Storyline Feedback 3 (different Literacy Standards)

As my sister is a resource teacher in a Primary school, she had the opportunity to read the next draft of my story to two of her small classes, one of which is below the standard english reading level and the other who are above average. I felt this to be of huge advantage for me.

The higher level were able to completely read the story themselves, which I was very happy about. The children that were below average at reading were also able to read some lines and just needed help on some of the more difficult ones. My sister explained that this was very helpful as it provided an educational aspect where there was opportunity for them to learn new words and sounds. I was very content with this feedback as I was worried that the storyline might be of a standard too high. Both classes also loved the character of Gonzo even though it was just on paper. The found the name to be humerous and appealing.

 

The next step

What I need to do now is develop a list of questions to ask children in order to find out if my story is clear and if the underlying meaning is evident to them. I need to target my new chosen age group of 4-7 to make sure this story is suitable for them and appeals to them.

One of my concerns was that putting the age group up to 7 years might be a risky move. I have to keep in mind that a book full of illustrations might not interest an older child as much as it would a younger one. This shows that there could be conflict between my illustrations and storyline, as I feel the storyline may pose for an older age. Then again, the story can be read to them by an adult, meaning not every word needs to make sense to them. I want the children to ideally learn some words through the book.

Choosing what questions to ask the children is my next step. I plan on asking open-ended questions as when children are asked open-ended questions, it shows them that their opinions, ideas, thought, feelings, etc, matter. I will begin the questions with what, who, why and how. I want them to use their imagination while giving as much information as they can.

 

 

Children’s literacy Ages 6-10

At age 6, children can:

• Read and retell familiar stories.
• Use a variety of ways to help with reading a story such as rereading, predicting what will happen, asking questions, or using visual cues or pictures.
• Decide on their own to use reading and writing for different purposes.
• Read some things aloud with ease.
• Identify new words by using letter-sound matches, parts of words, and their understanding of the rest of a story or printed item.
• Identify an increasing number of words by sight.
• Sound out and represent major sounds in a word when trying to spell.
• Write about topics that mean a lot to them.
• Try to use some punctuation marks and capitalisation.

Ages 6-10: (Learning to read), Children can :

• Read simple books and know about 100 common words.
• Understand that letters represent sounds, which form words, by mid-first grade.
• Enjoy a variety of types of stories and talk about characters, settings and events.
• Remember the names and sounds of all letters and recognise upper and lowercase by first class (approx. age 7)
• Read independently and fluently by third class (approx. age 9).
• Sound out unfamiliar words when reading.

Children’s literacy Ages 3-5

I have done a lot of research into the ages that children progress with literacy.

Most children learn to read by age 7, built on a foundation of communication skills that they start learning at birth.

Most children develop certain communication skills as they move through the early stages of learning language. I’ve included below a list of such accomplishments which is based on current research in the field. However, it is important to keep in mind that children vary a great deal in how they develop and learn – every child is different!

From birth to age 3, most babies and toddlers become able to:

• Make sounds that imitate the tones and rhythms that adults use when talking.
• Respond to gestures and facial expressions.
• Begin to associate words they hear frequently with what the words mean.
• Make cooing, babbling sounds in the crib, which gives way to enjoying rhyming and nonsense word games with a parent or caregiver.
• Handle objects such as board books and alphabet blocks in their play.
• Recognize certain books by their covers.
• Pretend to read books.
• Understand how books should be handled.
• Share books with an adult as a routine part of life.
• Name some objects in a book.
• Talk about characters in books.
• Look at pictures in books and realize they are symbols of real things.
• Listen to stories.
• Ask or demand that adults read or write with them.
• Begin to pay attention to specific print such as the first letters of their names.
• Scribble with a purpose (trying to write or draw something).
• Produce some letter-like forms and scribbles that resemble, in some way, writing.

From ages 3-4, most pre-schoolers become able to:

• Enjoy listening to and talking about storybooks.
• Understand that print carries a message.
• Make attempts to read and write.
• Identify familiar signs and labels.
• Participate in rhyming games.
• Identify some letters and make some letter-sound matches.
• Use known letters (or their best attempt to write the letters) to represent written language, especially for meaningful words like their names or phrases such as “I love you.”

At age 5, most pre school kids become able to:

• Sound as if they are reading when they pretend to read.
• Enjoy being read to.
• Retell simple stories.
• Use descriptive language to explain or to ask questions.
• Recognise letters and letter-sound matches.
• Show familiarity with rhyming and beginning sounds.
• Understand that print is read left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
• Begin to match spoken words with written ones.
• Begin to write letters of the alphabet and some words they use and hear often.
• Begin to write stories with some readable parts.