How children learn to read

Who are the most popular children's authors and books? early years, infants and juniors. What makes them popular?


Puffin books

• Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg - I feel that the rhyming and pictures are what make this text so successful. Children will enjoy the read and are most likely to find it easier because of the rhyming patterns. There are also hidden details in each picture to keep the child entertained.
• The Snowman by Raymond Briggs  - I feel that the success of this book is down to the imagination it took to create and the amazing imagery that this book creates. Because of this Children will be able to imagine the scenery keeping them engaged in the book.
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle - I feel that the interactive element of this book is what primarily attracts children, this also makes this book very memorable and widely recognised. It also helps children learn about numbers, days of the week and time in a fun and imaginative way.
• Where's Spot? by Eric Hill - Similarly to The Very Hungry Caterpillar I feel that the popularity of this book is down to the interactive element of lifting the flaps and finding and feeling as if they are finding spot themselves. It also teaches them about everyday objects.

• The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr - The combinations of colourful illustrations and an enjoyable story make this a memorable book
• Where the Wild Things Are - The somewhat 'naughty' child may humour the children and the imaginary magical wold with interest them.
• The Gruffalo by Julian Donaldson - similarly to Each Peach the rhyming text with entice children to continue reading and the funny and almost slightly scary story will make it very memorable to t he child.
• The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
• Biff, Chip and Kipper by Roderick Hunt - Designed to aid children's language development, used in 80% of schools in the UK

How are children taught to read?


1. Synthetic phonics

• 'Phonics' involves teaching letter-sound correspondences. Children are then taught to 'synthesise' and put these sounds together to create words. Teachers will start of with single letter sounds (e.g. s,a,t,p,i,n) and then move on to those which involve 2 letters (E.g. oi, ou and ai) and so on.
• “Learning the letter sounds is merely the first step. The really important bit is to teach the children what to do with them. How to blend them together for reading and how to listen for them in a word to spell it. Start simply with CVC words [consonant vowel consonant words, such as cat, hat, hop] and gradually introduce longer and more complex words.”
• Irregular words such as those with origins from another language may be hard for the child to learn and may need other strategies to be able to learn these.

* Contradicting approach NLS 

• Dr Kevin Collins came up the the Primary National Strategy(NLS) for learning how to read. He said that children might use their phonic knowledge to 'get the first consonant' but they also need to use the context, maybe the picture and the evolving story.

2. Reading schemes

• Reading scheme books will be given to children in reception at varying stages. Some chose to do this right away, some after basic phonics have been learnt.
• There will also usually be a reading diary designed for teachers to let parents identify any difficulties that their child might be having with reading.
• Different schools have different schemes, some may let the child switch books whenever they please and some have strict policies that only the teacher can switch books on a certain day.

What sorts of 'miscues' (virtuous errors based on misapplication of reading skills) do young readers make?

• "Whole word errors"- mistaking a word for another "similar looking word" often sight words e.g. simple - smile, every - very
• "Word guessing errors" - children often only look at the first letter/few letters and then guess the word e.g. chart - chimp (read a book about a chimp so now says chimp for every word starting with 'ch'
• "Tracking errors"- The words they say often contain the same sounds but are out of order e.g. no - on, form - from, left - felt
• Blending error - noticeable 'choppy sounding' 
• Letter confusion - Typically with visually similar letters e.g. b, d and p

How should caregivers deal with mistakes?

• Some caregivers prefer to help children if they get stuck on a word where as others prefer to let them learn at their own speed and allow the child to solve their own problems.
• Many people believe it is a good idea to help sound out the word rather than just reading it for them. 

Bibliography
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/children/booklists/241/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Key
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/14/reception-reading-how-your-child-will-learn-to-read-at-school-and-what-you-can-do-to-help-at-home_n_7331438.html
http://www.syntheticphonics.com/synthetic_phonics.htm
http://www.righttrackreading.com/errors.html