Learning to read is vital to what children can achieve or do before they celebrate their tenth birthday. Liam is at an ideal age for laying a firm reading foundation. Everything children learn, such as vocabulary and pronunciation, affects their progression in reading (Fecher & Johnson, 2018).
Strategies Assessment
Liam has a great interest in animals, learning about them, caring about them, and has a great interest in nature, notable by his interest in bugs and becoming a veterinary professional when he grows up. Liam has several strengths in reading. He scored 90% in his phonemic awareness test and the same for his onset fluency test. Liam is good at segmenting words into compound words and syllables. He scored 70% in the test for substituting words and syllables and 80% in the deletion of words and syllables' test. From his performance, Liam has excellent skills and understanding of various areas of the kindergarten level of reading. However, there are other essential domains that he can work on to succeed and attain his optimal potential.
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Motivation
Liam should read kindergarten books regularly. For his case, books on animals or animal care would probably be best, since the science and animals interest him, gauging from his response statements on the interest inventory test. He should read science books, books on lizards, bugs, animal shows, animal pets, and wildlife in general. Reading books that interest him will develop into reading other kinds of books and develop his reading skills.
Reading aloud can help motivate Liam to grow in his reading development. Either teachers, parents, siblings, or caregivers can read aloud for Liam's favorite books or stories. It will help motivate him to engage in reading by modeling interest and excitement (Silinskas et al., 2017). Reading aloud should incorporate prompts so that Liam can think about what is being read.
Using classroom movement is another way to help motivate Liam. At Liam's age, sitting quietly at his desk for long periods is difficult, and the forced inaction can be counterproductive. Planned movements, such as asking Liam to act out a character in a book or acting out definitions of words crucial to learning academic content, will significantly enhance Liam's motivation for reading.
Comprehension
Activating prior knowledge is one of the key strategies to develop a child's comprehension (Cameron et al., 2019). The teacher can start by explaining vocabulary that Liam is familiar with, for instance, words or terms from wildlife shows he has watched. Moreover, the teacher could ask Liam what he knows about bugs, lizards, or any other topic of interest. By so doing, it will stimulate his previous knowledge of the topic. It will help him comprehend additional reading by connecting it to what he already knows, making reading more stimulating and engaging.
Questioning spurs children's understanding (Lamri & Hamzaoui, 2019). The teacher will encourage Liam to form a total of about three questions before and after reading. By questioning, Liam will increase his comprehension by being keen to know the essence of the current reading, consider what the teacher wants him to learn, and by attempting to think beyond the text.
Using structural analysis in reading will help Liam develop his comprehension. The strategy allows Liam to consider the cause-effect or problem-solution patterns in the reading. During or after reading, the teacher can ask Liam what he thinks as to why a particular character behaved in a certain way. In this manner, he will develop skills to determine cause-effect patterns and, thus, better comprehension.
Phonemic awareness
Connecting sounds is a proven strategy for developing phonemic awareness (Fecher & Johnson, 2018). Teachers can help Liam learn sound blending by putting together phonemes. For example, the teacher can ask Liam to connect /Spea-/ and /–kup/. Regular connecting of sounds will help Liam gain prowess in his phoneme awareness.
Clapping syllables will help Liam learn to identify and use oral rhymes. He can start by clapping out several syllables in a word. Over time, Liam will be able to recognize words of the same initial sounds, such as 'mother' and 'money.'
Breaking words apart plays a vital role in the development of phonemic awareness (Fecher & Johnson, 2018) . The teacher can make Liam work on hearing a word and taking it apart. The teacher can start by using compound words like baseball, ask Liam to say it. After that, the teacher can remove 'boy' and ask Liam what is left. Breaking words apart can als o be done using Lego bricks (Lamri & Hamzaoui, 2019).
Spelling
The use of word walls will help Liam to visualize spelling patterns. He will start noticing relationships between words. It will help him understand spelling rules by experience with the words on the word wall.
Word sorts is another useful strategy that can aid Liam in developing his spelling. Evaluation of his spelling errors in the interest assessment test indicates the necessity of developing his spelling skills. Using word sorts, he can make any random words of his choice, which will encourage him to be creative and think critically. He can also categorize new words as per the teacher's instruction in a closed word sort.
Word hunts will help develop Liam's spelling skills. Word hunts will help him focus on root words and spelling patterns (Cameron et al., 2019). From current readings, the teacher can ask Liam to find words that fit a specific pattern.
Writing
Using an Interactive writing strategy, the teacher can share a pen with Liam either in a one-on-one session or a small group. As they jointly compose and write texts, Liam's writing skills will improve as he learns over time.
Modeling writing can help Liam develop his writing skills. As a child, when he sees people around him writing, he will want to follow suit. If he notices writing as a normal routine in his environment, he will take it up naturally.
Praising Liam's writing or work will help him develop his writing. As humans, we love to do more of what we get praise for (Fecher & Johnson, 2018). Liam will improve his writing when he notices that people around him have an interest in his writing and stories.
References
Cameron, C. E., Kim, H., Duncan, R. J., Becker, D. R., & McClelland, M. M. (2019). Bidirectional and co-developing associations of cognitive, mathematics, and literacy skills during kindergarten. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 62 , 135-144.
Fecher, N., & Johnson, E. K. (2018). Effects of language experience and task demands on talker recognition by children and adults. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(4) , 2409-2418.
Lamri, C. E., & Hamzaoui, H. (2019). Developing ELP students’ reading skills through a blended learning approach. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(2) , 389-407.
Silinskas, G., Pakarinen, E., Lerkkanen, M.-K., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2017). Classroom interaction and literacy activities in kindergarten: Longitudinal links to Grade 1 readers at risk and not at risk of reading difficulties. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 51 , 321-335.
