Reading Strategies for Elementary Kids that Parents and Educators Will be Glad to Know!
This article will focus on reading strategies for kids ages 6 to 8 years. So, let’s begin!
Developing reading habits among young children is a big requirement in education. Yet, generally, it’s a challenge given the busy lifestyle of parents, student-teacher ratio, and level of reading readiness. Hybrid learning and general busyness make it necessary that we don’t lose out on developing young children’s reading habits. Therefore, various reading strategies are needed. After all, kids must enjoy reading and have better comprehension as it affects their academic achievement and overall wellbeing.
What Strategies You Can Use For Cultivating Reading Habit and Better Comprehension in Kids Age 6 to 8 Years?
Firstly, evaluate whether your child or students are ready for reading, especially if you are a parent or an educator. Not all kids have the same reading readiness and may come from different backgrounds.
So, you need to have empathy, patience, be kind and self-aware as the kids are creating memories and have a lot of reading and learning to do in their educational timeline. Furthermore, they have to become lifelong learners, so they must enjoy the reading and learning process with wonder and fascination.
Also read: Best Phonics Books and Easy Readers for New Learners
Let’s briefly consider what factors affect their reading readiness before we learn more about strategies.
Factors that Influence Reading Readiness
- Cognitive development
- Language skills
- Motor skills
- Social and emotional readiness
- Exposure to books
- Parental involvement
- Educational environment
- Physical health
- Cultural and linguistic background
- Interest and motivation
- Learning challenges
This means, the above factors influence how much and how well the child is ready to learn reading.
Use of 3 Letter Words and Visual learning as Reading Strategies for 6 to 8 Years Old Kids
Before 6 years/grade 1, kids generally have exposure to classroom activities and visual learning in a kindergarten or Montessori. While in Sr Kg and grade 1, kids learn alphabets, numbers and small three-letter words such as cat, bat, and mat and gradually learn small sentences using these words. For this purpose, knowledge of phonic letters and sounds is fundamental in developing reading skills.
To improve phonic awareness, use the (play-way method) phonic drill activities in the classroom and at home, break down 3 letter words and blend letters with their sounds. Picture-based (visual) learning and repetition helps build fluency and confidence in associating letters with their sound.
These 3 letter words are made of consonant-vowel-consonant that are easy to identify and say. The ability to identify and say these small three-letter words builds confidence and prepares them to read small sentences that have such words. For instance, the cat sat on a mat.
Kids usually cannot read sentences with fluency when they arrive in grade 1 at 6 years. An adult, such as, a parent or an educator has to assist the child in identifying letters, and words, how they are spelt and their meaning in a context.
To ensure that kids ages 6 to 8 can understand and enjoy what they read, you need to use a variety of methods. These strategies encourage participation, knowledge, and practice. To help, here are 25 ideas:
Reading Strategies for Kids: Tips and Ideas
1. Make a comfortable setting for reading with good lighting, few distractions, and a cozy reading nook. This can make reading more easy and fun. If you are a parent, tell bedtime stories from a picture book in a cozy atmosphere. On the other hand, if you are a teacher or a librarian, you could use creative ways to make the space interactive and mentally stimulating. Try recreating things or references from the book and bring the book alive with props, displays, music, etc.
2. Ask them if they are excited to read the book. Discuss what the book is about after looking at the cover and pictures. Have fun as the child guesses the topic of the book.
Book Selection
3. Pick interesting books with stories that are fun to read and have bright pictures. The books must have likeable characters and text that matches their reading level and interests. Kids between 6 to 8 years old are imaginative and discover a lot of new ideas and concepts. This is one of the important strategies for helping kids develop interest in reading.
4. Select thin picture books with a useful message. Simple non-fiction books for this age group focus on seasons, animals etc. Fiction books for this age group also have wonderful messages told through entertaining stories. Kids are not able to articulate their thoughts very well so when characters in the story have similar experiences, they can identify and look at how problems are solved.
Also read: Ways to Develop Reading Habit
Reading Goals
5. Set easy-to-reach reading goals. If you have to keep easy-to-reach reading goals, there are a few points you should consider. There shouldn’t be a pressure to complete reading a book by an assigned date. If the book is interesting enough, the child will be very interested to know what happens next or learn more information. As reading fluency gets better at age seven and eight, explore different types of age-appropriate informative nonfiction books as well as, comic stories, and adventure stories in the picture books and easy chapter books category.
6. Kids like to read or listen to the same story again and again. This way, some books become their favorite books to read. Every time they read or listen to the same book they may observe, understand and learn something new.
Keep Books Accessible
7. If interesting and age-appropriate books are accessible and available then kids will reach out for them. So, keep attractive and colorful picture books everywhere that kids can reach out, observe and do picture reading. You have to assist them with the reading as they are not independent readers at this age. Some simple storybooks with phonic words are the best for kids this age.
8. Let kids associate the letters and word formation from phonic books with sound, meaning and context. Once your child can read simple sentences, take care not to overwhelm them with bigger books too soon. It is important that your child forms a positive self image of their ability to read and understand words as this will motivate them to read and learn more in their educational journey.
Also read: How to Improve Reading Comprehension?
Know When to Introduce Chapter Books
9. Introduce simple graded phonic picture books in grade one and two, then they can read age-appropriate graded easy chapter books in grade three. Remember, the five-finger rule for reading; i.e. not more than two or three new words on each page. Rest they should be able to read easily.
Ask Open-Ended Questions
10. Adopt activities for before reading, during reading and after reading. These activities will help keep the kids engaged in what they are reading or listening to, think actively about the content and learn to communicate their opinions and ideas.
11. Read aloud together with your child. Listening to the words will aid identifying letters and their sounds along with comprehension of words and their context. Take turns reading and let them get used to the phonic words. Remember that reading is a new activity for kids between 6 and 8 years old, so, scaffold them during learning how to read. Moreover, their attention span is short, and they may not have previous knowledge of the concepts shared in the book.
12. While reading, you need to ask questions sometimes so kids are not just listening but also analyzing what they listen to. So, ask them open-ended questions for which they have to think and give longer answers such as “What do you think will happen next?” or “How does the character feel?” This will motivate the child to think deeper, observe, form opinions and vocalize them.
13. Talk about the story so kids can summarize the story, name the major characters, and find links to their own lives. Linking the story to their own life can help them manage their emotions and understand feelings.
14. Help them see the concepts and ideas. Kids this age do well with tangible proof of ideas such as seeing pictures or videos of the seasons. Therefore, show kids pictures, maps, or drawings to help them understand words or ideas that are hard to explain.
15. Retell the story again. Get the kids to tell the story again in their own words, focusing on important people and events.
16. Ask them questions that summarize what was read. These could be specific questions that will make them get the big picture of what they just read. Questions such as “What were the main events in the story that you enjoyed?” or “Why did a certain character behave in a particular manner?
Make Reading Fun with Activities
17. Encourage kids to color a B & W outline of the main events of the story or join dots of a picture or match objects from the story. This will make them connect to the story or concepts even after the reading activity is over and enhance their comprehension.
18. Finding connection help kids find links between the story and their own lives, other books, or current events. This will help in connecting different experiences, concepts, feelings and observations.
19. Read regularly as parents and educators are always on the lookout for fun activities to engage their kids. Reading can be an enjoyable activity in the classroom or at home. Make reading a regular habit, even if it’s only for 10 to 15 minutes a day.
20. Use technology as digital technology and gadgets are unavoidable even in education. So, look into digital reading sites, phonic apps, or digital phonic games that make reading fun and interactive.
21. Make reading fun: To help kids understand and enjoy the book more, use games, activities, or crafts that are related to or the topics covered in the book.
22. Give guidance instead of answers. Instead of always giving direct answers to the kids, whenever possible, ask them questions so they think and come up with their answers.
23. Have patience and help them as this can build their reading confidence and fluency. Celebrate their small wins and be there for them. Keep a growth mindset and demonstrate it with kindness. Avoid knee-jerk reactions and judgments. Five to seven years is a crucial period when kids learn to identify letters, words and sentences in a gradual time frame.
Use Charts and Other Teaching Aids
24. Display phonic charts at eye level for the kids. Apart from this, keep an accessible black or a whiteboard where they can practice writing words. Your child will learn phonics in their school classroom, however, as a parent you can provide them individual attention and assistance. You can learn correct phonic sounds and help your child master them. This will give them a boost in learning phonics and eventually reading.
25. Use the alphabet, letters, and other board books, and plenty of phonic storybooks for kindergarten kids to practice reading. Other than these, use a variety of fun phonic games such as I Spy, Bingo, phonic scavenger hunt, phonic poems and more. Regularly playing phonic apps, phonic drill activities or fun phonic activities will help practice phonic sounds and letter recognition. More familiarity and reading fluency can convert into love for reading and learning.
Resources for Phonic Reading
Jolly Kids First Book of Phonics
Zayn and Zoey Lifecycle Series
Ladybird Read It Yourself Level 1
Level 2 Ladybird Read It Yourself
Read It Yourself Level 3 Ladybird Set
Final thoughts
As a parent and educator, you might know that kids in grades 1, 2 and 3 classrooms may have different learning styles, so, you can use the above strategies to improve the reading skills of kids between 6 and 8 years. Books are not the only tool to develop a love for reading and learning, rather, picture talk, doing storytelling using large-print illustrated picture books, gamification through digital phonic apps, fun interactive circle-time using educational charts, teaching aids and singing poetry, etc. are also ways kids learn and develop love for literacy.
Kids will learn at their own pace, so you need to introduce a variety of phonic activities, phonic storybooks, storytelling, games, and many graded phonic fiction and nonfiction books. What’s more important is kids this age grow up having a positive self image about how good they are at reading. This will be possible through lot of practice, positive reinforcement and validation. Patience, love and support given by parents, teachers and care-givers will be required and crucial in this regard.
Phonic sounds and letters are introduced in Sr. Kg so by the time kids reach the middle of grade 1, they are better at reading three-letter words and small sentences using these words. Repetition and practice will help develop reading stamina and skills.
So, be consistent and adapt these strategies to meet their unique needs and learning styles. Be patient and let the kids learn at their own pace. If you found this article useful, please leave your feedback in the comment box below and subscribe to the blog to read more such articles.