“The single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual
success in reading is reading aloud to children.” (National Commission on Reading, 1985).
Storybook classes include:
- Storybook Reading Groups
- Early Reading Class
Storybook Reading Groups
Recent research has identified four essential skills necessary for emergent readers: oral language, phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and print awareness (Whitehurst and Lonigan, 1998). The Embedded-Explicit Model, a proven approach to teaching emergent reading skills, will be utilized to expose children to heavy doses of naturalistic, socially embedded, and meaningful interactions through “embedded” storybook reading. The reading is thematic and meaningful, and child interaction is fostered through a “dialogic reading” approach (Whitehurst et. al., 1988), a technique rooted in praise and encouragement of student verbalization, open-ended questions, and embellishment of children’s responses. Then, “explicit” doses of directive, instructional opportunities are incorporated to build phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and print awareness.
Georgetown Psychology Associates and Educational Solutions, LLC run 10 week Storybook Reading sessions upon request. The class goal is to introduce emergent readers to engaging, language-rich stories that encourage interactions designed to build oral language skills. As the oral language skills of group members improve, the reading group incorporates explicit activities designed to build other essential reading skills (including alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, and print awareness).
Class Schedule: Open (Weekdays or Weekend)
Class fee= $525 (10 sessions)
Early Reading Class:
While storybook reading has been identified as an important factor in building emergent reading skills (ages 3-4), early reading (ages 5-7) requires more direct, and explicit instruction in the areas of oral language, phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and conventions of print (Whitehurst and Lonigan, 1998). Additionally, early readers must begin developing their phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary skills. These are more advanced skill sets. For example, phonemic awareness is the ability to blend, segment, and manipulate sounds; a more advanced skill than phonological awareness, which involves rhyming, blending and segmenting at the syllable and word level.
Georgetown Psychology Associates and Educational Solutions, LLC run 10 week Early Reading Classes upon request. Students are organized into small groups (5-6 maximum) of early readers. Smaller groups are necessary to focus the students and make the instructor more readily available to differentiate instruction if necessary. There will still be a focus on storybook reading, but it will comprise a smaller portion of the class and serve as an opportunity to scaffold key skills through the dialogic reading process.
Class Schedule: Open (Weekdays or Weekend)
Class fee= $525 (10 sessions)
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