Inquiry Project by Kristine Bryer Why is Emma such a good reader?

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. ~ Dr. Seuss

Why I picked this question… The ability to read is the key to academic success in not only Language Arts, but in basically all other disciplines. I was interested to see what, if anything, was special or different about Emma’s background that could be applied to other students to help them become better readers.

Literature Review First looked at material on gifted readers. These articles looked of how to develop potential of gifted readers rather than factors that contributed to gifted reading ability. Catron & Wingenbach-”Developing Potential of Gifted Readers” defined gifted readers as students identified as gifted and reading 2 levels above chronological grade level.

Articles on Encouraging Early Literacy –Fisch, Smith & Phinney-”Project Read”-reading achievement at age 7 strongly correlates with parent’s interest in literacy & with quality of parent’s verbal interaction in preschool years. Recommends home environment that: 1)Provides opportunity for exposure to print 2) Models Reading 3)Provides opportunity for writing engagement 4) Provides supportive verbal feedback. –Lawhorn & Cobb-”Routines that Build Emergent Literacy Skills in Infants, Toddlers & Preschoolers” – Incorporate literacy activities such as games, conversation, word identification that relate to children’s everyday life. Also model reading and make reading a positive and enjoyable time together. -Colker – RIF organization – Encourages parents to create a literate home. Sends message that reading is important & everyone in the family reads. Recommends creating a “family literacy area.”

Anbar – Secret of Natural Readers – studied early readers. –Between 1 and 3 percent of American children know how to read when enter kindergarten –Calls early readers “natural readers” as they learn to read without a formal systematic approach. –Looked at 6 natural readers-all reading fluently by age of 3. –4 out of 6 sets of parents did not set out to teach children to read early-felt children had natural ability. –Anbar found parents actions in all cases where similar and did have an influence of children’s reading ability. Parent followed cues from children and supported their interests. Literacy activities involved everyday life experiences, often involved home made games. Parents had an intuitive understanding of matching degree of difficulty with child’s reading ability at the time. Parents were enthusiastic and enjoyed helping children develop skills. –Anbar found that all 6 children went through 8 stages of reading development.

Methods Observation Interviews with Emma Interviews with other students, especially struggling readers. Interview with teacher. Comparison of Reading Logs. Parent Questionnaire.

Findings Emma loves to read. Emma has had constant exposure to books, music and literacy since her adoption at 6 months. Parents read to her on a daily basis. Books and other reading material readily available. Emma began attending pre-school at age 3. Mother tutored dyslexic children in her home when Emma was in pre-school. Emma did not seem to need any instruction on decoding skills. Emma reads nightly and always returns weekly reading log with new entries. Other students in class, especially struggling readers, often forget logs and don’t read much outside of the classroom. Emma enjoys reading aloud to others and also enjoys being the “reading expert”, helping out other students in class and guest readers.

Conclusions Emma’s natural reading ability was positively influenced by her home environment. Emma was immersed in a literary home. Family values reading. Mother followed cues from Emma and gave her support she needed.

Implications Factors that positively impacted Emma’s reading ability can be duplicated in any home. Extra effort on part of parents to model reading, communicate that reading is important, take advantage of “natural opportunities” to engage in stimulating literacy related activities. Provide access to reading and writing materials and games, from early childhood through school age years.