02/13/2024
We are getting our kitchen cabinets painted this week. Yesterday our contractors spent around 9-10 hours at our house. But the cabinets still aren’t painted. They look just like the antiqued cabinets that were there before the contractors came. Even after all that time, effort and work, the outcome had not yet changed.
The work that they did yesterday, however, wasn’t in vain. It was absolutely essential and is setting the stage for future progress. We don’t see it yet, but that is because it is a process. The contractors had to remove the doors, and completely enclose the space so that they could begin the process of sanding, priming, and painting our cabinets. No, the cabinets haven’t changed. But the stage has been set and preparations made for upcoming progress.
As parents (and teachers), it is easy to get discouraged by the fact that the child we are teaching isn’t reading yet. But just like cabinet-painting, learning to read is a process that requires lots and lots of prep work behind the scenes before progress can be seen. As you are teaching your child today, rest assured that the time and effort you are investing WILL pay off. And we are here to encourage you and remind you of this important truth every step of the way.
Here are ways you can set the stage for reading success:
-Focus on Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness truly is the building block upon which all other word-reading skills are built.
-Follow a Systematic and Explicit Phonics Program (like ours)!
-Read engaging picture books with rich, robust vocabulary aloud to your child. Talk about unknown words and model fluent reading with lots of expression.
-Engage your child in lots of conversation and ask questions about the books that you have read together.
-Use decodable text (matched to the phonics skills your child has been taught) to ensure that your child has been prepared to meet the decoding demands of a book.
-Remember that learning to read is a multi-faceted, complex process and that some children need many more repetitions and exposures to master each individual skill.
Most of all, stay positive and encouraging! The end result will be worth it! 💕
