because fluent readers recognize almost all words by sight, they focus on the

meaning of the text, rather than lower order decoding processes.

Fluency is not the same as comprehension, but it is a precondition for comprehension. Pre-fluent or

disfluent readers must use much of their conscious attention and cognitive ability to decode, i.e., to read

the words in the text, and thus have less energy available to focus on meaning. While pre-fluent readers

work to construct meaning from text on a basic level, it is not until they reach fluency that solid

comprehension is possible.

Comprehension is not simply a matter of connecting meaning to individual words and phrases. A skilled

reader with strong comprehension engages in a number of cognitive processes that are developed as a

result of substantial independent reading as well as training. These include: following a sequence of

action or thought, anticipating outcomes, visualizing, synthesizing and recognizing main events, and

distinguishing main ideas from subordinate details. Most importantly, good comprehension is

characterized by high level cognitive processes: in nonfiction this involves understanding a work's

overarching message through comprehension of its various parts and their relationship to one another

and to the work as a whole; in literature this involves participation in a story at the level of plot and

meaning through identification and absorption.

The development of reading fluency and good comprehension in children’s novels opens the portals to

the worlds of imaginative children's literature. With practice, i.e., lots of reading in children’s novels, a

child achieves the levels of fluency and comprehension required to support identification and absorption.

The defining experience of reading fluency in children’s novels, as understood by the Institute of

Reading Development, is absorption; a child identifies with the author's main character, and

imaginatively participates in the character's adventures and experiences. The author's world comes alive;

in the mind of the child it is real, just as the main character's experiences are real. There is no sense of

duality, no sense that "I am reading," no sense of identity outside the identity of the main character.

Rather, there is an effortless flow of experience, the character's experience in the imaginatively recreated

world of the book.

Children who achieve fluency in children’s novels relatively early and who read widely during the late

elementary and middle school years experience significant benefits in three areas: character formation,

as they appropriate the positive values embodied in great children's literature; cognitive development, as

they learn how to handle increasingly complex vocabulary, sentence structures, plot devices,

characterization, implied meaning, and other language and literary structures; and cultural literacy, as

they absorb basic knowledge about our society and the world we live in. These benefits pave the way for

a child’s long-term academic success.


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The development of high levels of fluency and comprehension is also the basis for all subsequent

reading development, including reading for concepts and information. The same capabilities of fluency

and comprehension that result in absorption in literature also enable the relatively automatic and

accurate flow of understanding while reading for information in nonfiction.

Critical Consciousness Critical consciousness, the ability to think abstractly and analytically about both text and the reading

process itself, first makes its appearance in middle school and then continues to develop into

adulthood.

An example of a kind of reading dependent on this critical faculty is the process of reading a section in

a chapter of a textbook. First, as a result of an initial chapter preview, the reader must be aware of how

the section contributes to the overall message of the chapter. Second, the reader must preview the

section to determine what it is about, how it is divided into subsections and what each subsection is

about, and how the subsections work together to convey the overall message of the section. Then, the

reader must do a close reading of each subsection. While reading each subsection, the reader must

recognize or synthesize its main ideas and relate them to the focus of the subsection itself, and relate

the details of the subsection to the main ideas. The entire process is highly conscious; the reader's goal

is to control the learning process in order to make it as effective as possible.

STAGE 1: LEARNING TO READ This stage begins when children are 4 or 5 years old and start to learn their letters. It is completed

when children achieve fluency in Easy Readers, books written with a controlled vocabulary and simple

sentences. Most students achieve the goals of Stage 1 at some point during second grade, although a

few children complete this stage as early as mid-first grade or as late as mid-third grade.

For most of Stage 1, children's central focus is learning to decode. This means learning the alphabet

and the sounds that letters make, learning to distinguish sounds in speech, and learning to sound out

words. As this process gets underway, children also have to focus on reading connected text, i.e.,

reading Easy Readers at the right level of difficulty in order to develop the facility and automaticity

that leads to fluency. As fluency develops, children's attention starts to shift toward meaning, toward

comprehension of the stories they are reading.

Underlying and supporting the entire stage is the regular experience of hearing stories read aloud.

Reading aloud to children provides them with the experience of absorption in a story and identification

with characters, something they will not be able to do on their own until they attain a high level of

fluency, several years later. The result is that the foundation for a lifelong relationship with books is

established before a child can read a single word. Developing a strong and positive relationship with

books is its own reward; it also provides the motivation for tackling the challenging task of learning to

read. Not surprisingly, children who are read to a lot in their early years learn to read more quickly and

easily.

STAGE 2: DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT READING SKILLS This stage begins when children achieve fluency in Easy Readers, usually at some point during second

grade. By the time children enter Stage 2, some have already made the transition from oral to silent

reading, and the rest will make that transition in the upcoming year. Stage 2 is completed when

children achieve fluency in children’s novels, usually in third or fourth grade, although some students

complete this stage as early as second grade or as late as fifth.

The central focus during this stage is to do a lot of reading in books at the right level of difficulty,

progressing from Easy Readers to chapter books, which are considerably longer and without the


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controlled vocabulary and simple sentences of Easy Readers. Reading practice and skill development

at this stage are both primarily focused on fluency development. Students learn how to decode long

words, i.e., words of three syllables or more, as the percentage of these words jumps from 1-3% in

Easy Readers up to around 5-8% in children’s novels. Students also practice oral reading in order to

develop oral reading fluency. The phrasing, automaticity, and focus on meaning in oral reading then

transfers to the silent reading process.

Note that fluency not only describes a functional level of reading process, it also characterizes the

relationship of reader to text, i.e., a reader is only fluent in relation to a certain level of text. For

example, a child who is fluent in Easy Readers is not necessarily fluent in chapter books, and a child

fluent in chapter books is not necessarily fluent in children’s novels.

As fluency continues to develop in this stage, primarily as a result of reading practice, comprehension

becomes both an instructional and a developmental focus. As children achieve fluency in chapter

books, both the level of reading skill and the story substance are sufficient to support the experience of

identification and absorption that until now was only available when being read to. (While children

may experience identification and absorption earlier, in Easy Readers, it tends to be limited both by the

material and by their less developed reading skill).

STAGE 3: READING WITH ABSORPTION This stage begins when children achieve fluency in children’s novels, usually in third or fourth grade,

although some students begin earlier and others later. The focus of this stage of reading development is

to do a great deal of reading in children’s novels at gradually increasing levels of difficulty, a process

which enables a child to develop the levels of fluency and comprehension required to support

identification and absorption. The achievement of identification and absorption at the core of the

reading process, i.e., at a level of automaticity, is the capstone of all of the early stages and substages

of reading development. It is also the foundation of all subsequent reading development.

When students read with identification and absorption, the process is both transparent for the author's

vision and intrinsically pleasurable. It is transparent in the sense that the text evokes in the reader’s

mind an accurate representation of the story. No skill deficit or process flaw interferes with the

accuracy of the reader’s experience. The process is intrinsically pleasurable because it is an effortless

experience of participation. No sense of labor or struggle interferes with the flow of experience.

The development of high levels of fluency and comprehension does more than provide the basis for the

habit of reading for pleasure. This achievement is also the basis for all subsequent reading

development, including reading for concepts and information. The same capabilities of fluency and

comprehension that result in absorption in literature also enable the relatively automatic and accurate

flow of understanding while reading for information in nonfiction.

STAGE 4: CRITICAL READING Children undergo transformational physical, emotional, and cognitive changes starting in middle

school and continuing through high school and into adulthood. These changes bring in their wake a

new cognitive capability that first appears in middle school and that continues to grow throughout the

secondary and postsecondary years. This capability is critical consciousness, the ability to stand back

and reflect on one’s own experience, to think abstractly and analytically. When brought to bear on the

process of reading, this capability allows students to enter a new stage of reading development in

which a new, critical dimension of experience is added to the basic substrata of experiences that are

already present as a result of previous developments in reading ability.

When a student who has achieved the goals of the third stage of reading development enters Stage 4,

the opportunity exists for a much more effective reading process to develop. A student with a strong

reading background who reads with solid levels of fluency and comprehension will experience a


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relatively automatic and accurate flow of understanding while reading, whether reading a novel or a

textbook. But the challenges of reading a textbook are different; a relatively automatic, accurate flow

of understanding is not enough.

The new critical reading faculty needs to be trained in order to become most useful. Training in critical

reading is based on metacognitive techniques in which the reader learns to exercise conscious control

of the reading process based on one’s purpose as a reader and the demands of the text. Students

develop: the ability to recognize how material is organized; the ability to determine and synthesize

main ideas; the ability to relate details to main ideas; the ability to monitor comprehension and adjust

reading rate or reread when necessary; the ability to take notes; the ability to study notes for a test.

Early Grade:

Program Goals The Reading Readiness Program for kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students lays the foundation for

the reading instruction children receive in kindergarten and beyond. It also provides parents with

guidance for supporting their child as he or she learns to read.

The program prepares children for learning to read in two ways. First, children build reading readiness

skills in three key areas: phonemic awareness (distinguishing the sounds that make up spoken

language), letter recognition, and phonics (the relationship between letters and the sounds they stand

for). Each class includes formal phonics instruction as well as games and activities in these areas that

are fun and productive.

Second, this program helps children develop an enduring love of books and reading. Learning to read

is hard work, and children who love books are more motivated and confident about facing this task.

Read-aloud and enrichment activities deepen children’s love of books and build comprehension,

allowing children to get absorbed in stories even before they are able to read on their own.

The Reading Readiness Program also provides parents with the support they need to make sure their

child gets off to a strong start in reading. Parents attend each class with their child and participate in a

variety of activities in all of the reading readiness areas described above.

Phonics Phonics instruction teaches children the relationship between letters and the sounds that they stand for.

For example, the letter m stands for the sound /m/ we hear at the beginning of the word mouse. (A

letter between slashes indicates the sound that letter stands for). In order to become a successful reader,

children must develop skill, confidence and experience using phonics to sound out words encountered

in the course of reading. Students learn phonics through in-class instruction and activities and by

working at home with a phonics workbook and CDs.

Students receive a phonics workbook called The Tale of Pole and Vole and the Magic Bag, which

features an engaging adventure story with interesting characters and delightful illustrations. This

workbook and its three accompanying CDs contain phonics instruction appropriate for first graders.

Each week in class, children begin one of the four-page lessons under the direction of the teacher, and

complete the lesson at home during the week. During the program, children complete several lessons

in the workbook. After the class ends, they continue to work through the Magic Bag workbook until it

is completed.

Comprehension Because reading is a new skill, beginning readers tend to focus more on the mechanical process of

sounding out words than on understanding and enjoying the story. To develop comprehension and


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deepen children’s engagement with books, the teacher leads the class in the following comprehension-

building activities each week. These activities are also great for parents to incorporate into home

practice. They needn’t include them in every session; simply reading aloud to a child and having him

spend time reading independently on a regular basis is the most powerful way to help him become a

good reader. Parents should follow their child’s lead, do what is comfortable, and have fun.

Discussion: At this age, young readers need to learn not only how to read the words on a page but also how to

understand what is happening in a story, so the teacher leads the class in comprehension-building

discussions each week.

Through discussion, children learn to create mental pictures of a story, anticipate events, and

understand why things happen as they do. Talking about books also encourages children to identify

with characters and relate stories to their own lives. Participating in discussions helps them gain

confidence in their opinions and in expressing themselves.

When reading at home, parents can encourage their son or daughter to respond to the characters and

story. Use the teacher’s discussions as a model, they can try asking questions like: What’s going on in

the pictures? What do you think will happen next? What would you do if you were the character? Has

anything like this ever happened to you?

Dramatization: A dramatization is acting out all or part of a story. Dramatization enhances comprehension and helps

children identify with characters by allowing them to “live” inside the story. Each week, the teacher

leads the class in dramatizing all or part of a book. At home, dramatizations can be as simple as acting

out a couple of pages. Or, if this is an activity that parents and their children really enjoy, they can act

out the whole story. They can use different voices, facial expressions, or even improvise props and

costumes. Siblings, friends, and family pets can also be great additions to the action.

Story Dictation: Each week the teacher assigns a story dictation that relates to the book read in class. Children respond

to the prompt by making up a story. Parents write down what their child tells them, and the child

illustrates the story in the space provided on the home practice pages. Then, parents read the story

aloud in a way that allows the child to see the words as they’re read. When children see their own

stories written down, they feel pride of authorship and begin to develop a connection to the written

word.

Assisted and Independent Reading All children need support as they learn to read. Since every child is unique, the level of support each

child needs will vary. In this program, the teacher works with parents and children, demonstrating

different levels of assistance for beginning readers. Parents try out these techniques and receive

guidance from the teacher about what works best for their child.

Each week in class, the teacher begins by reading a carefully selected Easy Reader aloud. Easy

Readers are written specifically for beginning readers, with controlled vocabulary and easy sentences.

They are also a lot of fun. Listening to a story read aloud before reading it independently is important;

it is easier for children to read a book on their own when they are familiar with the story. The teacher

then guides reading practice in the same book, modeling ways of offering reading support. These are

described below.

Assisted Reading


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Assisted reading is a process that provides substantial support for children. This support is like training

wheels for independent reading; it’s a way to help children experience success as readers before

they’re fully able to do so on their own. This is important because success is a great confidence

booster, and provides powerful motivation for learning to read.

To use assisted reading, parents read a page or part of a page aloud at a slow pace, while their child

follows along with the words on the page. Then, the child reads these same lines independently. Since

the child has just heard the parent read, he or she is left with a memory trace to help correctly read the

words.

Using assisted reading, parents can offer their child varying levels of support, depending on their needs

and skill level. To provide more support, parents read 1-3 lines of text aloud at a time before having

their child read the same lines. To provide less support, they read an entire page or two facing pages

aloud before having the child read the same page or pages.

Independent Reading with Support As children’s reading skill improves and their confidence increases, they need less support from their

parents. Some children at this age are already ready for less support than assisted reading provides.

These children can benefit from a process called independent reading with support.

During independent reading with support, a child will independently read one or more pages at a time,

without having heard the text immediately beforehand. Focusing on a small amount of text breaks the

work of independent reading into manageable chunks. It helps a child go at a good pace and build

stamina. The parent provides support by listening, offering encouragement, and stepping in to provide

a word when their child gets frustrated.

This process is a stepping stone to independent reading. Children will gradually read more and more

pages at a time, and need less and less support. Parents should follow their child’s lead, and the child

will learn to read quickly and confidently, with a minimum of frustration and struggle.

Reading Readiness Booklist The Reading Readiness Booklist helps parents choose wonderful books that their son or daughter will

be excited about reading. Books in the section called Picture Books for Reading Aloud are ideal for

four- and five-year-olds, and they are among the best books in children’s literature. These books offer

engaging stories and characters that capture children’s imagination. They also contain rich illustrations

that are not only fun to look at, but contribute a great deal to children’s comprehension of the story.

Most children enjoy the books in the Poetry and Nursery Rhyme Books section as well. Parents can

also choose from the books listed under Readiness Books for Shared Reading in the booklist. These are

Alphabet Books, Counting Books, Labeling Books, and Wordless Books. Books in this section are

especially appropriate for kindergartners.

Once children begin learning to read, parents can choose books from the First Readers section. This

section contains the first books that children read using phonics to sound out words (usually in mid-to-

late kindergarten).

Reading Aloud from Picture Books and Children’s Novels First graders need experience with two kinds of books: those for independent reading (Easy Readers)

and those they listen to parents read aloud (picture books). Easy Readers have controlled vocabulary

and simple sentences that are appropriate for beginning independent readers. On the other hand, the

rich storylines and lovely illustrations found in picture books like Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild

Things Are make them ideal for reading aloud.


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Why should parents continue to read aloud to their child even after the child is able to read

independently? During independent reading, most of a beginning reader’s attention is focused on

sounding out words. Listening to books read aloud allows children to become absorbed in great stories

without simultaneously having to work at decoding. The listening comprehension children develop in

this way translates directly into strong reading comprehension when they learn to read independently.

Reading aloud to children also builds a love of books and motivates them to learn to read on their own.

All children are ready to hear children’s novels read aloud at some point in first grade; many are ready

in the summer before first grade. The experience of listening to these longer stories read aloud over the

course of multiple sessions is extremely valuable for young readers. It allows children to become

completely absorbed in a story and to identify with its characters. It also helps them build the stamina

necessary to sustain interest in a story over several sessions. It is one of the richest experiences parents

can provide for their child.

In class, the teacher reads aloud from a great picture book each week. At home, parents can choose

books from the picture book and children’s novels sections of the booklist, where they will find some

of the very best books for reading aloud.

Book Enrichment Activities To deepen students’ engagement with books, the teacher leads the class in an enrichment activity each

week. The activities are also great for parents to include in their home reading.

Dramatization: A dramatization is acting out all or part of a story. Dramatizing books enhances comprehension and

helps kids identify with characters, allowing them to “live” inside the story. Children get to dramatize

several books during this program, and this is a great activity to try at home. Dramatizations can be as

simple as taking a couple of pages and acting them out. Or, if this is an activity that parents and their

children really get excited about, they can act out the whole story. They can use different voices, facial

expressions, or even props and costumes. Siblings, friends, and family pets can also be great additions

to the action.

Story Dictation: An enjoyable way to reinforce a child’s connection with a book is to do some story-writing. Each

week, the teacher assigns a story dictation that relates to the book read in class. Children respond to the

prompt by making up a story. As the child tells the story, the parent writes down the words. Then the

child illustrates the story in the space provided on the home practice pages. The parent reads the story

aloud in a way that allows the child to see the words as they are read. When children see their own


word. The teacher often reads a few completed stories out loud at the next class.

Choral and Shared Reading: Choral reading and shared reading are ways for children to participate in reading before they are

actually ready to do so on their own. In choral reading, children chime in as the teacher reads familiar

or repeating lines in a story. In shared reading, children jump in to provide the next word in a familiar,

repeating, or rhyming line in a story. (Children are not actually reading words during choral and shared

reading, though this may begin to happen once a child starts learning to read.)

Parents can incorporate choral and shared reading into their reading at home. These activities work

best with repeating lines and in favorite books that a child knows by heart. Another variation is to read

a line, then ask the child to “echo” the same line back.


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Art Projects: Great picture books, like the ones read in class, engage children as much through the beautiful

illustrations as through the story. As a result, they can inspire very creative art work from young

children. The teacher leads the class in making Wild Thing masks in response to Maurice Sendak’s

classic picture book, Where the Wild Things Are. Whenever children’s imagination is captured by the

visual world of a book, creating artwork of their own helps them deepen their connection to the story.

Home Practice The Program Guide that parents receive at class contains general guidance for home practice as well as

specific week-by-week directions. The most important thing for parents to keep in mind about home

practice is that it should be enjoyable for them and for their son or daughter. Parents should feel free to

slow down, have their child take breaks, or change the order of activities.

Each week’s home practice is broken up into four sessions spread out over four days. Children and

their parents engage in several activities explained below.

Reading a book aloud. Parents use the Reading Development Booklist to select books.

Encouraging the child to spend time with a book on his or her own

Completing lessons in the Pole and Vole Stories phonics program

Doing a story dictation

Playing a phonemic awareness or letter recognition game

Reading Books Aloud Parents begin each home practice session by reading a book to their child and talking about it together.

They spend 15 or 20 minutes with the book, or as long as it takes to finish the book in one sitting. This

is at the parent’s discretion, though. If the book is especially long, or if the child is tired or restless,

they can shorten the reading time.

Children may want to hear a favorite book read again and again. This is something parents should feel

free to do; it is not necessary, but it can be a lot of fun.

Independent Time with Books After finishing reading a book together, a parent can make the book available to the child and

encourage him or her to spend some independent time looking at the book. Of course, if a child is

uninterested in this right now, there’s no need to force it. If parents simply keep reading aloud to their

child, the child will begin to reach for books on his own when he is ready.

Pole and Vole Stories Phonics Lessons Each week, the teacher gives an assignment from the Pole and Vole Stories phonics program to

complete during two of the home practice sessions. Children learn, practice, and review letters and

their corresponding sounds by using the Pole and Vole Stories workbook and the accompanying audio

CDs.

Phonemic Awareness and Letter Recognition Games All children need time and repetition to truly solidify their knowledge of letters and letter sounds.

Phonemic-awareness and letter-recognition games are a great way to practice. Parents can try out some

of the games from class and see which ones their child likes best. Directions for the games are also

included in the Program Guide.

Story Dictation


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During some weeks, after thinking about the characters and events of the story read in class, children

will make up their own story. They are the author and illustrator, and their parents do the writing. Story

dictation is an enjoyable way for children to be imaginative and put themselves inside the story read in

class.

Grade-1

Program Goal

irst grade is an exciting year for young readers. Children receive intensive phonics instruction and take

steps toward becoming independent readers. To meet the needs of entering first graders, the Beginning

to Read Program has three primary goals.

The first goal is to build the phonics skills that children need to successfully learn to read. The program

integrates in-class phonics instruction with independent reading practice, giving students a chance to

apply their phonics under the teacher’s guidance. Students also learn phonics in a self-paced workbook

and audio program that supports skill development throughout first grade.

The second goal is to show parents how to support their child’s independent reading. The first half of

each class is structured as a workshop. The teacher demonstrates different levels of assistance for

beginning readers, and parents try out these techniques with their children.

This program also provides parents with concrete guidance about choosing books at the right level for

their child. The teacher provides parents with a Book-Level Recommendation to guide their selection

of books throughout the upcoming year. This recommendation works hand-in-hand with the Reading

Development Booklist, which contains hundreds of the best children’s books, divided into levels of

difficulty.

The final goal of the program is to help children develop a strong, positive relationship with books. In

class, students practice reading in Easy Readers (books written with a controlled vocabulary and

simple sentences) and receive the assistance and encouragement they need to experience success and

build confidence. Students also build comprehension and develop a love of reading by listening to

books read aloud and participating in book discussions and enrichment activities.

Phonics Phonics instruction teaches children the relationship between letters and the sounds that they stand for.


letter between slashes indicates the sound that letter stands for). In order to become a successful reader,

children must develop skill, confidence and experience using phonics to sound out words encountered

in the course of reading. Students learn phonics through in-class instruction and activities and by

working at home with a phonics workbook and CDs.

Students receive a phonics workbook called The Tale of Pole and Vole and the Magic Bag, which

features an engaging adventure story with interesting characters and delightful illustrations. This

workbook and its three accompanying CDs contain phonics instruction appropriate for first graders.

Each week in class, children begin one of the four-page lessons under the direction of the teacher, and

complete the lesson at home during the week. During the program, children complete several lessons

in the workbook. After the class ends, they continue to work through the Magic Bag workbook until it

is completed.

Comprehension


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Because reading is a new skill, beginning readers tend to focus more on the mechanical process of

sounding out words than on understanding and enjoying the story. To develop comprehension and

deepen children’s engagement with books, the teacher leads the class in the following comprehension-

building activities each week. These activities are also great for parents to incorporate into home

practice. They needn’t include them in every session; simply reading aloud to a child and having him

spend time reading independently on a regular basis is the most powerful way to help him become a

good reader. Parents should follow their child’s lead, do what is comfortable, and have fun.

Discussion: At this age, young readers need to learn not only how to read the words on a page but also how to

understand what is happening in a story, so the teacher leads the class in comprehension-building

discussions each week.


understand why things happen as they do. Talking about books also encourages children to identify

with characters and relate stories to their own lives. Participating in discussions helps them gain

confidence in their opinions and in expressing themselves.

When reading at home, parents can encourage their son or daughter to respond to the characters and

story. Use the teacher’s discussions as a model, they can try asking questions like: What’s going on in

the pictures? What do you think will happen next? What would you do if you were the character? Has

anything like this ever happened to you?

Dramatization: A dramatization is acting out all or part of a story. Dramatization enhances comprehension and helps

children identify with characters by allowing them to “live” inside the story. Each week, the teacher

leads the class in dramatizing all or part of a book. At home, dramatizations can be as simple as acting

out a couple of pages. Or, if this is an activity that parents and their children really enjoy, they can act

out the whole story. They can use different voices, facial expressions, or even improvise props and

costumes. Siblings, friends, and family pets can also be great additions to the action.

Story Dictation: Each week the teacher assigns a story dictation that relates to the book read in class. Children respond

to the prompt by making up a story. Parents write down what their child tells them, and the child

illustrates the story in the space provided on the home practice pages. Then, parents read the story

aloud in a way that allows the child to see the words as they’re read. When children see their own


word.

Assisted and Independent Reading All children need support as they learn to read. Since every child is unique, the level of support each

child needs will vary. In this program, the teacher works with parents and children, demonstrating

different levels of assistance for beginning readers. Parents try out these techniques and receive

guidance from the teacher about what works best for their child.

Each week in class, the teacher begins by reading a carefully selected Easy Reader aloud. Easy

Readers are written specifically for beginning readers, with controlled vocabulary and easy sentences.

They are also a lot of fun. Listening to a story read aloud before reading it independently is important;

it is easier for children to read a book on their own when they are familiar with the story. The teacher

then guides reading practice in the same book, modeling ways of offering reading support. These are

described below.


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Assisted Reading Assisted reading is a process that provides substantial support for children. This support is like training

wheels for independent reading; it’s a way to help children experience success as readers before

they’re fully able to do so on their own. This is important because success is a great confidence

booster, and provides powerful motivation for learning to read.

To use assisted reading, parents read a page or part of a page aloud at a slow pace, while their child

follows along with the words on the page. Then, the child reads these same lines independently. Since

the child has just heard the parent read, he or she is left with a memory trace to help correctly read the

words.

Using assisted reading, parents can offer their child varying levels of support, depending on their needs

and skill level. To provide more support, parents read 1-3 lines of text aloud at a time before having

their child read the same lines. To provide less support, they read an entire page or two facing pages

aloud before having the child read the same page or pages.

Independent Reading with Support As children’s reading skill improves and their confidence increases, they need less support from their

parents. Some children at this age are already ready for less support than assisted reading provides.

These children can benefit from a process called independent reading with support.

During independent reading with support, a child will independently read one or more pages at a time,

without having heard the text immediately beforehand. Focusing on a small amount of text breaks the

work of independent reading into manageable chunks. It helps a child go at a good pace and build

stamina. The parent provides support by listening, offering encouragement, and stepping in to provide

a word when their child gets frustrated.

This process is a stepping stone to independent reading. Children will gradually read more and more

pages at a time, and need less and less support. Parents should follow their child’s lead, and the child

will learn to read quickly and confidently, with a minimum of frustration and struggle.

Reading Development Booklist Parents in this program receive the Reading Development Booklist, which lists the very best books for

first graders’ independent reading, divided into sections of gradually increasing difficulty. To help

parents decide which booklist section to choose from for independent reading, the teacher provides

parents with a Book-Level Recommendation. This recommendation helps parents understand where

their child is as a reader and points them toward the appropriate level of books for independent

reading.

It’s important that children practice reading in books at the appropriate level, since confidence and

success are dependent on independent reading that is manageable. Once a child begins reading at a

particular level, he or she should read and re-read 15-30 books from that list. Re-reading books is an

important part of reading development, since repeated practice with a familiar book gives children

confidence and support in independent reading. Children can read the same book over several sessions

or they may enjoy returning to a book several weeks later. Parents should follow their child’s lead.

Before advancing to the next booklist, the child should be comfortable, confident, and relatively

accurate when reading books at each of the earlier levels.

Reading Aloud from Picture Books and

Children’s Novels


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First graders need experience with two kinds of books: those for independent reading (Easy Readers)

and those they listen to parents read aloud (picture books). Easy Readers have controlled vocabulary

and simple sentences that are appropriate for beginning independent readers. On the other hand, the

rich storylines and lovely illustrations found in picture books like Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild

Things Are make them ideal for reading aloud.

Why should parents continue to read aloud to their child even after the child is able to read

independently? During independent reading, most of a beginning reader’s attention is focused on

sounding out words. Listening to books read aloud allows children to become absorbed in great stories

without simultaneously having to work at decoding. The listening comprehension children develop in

this way translates directly into strong reading comprehension when they learn to read independently.

Reading aloud to children also builds a love of books and motivates them to learn to read on their own.

All children are ready to hear children’s novels read aloud at some point in first grade; many are ready

in the summer before first grade. The experience of listening to these longer stories read aloud over the

course of multiple sessions is extremely valuable for young readers. It allows children to become

completely absorbed in a story and to identify with its characters. It also helps them build the stamina

necessary to sustain interest in a story over several sessions. It is one of the richest experiences parents

can provide for their child.

In class, the teacher reads aloud from a great picture book each week. At home, parents can choose

books from the picture book and children’s novels sections of the booklist, where they will find some

of the very best books for reading aloud.

Home Practice Beginning readers need a lot of practice and support in order to succeed at independent reading. Home

practice sessions make independent reading a habit and help students develop the skills and confidence

needed to be successful at it. Students work hard and sometimes struggle, but home practice should

also be a lot of fun. Becoming absorbed in books and getting to share that experience with a parent

makes students excited to become readers.

The Program Guide that parents receive at the first class contains general guidance for home practice

as well as specific week-by-week directions. Each week’s home practice is broken up into four

sessions spread out over four days, and includes the activities explained below.

Independent Reading Parents begin each home practice session by reading an Easy Reader aloud to their child. The child

then spends time reading the same book independently. Parents use the assisted and independent

reading techniques they’ve practiced in class to provide support for their child’s reading.

In the first class, parents receive two books to get them started. During the first two weeks of practice,

the child reads both a First Reader and an Easy Reader 1 book. Most children at this age enjoy First

Readers, even those who can read Easy Readers 1. In fact, most children who can read Easy Readers 1

can productively spend some time reading First Readers. Doing so will build both confidence and skill.

If the Easy Reader 1 book that the child tries in the first week of home practice is too hard—if it’s an

uncomfortable, frustrating experience—the child should read the First Reader for his or her final Week

1 home practice session. The parent can have the child give the Easy Reader 1 book another try during

the second week of home practice. After the second week of class, parents select books from either the

First Readers or Easy Readers 1 section of the Reading Development Booklist.

Completing the Homework Questionnaire


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In the first week of the program, parents complete an online homework questionnaire about their

child’s experience with independent reading in First Readers and Easy Readers 1. The information

parents provide helps the teacher assess the child’s reading level. In the fourth week of class, the

teacher makes a recommendation about which level of Easy Readers the child should be reading in the

booklist.

Pole and Vole and the Magic Bag Phonics Lessons Each week, students complete a lesson in the Pole and Vole and the Magic Bag phonics workbook.

The teacher instructs the class on the word family and letters that are featured in that week’s lesson,

and students then do some work in the Magic Bag in class. They complete the lesson at home.

Grade-2

Program Goals During second grade, children build on the phonics and decoding skills learned in first grade and learn

new word-attack skills. As children become stronger independent readers, they move toward fluency in

Easy Reader books (books written with a controlled vocabulary and simple sentences).

The first goal of this program is to build the strong phonics and word-attack skills children need to

achieve fluency. The program integrates in-class skills instruction with independent reading practice

that gives students a chance to apply these skills under the teacher’s guidance. Students also use a self-

paced workbook and audio program to learn advanced phonics and word-attack skills, including

contractions, compound words, syllables, and prefixes and suffixes.

The second goal is to develop students’ fluency and comprehension. Fluent readers read words easily

and accurately, without having to sound out each word. They are able to devote their full attention to

the story itself, so fluency leads directly to stronger comprehension, as well as a love of reading. In

class, children practice independent reading in carefully selected books and participate in

comprehension-building class discussions and fluency-training exercises.

Children this age need to read extensively in order to strengthen their reading skills and achieve

fluency. The third goal of the program is to guide students’ reading in books at the appropriate level of

difficulty and provide support to help them experience success and confidence as readers. The teacher

gives parents a Book-Level Recommendation to guide their selection of books for their son or daughter

throughout the upcoming year. This recommendation works hand in hand with the booklist in the

Program Guide, which contains hundreds of good books divided into levels of difficulty.

Phonics and Word-Attack Skills Phonics instruction teaches children the relationship between letters and the sounds that they stand for.


letter between two slashes indicates the sound that letter stands for). In kindergarten and first grade,

children learn to sound out simple words using phonics. As children progress in their reading

development, they encounter increasingly challenging words that require more advanced phonics

skills. For example, they must learn that the long a sound /ā/ can be written with the letters ai, as in

snail, and with the letters ay, as in tray.

Children also need to develop other word-attack skills and strategies to read longer and more difficult

words. In particular, they must learn how to work with contractions and compound words and how to

divide long words into smaller word parts, such as syllables and common prefixes and suffixes. For

example, basket can be divided into two syllables, bas•ket; darkness is made up of dark and the suffix -

ness.


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In order to become successful readers, children must develop skill, confidence and experience with

these phonics and word-attack skills. This reading program teaches these skills through in-class

activities and home practice in a phonics workbook.

Workbook and Audio Program Students receive a phonics and word-attack workbook called Pole and Vole and the Quest for the Book

of Language, which features an engaging adventure story with interesting characters and delightful

illustrations. This workbook and its three accompanying CDs contain phonics and word-attack

instruction appropriate for second graders. What makes this phonics program both unique and effective

is the inclusion of a story line with connected text that incorporates the same phonics and word-attack

elements the children are learning about in the skills portion of the workbook.

Each week, students complete a two-to-four-page phonics unit. The teacher begins each unit in class,

and then provides step-by-step directions about which CD tracks students should listen to and which

pages to complete at home. During the course, students complete the first sixteen pages of Pole and

Vole and the Quest for the Book of Language. After the program ends, they continue to work through

the workbook until it is completed.

Comprehension Comprehension is the ability to understand a story. Young readers need to learn not only how to read

the words on a page but also how to understand what is happening in a story. However, because

reading is a new skill, beginning readers tend to focus more on the mechanics of sounding out words

than on understanding and enjoying the story. As second graders move toward fluency in Easy Reader

books, the process of reading becomes more automatic and effortless, so they are better able to focus

on comprehension. In the Building Fluency Program, students work on comprehension by discussing

the stories they have read.


understand why things happen as they do. Talking about books encourages children to identify with

characters and relate stories to their own lives, and participating in discussions also helps them gain

confidence in their opinions and in expressing themselves. The teacher leads the students in

comprehension-building discussions during each class. As a part of these discussions, he or she will

introduce the concept of a story’s beginning, middle, and end. This simple framework helps children

think about how stories are structured, which aids in comprehension. When reading at home, parents

can encourage their son or daughter to respond to the characters and story. They can try questions like:

What’s going on in the pictures? What do you think will happen next? What would you do if you were

the character? Has anything like this ever happened to you?

Fluency Building A fluent reader recognizes most words by sight and is able to read with the ease, smoothness, and

rhythm of natural speech. The achievement of fluency is an important milestone for young readers;

once readers no longer need to focus on sounding out each word, they are much more able to turn their

attention to meaning. Second graders are working toward fluency in Easy Reader books. Once they are

able to read Easy Readers fluently, they’ll then progress toward fluency in more difficult books.

The best way to develop fluency is to build decoding skills and do a lot of independent reading in

books at the appropriate level of difficulty. In addition to providing support for this independent

reading, the teacher also provides fluency training in class. In this process, the teacher reads aloud a

passage from the class book, modeling a fluent reading for the class. Students then practice reading this


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passage along with the teacher, line by line and as a whole, using the teacher’s pacing and expression

as a model.

Students are able to hear the smoothness and rhythm of the teacher’s fluent reading and replicate it in

their practice. With the teacher’s support, even the weakest readers are able to experience the fluent

reading they’ll achieve later on their own. As students get better at reading aloud fluently, the progress

they make transfers to their independent reading.

Independent Reading All children need support as they move toward fluent reading. Since every child is unique, the level of

assistance needed by entering second graders varies widely. In class, the teacher will guide students’

independent reading in carefully selected books, ensuring that each child gets the appropriate support

to succeed as a reader. By doing a lot of independent reading with the right amount of support, second

graders consolidate the skills they learned in the first grade and progress smoothly to fluent reading.

In Class Each week in class, the teacher reads an Easy Reader book aloud, then leads the class in independent

practice in the same book. To progress smoothly toward fluency, second graders need to experience

successful independent reading. Easy Readers are written specifically for early readers, with controlled

vocabulary and manageable sentences. They are also a lot of fun.

As the teacher reads, he or she may encourage the students to look at the pictures and predict what

might happen next, but mostly children simply listen to and enjoy the story. Listening to a story read

aloud before reading it independently is useful; it is easier for children to read a book on their own

when they are familiar with the story.

After hearing the book read aloud, students practice reading independently in the same book. The

teacher uses a process called assisted reading to begin each independent reading session. During

assisted reading, the teacher reads an entire page, or two facing pages, aloud to the class and students

follow along as the teacher reads. After listening to the teacher read, students read the same page or

pages to themselves. Hearing the text directly before they read it independently leaves a memory trace

to support young readers.

After working through a few pages using assisted reading, the teacher then leads students in guided

independent reading. During this time, each student reads at his or her own pace, pausing occasionally

for class-wide discussion of the story. Breaking the reading period up in this way helps students pace

themselves, build stamina and focus on the meaning of the story. The teacher also provides support on

an individual basis, stepping in when a child gets stuck on a word or needs additional assisted reading.

At Home Independent reading practice is a key component of learning to read, so we encourage parents to make

it a regular part of their son or daughter’s schedule. They begin each independent reading session by

reading an Easy Reader aloud, as the teacher does in class. Then, the child reads the same book

independently.

Children in second grade need varying levels of support for their independent reading. Depending on a

child’s needs, parents can use assisted reading, as described above. If their child requires less support,

they may simply stay within earshot as their child reads and only step in when he or she asks for help

on a difficult word.

Reading Development Booklist


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Parents receive a booklist that lists the very best books for second graders’ independent reading,

divided into sections at gradually increasing levels of difficulty. To help parents decide which books to

use for independent reading, the teacher provides them with a Book-Level Recommendation for their

son or daughter. This recommendation helps parents to understand where their child is on the path to

reading fluency and guides them in selecting excellent books at the right level for independent reading

from the booklist.

It’s important that children practice reading in books at the appropriate level, since confidence is best

built by success. Once a child begins reading at a particular level, he or she should read and re-read

many books from that list. Re-reading books is an important part of reading development; repeated

practice with a familiar book gives children confidence and support in independent reading. Children

can read the same book over several sessions, or they may enjoy returning to a book several weeks

later. Before advancing to the next booklist, the child should be comfortable, confident, and relatively

accurate when reading books at the previous level.

Reading Aloud from Children’s Novels It’s important to continue reading aloud to children even after they are able to read independently.

During independent reading, much of a young reader’s attention is focused on sounding out words,

rather than on the story. Listening to books read aloud allows children to experience absorption in

great stories without having to focus on the mechanics of reading.

Sometimes, parents will read aloud to prepare their son or daughter for independent reading in an Easy

Reader. At other times, they will read aloud from picture books or children’s novels, without the

expectation of independent reading afterwards. While entering second graders will not be ready to read

children’s novels on their own for some time, the experience of listening to longer stories read aloud

over the course of multiple sessions is extremely valuable for young readers. Listening to books read

aloud allows children to become absorbed in great stories, builds their comprehension, and helps them

develop the stamina necessary to sustain interest in a story over several reading sessions.

Children’s novels have intriguing, exciting stories, and characters who overcome real challenges and

change as a result. When parents read a children’s novel aloud, their child gets to experience the story

by identifying with the main character and imaginatively sharing his or her world. Children become

fully absorbed in these stories because they deal with relevant themes—like growing up, becoming

independent, facing fear, and being true to oneself—in a creative way. The wonderful thing for parents

is that by reading to their child from these books, not only are they providing food for the soul, they are

sparking the child’s motivation to read books like this independently one day. In that way, parents are

setting their child firmly on the path to becoming a lifelong reader.

Two read-aloud sessions are scheduled as a part of each week’s home practice. However, parents can

read aloud to their child from children’s novels at other times as well. Reading aloud from a children’s

novel makes for a lovely bedtime ritual.

Home Practice Young readers need a great deal of practice and support in order to achieve fluency. This program’s

home practice sessions are designed to help students develop the skills and confidence needed to find

that success, and to make independent reading a habit. Students work hard and sometimes struggle, but

home practice should also be a lot of fun. Becoming absorbed in books and getting to share that

experience with a parent makes children excited about reading.


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The program guide that parents receive at the first class contains general guidance for home practice as

well as specific week-by-week directions. Each week’s home practice is broken up into four sessions

spread out over four days, and includes the activities explained below.

Independent Reading Parents begin each home practice section by reading an Easy Reader aloud to their child. The child

then spends time reading the same book independently. If needed, parents can use assisted reading to

support their child’s reading.

In the first class, students receive two books to get them started. During the first two weeks of practice,

students read both an Easy Reader 1 book and an Easy Reader 2 book. If the Easy Reader 2 is too

hard—if it’s an uncomfortable, frustrating experience for the child — the child reads the Easy Reader

1 book for the rest of that week’s home practice. The child can give the Easy Reader 2 another try

during the second week of the program. After the second week of class, parents select books from

either the Easy Readers 1 or Easy Readers 2 section of the booklist.

Completing the Homework Questionnaire In the first week of the program, parents complete an online homework questionnaire about their

child’s experience with independent reading in Easy Readers 1 and Easy Readers 2 books. The

information parents provide helps the teacher assess the child’s reading level. In the fourth week of

class, the teacher makes a recommendation about which level of Easy Readers the child should be

reading.

Pole and Vole and the Quest for the Book of Language Phonics

and Word-Attack Program Each week, students complete a two- to four-page unit in the Pole and Vole and the Quest for the Book

of Language phonics and word-attack program. The teacher instructs students on the skill or phonics

element featured in the lesson for that class, and the students then do some in-class exercises in the

Quest workbook. At home, students review what they have finished already, and then complete the rest

of the assigned pages and accompanying audio.

Reading Aloud from a Children’s Novel Twice a week, parents read aloud to their child from a book selected from the Children’s Novels for

Reading Aloud booklist section. If listening to longer books read aloud is new to a child, parents may

want to begin with a shorter novel. In addition to the general Children’s Novels for Reading Aloud list,

the booklist includes three specialty lists: Folk and Fairy Tales, Bible Stories, and Stories from Diverse

Sacred Traditions. Grade-3

Program Goals Third grade is an important period of transition for young readers. Between mid-second and mid-third

grade, nearly all children achieve fluency in Easy Readers, books written with a controlled vocabulary

and simple sentences. Young readers then enter a transition period in which they consolidate the

reading skills they’ve already learned and move toward fluency in children’s novels. Fluency in

children's novels opens the portal to the world of imaginative children’s literature.

The first goal of this program is to help students build their long-word decoding skills. As children

begin to read more difficult books, they encounter longer and harder words. Reading these words is

one of the biggest challenges children face at this stage of reading development. Using the workbook


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Long-Word Decoding for Third Graders in class and at home, students learn skills and strategies for

reading long words with confidence and ease.

The second goal of the program is to develop the fluency and comprehension children need to

successfully read the more difficult books they encounter in third grade. Students also build the

stamina to read independently for longer stretches of time. In class, students practice independent

reading in carefully selected books and participate in comprehension-building class discussions and

fluency-training exercises.

Most importantly, children this age need to read extensively in order to solidify their reading skills and

achieve fluency in children’s novels. The third goal of the program is to guide students’ independent

reading in books at the appropriate level of challenge and provide support to help them experience

success and confidence as readers. Most children at this level benefit from reading extensively in

chapter books, which fall between Easy Readers and children’s novels in terms of difficulty. The

teacher provides parents with a Book-Level Recommendation to guide their selection of books for their

son or daughter’s independent reading throughout the coming year. Parents also receive guidance on

reading aloud from children’s novels. Successful independent reading and the positive experience of

listening to children’s novels read aloud lays the groundwork for a lifelong love of reading.

Long-Word Decoding At this stage of reading development, one of the greatest challenges children face is reading long

words. Often, children who can easily read one- or two-syllable words have trouble with words of

three or more syllables, with prefixes, suffixes and complex spelling patterns. They need new

strategies and skills to attack and decode these longer words.

At the first class, students receive a workbook called Long-Word Decoding for Third Graders. Using

this workbook, children will learn how to recognize prefixes, suffixes, and syllables in long words and

use these word parts to decode the word. They also learn a four-step process for reading multisyllabic

words that they can use in all of their independent reading.

Comprehension As children make the transition from Easy Readers to longer and more difficult books, they need to

develop solid comprehension. A reader with good comprehension is able to create mental pictures of a

story, identify with characters, anticipate events, and understand why things happen as they do. Good

comprehension leads to absorption. When a child is absorbed in a book, he or she enters into the world

of the book and imaginatively participates in a character’s adventures. This experience makes a lasting

impact, and is crucial to a child’s development as a reader.

Students can build good comprehension by thinking about fundamental story elements as they read.

These story elements include:

Where the story takes place

What happens in the beginning, middle, and end of the story

Who the characters are and what they are like

How the characters solve their problems and achieve their goals

The teacher uses the above story elements as a framework for class discussion. Discussing books is a

meaningful way for young readers to improve comprehension and become more absorbed in what they

read. During discussion, students talk about characters, setting, and what is happening in the story. The

teacher also encourages children to relate the story to their own lives. In addition to group discussion,

students participate in one-on-one discussions with a partner during each class. Working in pairs

allows each student more opportunities to express his or her ideas.


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At home, parents can encourage their son or daughter to talk with them about books, asking questions

like: What is going on in the story? Has anything like this ever happened to you? What are the

characters like? What are you enjoying about the book?

Fluency Fluency is the ability to read words easily and accurately, with the rhythm and intonation of natural

speech. Because fluent readers are able to read most words by sight, they don’t need to focus on the

process of decoding. This frees up their attention to focus instead on the story itself. Most entering

third graders have achieved fluency in Easy Reader books, and now must work to build fluency in

more difficult books. The best way to do this is to read widely in books at the appropriate level of

difficulty. Students also benefit from the oral fluency training provided in class.

During fluency training, the teacher reads a short passage aloud to students while they read along.

Students then practice reading the same passage aloud several times in class and at home. In particular,

the teacher asks students to focus on reading smoothly and naturally and on paying careful attention to

punctuation. At this age, children often rush past punctuation marks, which causes confusion and

frequently means having to reread sentences. Learning to pay attention to punctuation helps children

handle complex sentences successfully.

Fluency training provides students with a model of fluent reading. They are able to hear the

smoothness and rhythm of fluent reading in the teacher’s model. They then replicate this fluency as

they practice reading the same passage. As students get better at reading aloud fluently in more

challenging books, the progress they make transfers to their silent reading.

independent Reading In order to become strong readers, children need to develop the habit of regular independent reading in

books at the appropriate level of difficulty. To achieve fluency in children’s novels, children need to

build strong comprehension, strategies for tackling long words, and the stamina to read for longer

periods of time. Most children this age build these skills in chapter books, before moving on to

children’s novels. Independent reading in chapter books helps build skills and stamina and is a central

part of class and of students’ home practice.

Most entering third graders are making or have already made the transition to silent reading. When

they read independently, they may read either silently or aloud, or they may do a little bit of both.

Whatever a child is doing at this stage is fine.

While students do most of their home reading practice independently, parents should make themselves

available to provide assistance as needed. If it is helpful to their child, parents can begin an

independent reading session by reading a few pages aloud before the child reads independently.

Alternately, the parent may only step in when the child gets stuck on a word and asks for help.

Reading Development Booklist In order to progress toward fluency, children need to do a great deal of reading in books at the

appropriate level of difficulty. In order to determine what level is appropriate for each student, the

teacher assesses each child during the first three weeks of class. Parents also complete an online

homework questionnaire during the first week’s home practice. The homework questionnaire provides

the teacher with information about the students’ at-home reading.

In the fourth lesson of the program, the teacher gives parents a Book-Level Recommendation. This

recommendation helps parents understand where their son or daughter is on the path to reading fluency

in children’s novels, and it guides them in selecting excellent books at the right level from the Reading


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Development Booklist. The booklist lists the very best books for third graders’ independent reading,

divided into sections at gradually increasing levels of difficulty.

Once a student begins reading at a particular level, he or she should read a number of books from that

list. Before advancing to the next booklist, the student should be comfortable, confident, and relatively

accurate when reading books at the previous level. It’s important that children practice reading in

books at the appropriate level, since confidence is best built by success.

Home Practice Children need a lot of practice and support in order to achieve fluency in children’s novels. This

program’s home practice sessions helps students develop the skills and reading habits that build solid

fluency and comprehension.

The Program Guide that parents receive at the first class contains general guidance for home practice

as well as specific week-by-week directions. Each week’s home practice is broken up into four

sessions spread out over four days, and includes the activities explained below.

Independent Reading Students read independently during each home practice session. In the first class, they receive two

books to get them started: a selection from the Transition to Chapter Books list, Nate the Great and the

Pillowcase, and one from the Chapter Books 1 list, The Chalk Box Kid. Students use both books for

independent reading during the first week of home practice. In later weeks, parents help children

choose books for independent reading using the book selection guidance provided in each week’s

home practice instructions. Once parents receive a Book-Level Recommendation in Week 4, they’ll

select books from the section of the booklist that the teacher recommends.

As students read, parents provide assistance as needed. For example, it can be very helpful for weaker

readers to hear an entire book read aloud before they try it on their own. For other children, listening to

just a few pages of the book read aloud is enough of a boost to get them started. More confident

readers usually prefer to read a book independently from start to finish. Each of these scenarios is

productive; parents should do whatever is most comfortable for the child.

Completing the Homework Questionnaire In the first week of the program parents fill out an online homework questionnaire about their child’s

reading experience. The information they provide helps the teacher assess the child’s reading level. In

the fourth week of class, the teacher gives parents a Book-Level Recommendation to guide their

selection of books for their son or daughter’s independent reading.

Long-Word Decoding Workbook Each week, students learn skills and strategies for reading multisyllabic words and complete a six-page

unit in the Long-Word Decoding for Third Graders workbook. The teacher instructs students in class

and gets them started on the unit. At home, students complete the rest of the unit during two home

practice sessions.

Fluency Training Each week in class, the teacher provides fluency training in a passage from The Chalk Box Kid.

Students then read this same passage aloud twice during each home practice session. They can read it

aloud to a parent, or on their own.

Reading Aloud from a Children’s Novel Twice a week, parents read aloud to their child from a children’s novel. They select a book from the

Reading Development Booklist. Parents and children can choose books from the Children’s Novels 1


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list, which is the first list of children’s novels recommended for independent reading, or from one of

the Children’s Novels for Reading Aloud lists. If listening to longer books read aloud is new to the

child, parents may want to begin with a shorter novel. In addition to the Children’s Novels for Reading

Aloud list, the booklist includes a Specialty Children’s Novels list. Books from the fairy and folk tales

section of this list are especially engaging for third graders. Grade-4

Program Goals Fourth and fifth grade is an exciting time for young readers, who have either recently achieved or will

soon achieve fluency in children’s novels. To meet the needs of these students, the Institute of Reading

Development’s program for fourth and fifth graders has three primary goals.

The first goal of the program is to develop the solid fluency and comprehension necessary for students

to become absorbed in children’s novels. When a reader is absorbed in a book, the world of the story

comes alive, and the reader imaginatively participates in the characters’ adventures. This experience is

the basis for a lifelong love of reading. To attain a high level of comprehension, a reader must have an

understanding of the basic elements of a story such as character, plot, setting, and main events. This

program helps students build comprehension through reading practice in two classic children’s novels,

guided discussions, and written responses to the books.

In order to reach the levels of fluency and comprehension necessary for absorption, children must read

widely in children’s novels. The second goal is to guide students’ independent reading in books at the

appropriate level of difficulty, and provide parents with the support they need to help their child

become confident, successful readers. The teacher provides parents with a Book-Level

Recommendation, which helps them select books for independent reading at the appropriate level of

difficulty for their child.

The third goal of the program is to help students strengthen their long-word decoding skills. Reading

long words can be a challenge for children at this stage of reading development, as they encounter

longer and harder words in the more difficult books they’re reading. A child who can confidently read

words of three or more syllables will read with greater ease and enjoyment. Using the Long-Word

Decoding for Fourth and Fifth Graders workbook in class and at home, students learn skills and

strategies for reading multisyllabic words. They also get ample practice in long-word decoding during

independent reading.





At the first class, students receive a workbook called Long-Word Decoding for Third Graders. Using

this workbook, children will learn how to recognize prefixes, suffixes, and syllables in long words and

use these word parts to decode the word. They also learn a four-step process for reading multisyllabic

words that they can use in all of their independent reading.

Fluency Fluent readers read quickly, smoothly and accurately. Because they don’t need to focus on the

mechanics of reading, children who read fluently are free to focus their attention on the story itself.

Entering fourth and fifth graders have achieved fluency in easier books, and now must work to achieve


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or solidify fluency in more difficult children’s novels. Maintaining fluency is important for young

readers as they progress from one level of book to the next, because it supports good comprehension

and helps a child read with absorption. The best way to do this is to read widely in children’s novels.

Many children this age also benefit from oral fluency training.

During this program, students participate in oral fluency training. During fluency training, the teacher

will read a short passage aloud to students while they follow along. Then, students will practice

reading the same passage aloud several times in class and at home. The teacher asks students to focus

on reading smoothly and naturally and on paying careful attention to punctuation, which can help

children successfully handle complex sentences.

Fluency training provides a model of fluent reading in children’s novels. During fluency training,

students are able to hear the smoothness and rhythm of fluent reading in the teacher’s model. They

then replicate this fluency as they practice reading the same passage. Fluency training gives even the

weakest readers the experience of fluent reading and a strong model for their own independent reading.

As students get better at reading aloud fluently, the progress they make orally transfers to their silent

reading.





At the first class, students receive a workbook called Long-Word Decoding for Fourth and Fifth

Graders. Using this workbook, children will learn how to recognize prefixes, suffixes, and syllables in

long words and use these word parts to decode the word. They also learn a four-step process for

reading multisyllabic words that they can use in all of their independent reading.

Reading Development Booklist In order to develop as readers, children need to do a great deal of reading in books at the appropriate

level of difficulty. At the end of the program, the teacher gives parents a Book-Level

Recommendation. This recommendation guides parents and their children in selecting excellent books

at the right level for independent reading from the Reading Development Booklist. The booklist lists

the very best literature for fourth and fifth graders’ independent reading, divided into sections at

gradually increasing levels of difficulty.

Once students begin reading at a particular level, they read a number of books from that list. Before

advancing to the next list, students should be comfortable and confident reading books at the previous

level. It’s important that children practice reading in books at the appropriate level, since confidence is

best built by success. The Reading Development Booklist guides students’ reading for the year or more

following the program.

In addition to reading independently in books at the level recommended by the teacher, many children

this age continue to enjoy listening to children’s novels read aloud. Others lose interest once they are

able to read these books on their own. Parents should follow their child’s lead; if a parent and child

continue to enjoy reading together, the Reading Development Booklist lists dozens of children’s novels

that are wonderful for reading aloud.

Home Practice


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Students complete home practice assignments each week during the program. The Program Guide

provides parents with general guidance about home practice, as well as week-by-week instructions.

Students complete most of the home practice independently, and parents make themselves available to

provide help as needed.

Each week’s home practice is broken into four sessions. Weekly practice includes the following

activities (explained below):

Independent reading in a children’s novel

Completing online homework questionnaires (parents do this twice over the course of the program)

Main idea exercises

Brief written responses to reading assignments

Watching an interactive Video Companion DVD for each chapter of Henry Huggins and group of

chapters in The Cricket in Times Square

Lessons in Long-Word Decoding for Fourth and Fifth Graders

Independent Reading Independent reading is the cornerstone of each home practice session. During each session, students

read for 30-45 minutes. In the first two weeks of the program, students read Henry Huggins, and in the

remaining three weeks they read The Cricket in Times Square.

Tellbacks At the end of each reading assignment, students give a tellback about what they have just read. This

means that they retell, in their own words, what they remember about what they’ve just read. The

parent’s role is simply to listen. If they’d like to hear more about the story, they can ask general

questions along these lines: What are you enjoying about the book? What do you think is going to

happen next?

Homework Questionnaire During the first and third weeks of home practice, parents fill out an online homework questionnaire

about their child’s reading. The information they provide helps the teacher assess the child’s reading

level. In the fourth week of class, the teacher provides parents with a Book-Level Recommendation,

which guides their selection of books for their child’s independent reading for the next year or more.

Main Event Exercises and Response Questions After some reading sessions in Henry Huggins and The Cricket in Times Square, students complete a

written response question or a main event exercise. Both activities strengthen comprehension. The

response questions engage students in the story, guiding them to think carefully about the characters

and plot and to relate the story to their own lives.

Video Companions In the first class, students receive Video Companion DVDs for Henry Huggins and The Cricket in

Times Square. They use these DVDs during home practice each week.

The Video Companions feature a teacher and students discussing the books. Students watch a Video

Companion segment after reading each chapter in Henry Huggins. For The Cricket in Times Square,

they watch a video companion segment every few chapters. Each segment is roughly 5-10 minutes

long and includes an interactive question-and-answer feature. After some segments, students will

respond in writing to discussion questions featured on the DVD.

The Video Companions serve two primary purposes. First, the DVDs ensure that even weaker readers

have good comprehension of the books, enabling them to fully participate in class discussions. Second,


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the interactive questions for each chapter help students become more engaged and absorbed in the

story.

Fluency Training During the first two classes, the teacher leads the class in fluency training in a passage from a

children’s novel. Students then read this same passage aloud twice during each home practice session.

In weeks 3 and 4, students continue fluency training as a part of home practice.

Long-Word Decoding for Fourth and Fifth Graders Each week, students learn skills and strategies for reading multisyllabic words, and complete a six-

page unit in the Long-Word Decoding for Fourth and Fifth Graders workbook. The teacher instructs

students in class and gets them started on each unit. At home, students complete the rest of the

assignment by doing one page in each of the four homework sessions.

The Stages of Reading Development - teachers.gov.bd of Reading.pdf · The Stages of Reading...

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