Tag: ReadingSkills
Watching your child learn to read is an exciting journey marked with milestones, challenges, and rewards.
As a parent, understanding the 5 pillars of literacy – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension – can make a huge difference in how effectively your child learns to read.
Whether your child is just starting to explore the world of letters and sounds, or if they’re already reading, these pillars are critical at every stage of their literacy journey. By familiarizing yourself with each pillar, you’re better equipped to support your child’s development.
Keep reading this blog post to learn:
- What the 5 pillars of literacy are
- Why they matter
- How to support your child as they learn each pillar
The 5 Pillars of Literacy
The 5 pillars of literacy are the foundation upon which children build reading skills. While your child will be exposed to these skills in the classroom, there’s a lot you can do at home to help your child improve their literacy.
- Phonemic awareness
- Phonics
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension
1. Phonemic Awareness: The Sounds of Language
What Is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate phonemes, the individual sounds in spoken words. This skill is foundational for learning to read because it allows children to understand that words are made up of smaller units of sound. For example, the word “hat” is composed of three phonemes: /h/, /a/, and /t/.
Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness in which listeners are able to hear, identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest mental units of sound that help to differentiate units of meaning.
When children develop strong phonemic awareness, they’re better able to blend sounds to form words and break words down into individual sounds. This skill is essential before a child can move on to learning phonics, which focuses on connecting sounds to written letters.
How to Help Your Child Develop Phonemic Awareness
- Clap out syllables: Pick words and help your child break them down by clapping out the syllables. For example, “ba-na-na” has three syllables.
- Have fun with tongue twisters: Tongue twisters repeat similar phonemes, which will help your child get used to identifying different sounds.
- Use a phonemic awareness tutor app for iPad: Mighty Doodle, the virtual tutor that teaches children in 1st through 4th grades how to read, comes with interactive exercises that improve phonemic awareness.
2. Phonics: The Relationship Between Sounds & Letters
What Is Phonics?
Phonics involves teaching children the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters or groups of letters, known as graphemes, that represent those sounds in written language. Essentially, it’s learning how to identify words by understanding that letters and combinations of letters correspond to specific sounds.
Phonics is crucial because it enables children to sound out unfamiliar words, which is an important step toward independent reading. Once a child understands phonics, they can begin deciphering written language.
How to Help Your Child Learn Phonics
- Read aloud: As you read to your child, point to words and ask them to sound out simple ones. This helps them connect the letters on the page to the sounds they’ve learned.
- Letter-sound practice: Use flashcards, magnetic letters, or alphabet puzzles to practice letter sounds. Focus on one letter at a time, making sure your child knows both the letter name and the sound it represents.
Phonics apps and games: There are numerous phonics reading programs for children, including Mighty Doodle, that can reinforce phonics skills in an engaging, interactive way. Look for ones that focus on letter-sound matching, word-building, and blending sounds to form words.
3. Fluency: Reading with Speed, Accuracy, & Expression
What Is Fluency?
Fluency is the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and without hesitation. It’s not just about reading fast; fluency also means reading in a way that makes the text sound natural. Fluent readers recognize words automatically, which allows them to focus on understanding the meaning of what they read instead of struggling to decipher each word.
Fluency is the link between word recognition to understanding. A child who reads fluently can read with less hesitation, which frees up their mental energy to focus on comprehending the content.
How to Help Your Child Develop Fluency
- Practice echo reading: Read a sentence to your child, then have them repeat it back to you. By modeling fluent reading and making your child “echo” it back, your child understands what fluent reading sounds like and can practice it.
- Read and reread familiar books: Repeated reading of favorite books helps children develop fluency. The more they read a text, the more comfortable they become with the words, allowing them to focus on reading in a way that mimics natural speech.
4. Vocabulary: Building Word Knowledge
What Is Vocabulary?
Vocabulary refers to the words a person knows and understands. The larger a child’s vocabulary, the easier it is for them to understand what they read. A strong vocabulary is essential for comprehension, which is the fifth pillar of literacy, as children need to understand what the words they’re reading mean.
There are two types of vocabulary – oral vocabulary and reading vocabulary – both of which are important to a child’s overall literacy development:
- Oral vocabulary: The words we use in speaking or recognize in listening.
- Reading vocabulary: The words we recognize or use in print.
How to Help Your Child Develop Their Vocabulary
- Talk about words: Ask your child to let you know whenever they hear an unfamiliar word so you can explain its meaning. Strengthen their comprehension muscles by encouraging them to use context clues to infer a word’s meaning.
- Play vocabulary games: Games like “I Spy” or “20 Questions” that require describing something in the room or concepts can help your child think about words and their meanings in fun ways.
- Use Mighty Doodle: Mighty Doodle teaches children new words through engaging games and dyslexia-friendly vocabulary exercises.
5. Comprehension: Understanding & Making Meaning of Words
What Is Comprehension?
Comprehension means being able to understand and interpret what you read. It involves not just knowing what the words say but knowing their meaning. Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading because it allows children to gain knowledge, enjoy stories, and communicate with others.
Strong comprehension skills help children to think critically about what they read and make inferences. By understanding what they’re reading, children learn to summarize information, identify main ideas, and understand the author’s purpose.
How to Help Your Child Improve Their Reading Comprehension
- Help them relate: Help your child make connections between the story and their own experiences to make it more meaningful. For example, if you’re reading a story about a family vacation, ask your child about a time when your family went on a trip.
- Retell the story: Encourage your child to summarize a story in their own words to reinforce their understanding of the main events, characters, and lessons.
- Play comprehension games: Mighty Doodle is equipped with comprehension exercises for children with dyslexia and new readers who want to understand everything they read deeply.
Wrapping Up the 5 Pillars of Literacy
When you understand the 5 pillars of literacy, you’re better able to guide your child towards becoming a proficient reader. As a parent, you can create a literacy-rich environment at home by reading with your child regularly, playing literacy-based games, and making learning to read an enjoyable experience. Here’s a quick recap of how you can support your child through each pillar:
- Phonemic awareness: Play sound games and use rhymes to help your child recognize and manipulate sounds.
- Phonics: Practice letter-sound relationships and encourage your child to sound out words.
- Fluency: Provide opportunities for repeated reading and model fluent reading with expression.
- Vocabulary: Read a wide range of books and introduce new words in everyday conversations.
- Comprehension: Ask questions about what your child is reading, make connections, and encourage summarizing.
An even more comprehensive and efficient way to make sure your child masters the 5 pillars of literacy is to equip them with Mighty Doodle, the virtual tutor that teaches children in 1st through 4th grades how to read, write and spell. This literacy skills app focusing on phonics and comprehension teaches how ALL children learn and uses evidence-based methods to empower emerging readers.
Help your child master the 5 pillars of literacy by downloading Mighty Doodle today; available for iPad in the Apple App store.