Suddenly, I have an early emergent reader at my house. He reads wordless picture books to his brother and I can see that little reading spark starting to grow more and more each day. It’s time for an early reader shelf, (or book basket in our case), so he can easily locate books that are just right for him. This post from Booklights, provides great book suggestions and some general information about supporting kids in this stage of reading development.
Here are some characteristics of an emergent reader: (source)
- understand print carries a message
- display directional movement: left to right, top to bottom, return sweep
- match voice to print with one-to-one matching by finger pointing
- locate some known words and unknown words
- use picture clues to help tell the story and to help decode unknown words
- recognize the difference between a letter and a word
- may invent text, using the pictures or tell the story from memory
- begin to use pattern and repetition of text to read
- use oral language/story structure to make a connection to print
- use some letter sounds (beginning/ending)
- begin to use known, high-frequency words to monitor reading
My son is just beginning to do these things, which is why he’s considered an early emergent reader.
We’ve collected some wordless picture books and easy reader picture books and organized them in a special basket to read together. I read and he reads aloud with me when he feels like it. Because he’s mostly memorized these simple, predictable books, he is becoming confident about saying the words and pointing along with me as we read.
I’d also like to start using a Bare Book to create a customized word book with words that my son would like to learn to recognize. He can stamp the letters and make an illustration for each new word, and the book would go into our early reader book collection.
Here’s what you’d find in our early reader book basket at the moment:
Goodnight Gorilla
Goodnight Moon
Blue Hat, Green Hat
Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!
Go, Dog. Go!
The Snowman
Good Dog, Carl
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
Hop on Pop
What are your favorite early reader books and activities for emergent readers?