Reading

"Reading is the process of constructing meaning from print and from other symbols." (Hill, 2006, p.139) Reading not only being able to being able to say the words on the page, but rather being able to understand what they mean in context of the piece of writing.

Reading Development

Children use information source known as cues to be able to read. There are 3 main types of cues, they are; __Semantic cues__- These are meanings that come from our knowledge about the world, eg previous experience or information heard. __Syntactic cues__- This is the oder of the words (syntax) or structure of the writing. If the syntax of the piece didn't make sence then it would make it alot harder for people to read and understand. __Grapho-phonic cues__- This refers to the individual letters and phonemes and the ability to connect the sight of letter patterns with sounds. (Hill, 2006, p. 141)

Like writing, reading generally follows a development pattern with different stages reached when new reading skills are gained. The reading stage and common characteristics of the books associated with these stages are as below; __Emergent reading__- Simple story lines are used in the books with word counts ranging from 0-50. The text directly matches the illustrations with high frequency words commonly used. __Early reading__- Increased amounts of text types are used with a higher quantity of writing. The link between illustrations and text still exists to support the reader but aren't as evident as in the emergent stage. __Transitional reading__- The topics in the books tend to reach beyond the childs experience with increasing setence and text length. Syntax varies as does the illustration type and placement of text. __Extending reading__- More complex stories and plots with a larger variety of text types available. More detailed text and fewer illustrations. (Hill, 2006, p. 149)

Teaching Strategies Similarly to writing, there are many strategies available to teachers to enable them to effectively teach reading to their students. Teachers need to assess their students to be able to choose which strategy would best suit their students. Some of the strategies are described below; __Modelled reading__- The teacher models to the children how to read a text whixh is from a more complex reading level to which they are at. They do this by reading a book allowed and engaging their students in the text. __Shared reading__- A big book is chosen for the entire class to join in reading with the teacher. The book is normally from a more difficult reading level than what the student is at because there is group support. The teacher may read majority of the book with the students reading the 'chorus' in repetitive books or parts selected by the teacher. __Guided reading__- This is done in small groups of 4-6 children with the class teacher. The teacher chooses an appropriate texts with a reading focus which the students in the group may be struggling with, eg the illustrations don't support the text extremely well. __Independent reading__- The purpose of independent reading is to gain practice reading texts of the students level and thus increasing reading fluency. The child reads on their own in independent reading which challenges them to self-correct. (Hill, 2006, p.73-83)  Assessing Reading

Continually assessing childrens reading is an extremely important part of teaching. "Taking a record of reading behaviour helps teachers to ind books at an appropriate learning level for children." (Hill, 2006, p.158). A reading record allows teachers to see a number of things, including miscues, omissions, insertions, mispronunciation and self corrections. Correct recording of a students reading allows teachers to better choose books from an appropriate level for their student.