The foundational knowledge that children acquire about reading during their formative years significantly influences their literacy development for the long term. We delve into this critical subject in our discussion with Dr. Jessica Masters, an esteemed early intervention program teacher from Picketts Mill Elementary. Throughout our conversation, we explore the pivotal milestones in reading and literacy, emphasizing the distinct yet interconnected nature of these concepts. We address the pressing concerns of parents, particularly those who may feel uncertain about their child's reading progress, and offer practical strategies to foster a supportive learning environment at home. By understanding the complexities of reading and implementing effective practices, we can enhance our children's educational journeys and promote a lifelong love of literacy.

Guest:

Jessica Masters

Useful links from the podcast:

• Florida Center for Reading Research
• Reading Rockets: Launching Young Readers

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Takeaways:

1. The foundational literacy skills that children acquire in their early years significantly influence their academic trajectories.
2. In the early grades, children transition from learning to read to reading to learn, underscoring the importance of solid foundational skills.
3. Establishing a print-rich environment and engaging in meaningful discussions about reading can greatly enhance a child's literacy development.
4. Parents should communicate regularly with teachers to gain insights into their child's reading progress and areas needing improvement.

What children learn about reading early can shape their literacy for years to come.

That's our discussion now on the Inside Scoop.

Hello and welcome back to the Inside scoop.

I'm your host, David Owen.

As you listen to our conversation, if you hear something helpful, please give us a like, it really helps.

There's an old saying in the educational world.

In kindergarten through second grade, children learn to read, but from third grade on, they read to learn.

As a parent, what if you're not sure your child's really learning to read and understand the content?

Well, today I'm joined by an expert, our early intervention program teacher from Picketts Mill Elementary, Dr. Jessica Masters.

Jessica, it's great having you here.

Thank you so much.

And parents have lots of questions when it comes to their child, especially in those early, early years of kindergarten and first grade.

Right.

That's a big question mark.

Especially for new parents, I presume.

So let's start with the very basics.

We're talking about reading and literacy, but they are not the same thing.

Sometimes they get mixed up.

Can you just give us a very quick distinction between the two?

Sure.

A lot of times you will hear reading and literacy used interchangeably, but they really are referring to different things.

Reading is specifically looking at the skill.

Are they able to take the words from the paper and pull them out and make sense of them?

Literacy is that umbrella term.

It's really incorporating reading, but listening, speaking, writing, it's how we use language to think, to learn to communicate.

Yeah.

So it's kind of the application of the reading in science.

Exactly.

Okay.

So when it comes to especially those new parents and they're looking at their child and going, isn't little Johnny wonderful?

He can do all these things.

And sometimes it is a wonderful thing, but they don't necessarily know what the comparatives are, I guess.

Or maybe milestones would be a better term for where their child should be or is expected to be able to accomplish once they reach an age of going into school.

Can you give a few milestone indicators that maybe parents could latch onto as a, you know, your child's doing great if they're doing XYZ by this time?

Sure.

There are some milestones to consider when you're looking at preschool and kindergarten.

That's really when children are exploring auditory or the hearing, they're playing around with words or sounds, rhyming, hearing, beginning letter sounds, ending letter sounds.

Kindergarten is where they really start to match up those sounds and symbols, identifying letters, knowing which letters make or represent certain sounds or which letter combinations make certain sounds.

I'M sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

But I do find it fascinating that as adults, or I think probably even as students, we just take it for granted that these things happen in our brain.

It's truly an amazing thing once you think about it.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

It is, it is amazing.

And it really starts to get more complex.

In first and second grade, they're starting to master those phonics skills, learn those skills, internalize those skills so that the reading, the words that they're reading on the paper make sense in their brains.

And you can also see that in their writing they're able to spell more.

And that really starts to transform.

In upper elementary school.

In third through fifth grade, they've gone away a little bit with the phonics and more into deep word analysis.

So looking at the most meaningful, smallest, meaningful parts of a word and deeper vocabulary and the nuances of a text.

Yeah.

Now, the reality is that the people who are most likely our viewer or listener either are really trying to help their child be their very best, which I think a lot of most of the parents out there are, or they have encountered some concerns.

So let's start with the ones who have been tuned into this from the start.

They're the overachieving parent, if you will.

What can you, a family that's doing all the right things, do in their household to help their child go even farther with their reading and literacy development?

Sure.

Having a print rich environment is important.

Having access to books, talking about books.

It's really important to stay engaged with what your child is reading because then that allows for deeper conversation with the parents.

You can ask questions like what do you think of that?

Or why did the author choose that word and talk about vocabulary and develop a background knowledge and really captivate their motivation or enhance their motivation to continue reading even more challenging or different genres.

Yeah.

So that you're actually.

And of course you wouldn't sit there and say, what do you think of the literary value for your kindergartner, but you might have a discussion about the characters and the story that's developing.

What did you think about this and that?

Right.

So then they're motivated to maybe the next time they read, pay more attention if they know there are questions coming up.

Exactly.

And you can even see that when they start to express themselves in songwriting or writing stories or communicating with a partner.

Okay, so we have already touched on that parenting style and what they can do if they are already doing a lot of the right things.

But what about the Parent and I would contend this may be some of us, maybe a lot of us, who didn't think about how to make sure my child is reading.

Well, as they grew up, they were just trying to, you know, get all the clothes washed and diapers changed and whatnot.

So it's now time where they're saying, uh, oh, we kind of missed the boat.

What can be done in the household by families to catch up a little bit?

First of all, it's never too late.

So any effort is an effort in the right direction.

I would say with any skill or habit you're trying to grow, Start small, be consistent and be positive.

10 to 15 minutes a day.

Accessing some sort of reading would be an improvement.

Sometimes you need to capitalize on students or children's interests.

So find something that they're interested in and maybe start with audio books, because that gives you an opportunity to talk about what they're listening to.

And that might just motivate them to pick up the book next time and share some of that responsibility.

Have them read to you, read to them a little bit and talk about it.

I think talking about books is underrated.

Having the skill to be able to talk about what you've read, not only to just say what you have to say, but listen to someone else and respond to what they said is a huge skill.

Yeah, well, there are a lot of adults who write.

Listening skills are maybe a little lacking, and maybe that's part of our electronic world now, and it could be social media thing, perhaps.

So kind of regurgitating a little bit about what you just said.

One of the things that kind of stood out to me was 15 minutes, start slow kind of thing.

You don't want to step in and overwhelm the child because you're feeling behind.

Right.

Is that correct?

And creating something, creating a pressure around the need to catch up can also be a barrier to them improving.

Because it's really hard to do something if you already don't feel like you're good at it.

And if you don't feel that motivation to continue, they're not going to want to continue.

Yeah, it's kind of like the child who runs the race and sees they're not winning and so they kind of give up.

Exactly.

Okay, well, that's a sad place to be, so don't go there.

So a parent who.

Now let's kind of move on a little bit.

A parent who is truly worried.

They've been doing some of these things and maybe not doing everything, but they have realized that oh, my child is falling behind and they're a little bit worried.

Maybe the progress report comes home that says there's an issue here or test scores or homework is getting harder.

What are some of the biggest reasons that children struggle with reading?

I mean, they might be doing all the right things and a child still struggles.

So what are some of those issues that parents need to be aware of?

Every child is different, so it could be any number of things.

A lot of times we see gaps in foundations, skills, phonics, those keys to unlocking the words on the page.

And then if they have mastered phonics, sometimes it's a comprehension or fluency issue.

The teachers at school are monitoring everything so closely that they'd be able to pinpoint the exact skill that they would need to target, or at least attempt to target to show some reading improvement.

That's really cool.

Now let me back up.

You say phonics, and I know phonics kind of almost as a brand.

Right.

It's a word we hear all the time.

Can you give kind of a quick primer about what is phonics?

Sure.

Phonics is the understanding of the rules associated with our English language.

Knowing that a letter represents a sound or a combination of letters represents sounds in our language.

Okay, so can I use the word diphthong?

Yes, you can.

Okay.

That sounds really educated.

There's lots of terms in phonics that you can go over.

Yeah.

Okay.

And that's without getting into the labels and terms like that.

The kids understanding that these go together and so forth is key.

Exactly right.

Okay, so what are some of the questions or misconceptions that parents tend to bring to you that you know, when they're trying to get some reading improvement going?

Should my child be reading harder books, more books?

What do they bring to you as their challenges in their family?

Well, we certainly heard those questions, but one of the main misconceptions I hear is that parents seem to think that reading is a natural process or they want reading to be a natural process, and it truly isn't.

It's not like learning to speak.

It's something that you have to learn.

It's a skill to be learned, and it's not easy.

It's a discipline.

It is.

So it is a process.

Another one is memorization.

A lot of times, a long time ago, we used to have those flashcards of high frequency words.

Right.

Well, when we memorize words, those are the only words we know.

But when we have phonics or we learn the rules, we're able to unlock any number of words.

And the last misconception I hear quite often is a concern about reading speed.

That that's the most important thing about reading is are they reading fast enough?

That is a component of reading success.

But are they understanding what they're reading?

That's really important.

That's what we're really looking for.

Can they read and understand what it is that they're reading?

And I love that you said that because really, above all, despite reading speed, comprehension is really what should be the king.

Right.

Okay.

So sometimes there are issues that are not practice oriented or I guess method oriented.

They are legitimate concerns like sight.

Right.

If a child has eyesight issues, is that something you encounter a great deal?

It can be.

And vision.

Hearing could also be something that can impact reading because if they're not hearing the sounds, that's going to be a barrier to being able to access the sounds later on when you're trying to decode.

Attention could also be a barrier.

And then one of the biggest barriers that you can see, especially if they've not experienced success, is low self esteem or confidence.

So you really have to look at the whole child when you're looking at improving their reading.

So it kind of goes back to what I mentioned a minute ago.

If they feel defeated, they don't want to even try sometimes.

Exactly.

Right.

Wow, that's.

Well, hopefully we don't get there.

Right.

So when it comes to parents not knowing where to start, let's look at that situation where you've got a child maybe who's struggling and where's a good starting point?

Is it just connecting with the teacher more?

How does that.

Absolutely.

Collaborating with the teacher is so important because they have eyes on your child all throughout the school day in various different scenarios where they're attempting to read or going through reading instruction.

Opening that line of communication is key because they'll be able to tell you exactly what skills you could reinforce at home.

Okay, and this is a left field question for you.

We could stop if you want after this, but I know in the higher grades we have ctls that helps teachers teach and kind of keep the teaching on pace for their students.

Does that apply at the under third grade level where they're trying to make sure they have certain, like we mentioned earlier, milestones of reading progress that pinpoint for each student.

Are you talking about in regards to like a pacing for teachers or for parents to access?

Well, for teachers primarily.

Oh yes, yeah.

We have pacing and frameworks and we have curriculum in the elementary school so we do have some milestones or standards that we want to address at certain points of the year.

But a lot of the times, elementary is a kind of twisty, turvy journey, and each child's journey looks a little bit different.

Sure, sure.

Just sitting still in the seat is okay.

So are there any online resources, so outside sources available online?

There are tons of resources available online.

With a quick Google search, you can find almost anything that's available for students to use.

My only caveat to that is that it's any website you can unintentionally click in and out of something that you may not want to be on.

So stay engaged with what your child is doing on the screen.

There's also two websites that I highly recommend to parents.

Reading Rockets.

It's very approachable reading literacy information, and it can give quick at home tips.

And then fcrr, which is Florida center for Reading Research, has very easy printable games and can kind of help you see what kind of skills they're working at different grade levels.

Okay.

Yeah.

And of course, with anything that's outside of the COB system, caveat emptor, as they say, you should take caution, make sure that the program works for you.

You don't want to find that you've bought a subscription for, you know, 20 months of something that the kid clicked on.

And then there's also the privacy.

We as a school district are obligated to protect identity and so forth of our children, of the students in our system.

But an outside entity like these may not be.

So there is that level of caution.

Right, Exactly.

And speaking to the child's teacher, they'll be able to give you some COB vetted resources that they can access through ctls as well.

Yes.

And we will make sure these resources are available to you in the description and show notes as well.

And for that matter, as we were talking about the various resources, there's always the local library.

But again, it's probably wise not to just drop your kid off.

Right.

Stay tuned in to what they are picking up off the shelf and whether you want them reading it or not.

Some people are okay with something that somebody else is not.

So that's an important distinction.

Jessica, this has been wonderful.

I appreciate, I really appreciate you taking the time to come in and help our families understand where they can boost and help their students succeed.

Well, because if they succeed in those earlier grades, they're much more likely to succeed in the later years, right?

That's right.

Thank you so much.

Hopefully, if you had concerns about your child, you can rest a little easier knowing that there are people like Jessica in our schools to help parents help their students.

And did you hear something helpful?

I really hope you did.

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Thank you for listening to this edition of the Inside Scoop, a podcast produced by the Cobb County School District.