Making Mental Pictures

As we all know, we each learn in our own unique way. Many children think visually-that is they need to see it to understand completely. They use shapes, movement, colors, diagrams, charts and spatial relationships. A great way to see if children are comprehending what they are reading is by having them visualize what they are reading in the story and describe it. Then, as an enrichment activity, ask him to illustrate the story. 

Strategy: Visualize and Form Mental Images

This is a great strategy for older kids - upper elementary (3rd, 4th and 5th graders). If your child is having difficulty forming the mental image - prompt him with the following guiding questions/commands:

1. What does the character look like?

2. Imagine that this story is a movie - what does it look like to you?

3. Describe the setting - where the story takes place.

4. Make a sketch on scrap paper of the characters and settings of the story.

Another way to help a child who learns visually is to use graphic organizers. Graphic organizers are pictures which allow you to organize in writing the information from the text. Some are very simplistic and others are more complex, increasing in complexity with the information in the stories as well as the age group using them. It is very easy to create your own organizers, but it is even easier to type what you're looking for into a search engine. The problem becomes knowing which was is the best one.

Some common graphic organizers include story maps, Venn Diagrams, sequence charts, compare/contrast and description charts. Below, I have included samples of each of these. They are easy to create if you're not able to print them.

Try some of them and report back how they worked or if you have questions!

This is an example of a cause and effect chart.
It is mainly used to identify the problems of
a story and the effects of those problems.

This is an example of a sequence
chart. Use these when your
child is having difficulty remembering
the events of a story in order.

A story map is used to organize the literary
elements of a work of fiction. This really
shouldn't be used for non-fiction
unless it reads like a novel. 

A Venn Diagram is used to compare two things/characters. On the
left side you list one item's characteristics, on the right side you
list the other item's characteristics and in the middle you
list what they have in common.

Book Walks

It's been quite a while since I have written! We've been a little busy around here. We welcomed our second son, Joseph Jahyr (JJ) about 8 weeks ago. My husband, son Frankie (3.5 years) and I are so in love!

But time to get back to business - you all have children who you want to see become confident readers. After doing some research, it seems most of my followers are parents of younger children, not quite in school yet or in pre-school. Although it is wonderful if your pre-school child is reading, this is not expected by teachers, schools or the Department of Education. However, "reading" is very subjective. I consider any child who is looking through books to be "reading." Early reading begins with illustrations.

Emerging and struggling readers often use the illustrations in a story to help them with comprehension and context. Although this is not a good strategy to use in the long run, it is important that children know how to look through a book, understand that the illustrations help tell the story and that the text on a page is directly connected to the illustrations.

Strategy: Take a Book Walk

Often, at bedtime, my 3-year-old will request to "read" to me. The way he does this is by looking at the pictures and telling me what he thinks is happening. Some of our favorites are the Curious George stories by H.A. Rey. The illustrations are very clear and simple for my son's age group. He looks at the pictures - in order - and puts his own story together. This is called a "Book Walk."

As we look through together, I ask him open-ended questions such as, "what is happening here?" "Oh no! What is happening?" "why do you think this happened?"  These questions are the beginning of a reader forming conclusions. He is taking clues from the pictures and applying them to his own experiences. This is a very important learning tool. Book walks are used with readers of all ages and developments, but you can start this with very young children.

As a bonus, this is fantastic one-on-one time with your child. In my experience as a teacher, the parents who spend more time with their children often (but not always) have better readers. I believe this is because they speak more to their children - which is a promoter of vocabulary, and they spend time reading stories together. I highly recommend that reading at least one story at night become an integral part of the bedtime routine. The results of time spent will make you very happy!

Getting back to the book walk, here is a list of activities you can do with your child with books BEFORE they learn to read text.

1. Parts of the book - this is a good opportunity to teach your child the parts of a book. Cover, back cover, title, author, title page, etc. When they're young, don't teach them these parts all at once. Do one at a time - start with the cover.

2. Left to Right - young children don't know their right from left yet, but you can start teaching the way text flows in a book. Use your finger under the text as you read it. Children will pick up the way the pages turn (to the right) and that text is flowing that way as well.

3. What do you think is happening? - Have children go through all the illustrations in a story and ask them to tell you what they think is happening on a given page. Children should use clues from the illustrations to form their own story. Eventually, they will learn how to form a story with a clear beginning, middle and ending.


Try this strategy tonight and report back!!

Take a Book Walk

This approach to early reading is simply understanding what a book is. Kids need to learn how to hold a book, where the cover is, that the story goes left to right, etc. These are things that are so obvious, we might not even think to show our child.

I have walked into some homes with young children and noticed that there are no books anywhere within reach of the children. This makes me sad because I don't think these parents realize that making a mess with books is actually learning to read. What a funny thing to consider - a child pulling books off shelves is learning? Absolutely. This is a very "whole language" approach to teaching reading.

Strategy: Get books in your kids hands, early and often.


Kids should feel comfortable to approach a book shelf, pick out a book and look through the pages. Intuitively, your child will look through the pictures and begin to make up a story to go along with what they see.

Reading aloud to your child is important, but not the only important thing. At times, it's just as important to let your child tell you a story by looking at the pictures and figuring out what is going on. Try it out sometime - have your toddler pick a book, then sit together and allow her to "read" to you. Use prompting questions, like "what do you see here?" "I see something red, what do you see?" "where is the car?" These leading questions will encourage your child to use perceptive skills to decipher what is happening in this story.

Sometimes, I just let me son pull books off the shelf, surround himself with them, and look through them a few at a time. He holds the books in his hands, looks at the pictures, sees the print, deciphers colors, and in his mind puts a story line together.

Questions about this? Leave a comment/question below!

Infant "Readers"

Ok, so we all know infants can't "read," at least not the definition of reading that we all accept as educators and parents. However, the beginning of teaching a child to read begins from the time the baby comes home from the hospital. Reading aloud begins with speaking. So it goes to follow, logically, that the better a "speaker" your child becomes, the better reader may develop. And teaching your child speech begins from the moment he/she is born.

My son, Frankie, is now 3 years and 1 month old. He is talking up a storm and really expressing his thoughts, feelings, needs, wants and observations clearly. I feel very confident about his speech abilities. However, this was not always the case. Until very recently, my husband and I were very concerned about Frankie's speech. He received Early Intervention services starting when he was 2 years and 4 months. We sent him to a Montessori School 2 mornings a week after he turned 2 so that he could begin conversing with other kids and adults who didn't know all of his signals and sound effects. It didn't even seem that any of that was working. Then all of a sudden, he began talking regularly without much prompting. His speech exploded in just a few weeks. And now, I have no concerns in that area at all.

I believe that my son's speech development began the moment he was born. So let's begin there. It's as simple as talking to your child.

Strategy #1 - Talk to your child
It really is that simple. To begin teaching your child to read, start when he/she is first born. Talk to your child as much and as often as possible. The more words spoken to your child, the more words she will begin to understand. It works as a domino effect and begins here, with this simple task. Now, please don't stress yourself out by reciting the Gettysburg Address on a nightly basis. Simply have "conversations" with your baby. While feeding him, dressing him, holding and cuddling, driving in the car, simply talk to him. It truly can be about anything because until several months old, he doesn't understand what you are saying - although I would recommend leaving angry tones or frustrating topics off the list. Babies can sense tension and when you're speaking about a topic that frustrates you, your baby will inevitably pick up on that.

I used to tell my son funny stories about his dad and me, my parents and siblings. If I ran out of ideas, I often read aloud from a novel or magazine. Hearing your voice speaking words helps your child learn and repeat speech. The more words spoken, the better.