How can we engage a reluctant reader like my grandson, who is 7? He finds reading slow, tedious and boring. “I have already read that!” How can we encourage him to read something more than once, so that he will practise basic skills and develop fluency?
I showed my daughter the “Easy Plus” books that I had developed since I had printed out a set of Phonic Comics books with short sentences for their family.
Set 1 of the Easy Plus books use the most common sound of each letter plus the word “I”, “s” = /s/ or /z/ and “ed” = /t/ or /d/. They also use a limited number of common words that many people see as irregular and/or teach just as sight words. a, come, for, go, have, he, here, of, no, now, she, some, the, they, this, to, was, were, what, with In Gilead Success with Phonics, just enough information is given to explain them if your child needs to practise them ahead of the normal sequence. See “sight words“for a more detailed discussion.
I made up a copy of 1/36, “Plop in the mud”, as an A6 booklet. But then my daughter asked for a copy printed single-sided so that she could cut it out to use as a puzzle. What a great idea to engage a reluctant reader in an activity that he enjoys – puzzles – while also engaging him in practising a skill that he doesn’t enjoy – reading – in a way that he hardly notices the latter.
She intended to cut out the sentences and pictures separately to make a matching game. This involves several important skills – reading with no other cues; confirming meaning by linking each sentence with the matching picture and then sequencing by putting the picture-sentence pairs in order. Also, any way that you can engage a child in reading and rereading simple text develops fluency. Talking through the whole process helps to develop reading comprehension. In all, this exercise certainly has the potential to engage a reluctant reader.
My daughter could then get my grandson to “check that you got it right” by checking it with the booklet. Did he get both the right sentences with the corresponding pictures, and the right sequence? This achieves another way to get him to read it again. One key to doing this successfully would be to only bring out the booklet after he had completed the puzzle.
Thinking about it later, I also printed Phonic Comics Easy Plus1/35 that is easier, but still engaging. It only uses “he” and “go” – “A vowel on the end of a short word often says its name” that I teach in level 6. I don’t teach the third and fourth sounds of “o” until level 9 – of, no, money, do.
Both books are attached for you. I would love to hear feedback. Did you find this helpful? Did your child enjoy it? …
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