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| Didax "Class Ideas" Newsletter Archive |
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Welcome to 2004! We're looking forward to another fun and exciting year here at Didax. With the holidays over, it's time to work on some New Year's resolutions. We've resolved to bring you some great new books and products and we're all working really hard on getting them ready for you.
This issue of Class Ideas gives you a sneak peek at a new line of readers that we're all really excited about. I'm so happy that I can introduce them to newsletter subscribers before they are unveiled in February. The colorful ELF Readers are designed for Emergent Readers, thus the theme for this month's newsletter. It has an article about motivating young readers, some Internet links with background information and lesson plan ideas, a special and of course, some downloadable reproducible activities.
I hope you enjoy this issue and find it useful. Please email me with your comments and ideas. And keep a lookout for next month's issue that will have even more Emergent Reading ideas!
Thanks for reading.
Anna Mullen, Editor |
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| Growing Happy Readers |
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 One of the greatest factors affecting a young reader?s success is having a desire to read. To effectively teach reading, this factor cannot be ignored. In fact, the desire to read should be developed and nurtured in the early reading classroom. Children will resist learning to read if they have no desire. Nothing brings learning to a halt faster than student resistance.
The greatest help to a student?s desire to read is a background that includes a love of books. If a child sees a parent reading and enjoying a book, reading will be an activity that they look forward to participating in. But not all students come from a background that includes reading as a part of daily life. You can encourage a love of books in these students by allowing pleasant reading-related experiences. Give them happy times of listening to you read books to the class and time to explore and enjoy picture and other books in the classroom.
Our attitudes and comments can dramatically affect a student?s desire to read. Children will take the cue if they see that reading and teaching reading are pleasant treats instead of chores. Act as though you are enjoying the process and they will look forward to reading lessons and their excitement to read will increase. Be sure to make yourself available to students if they need help. Needing help, but not being able to find it raises frustration in emergent readers, negatively affecting their desire to read.
Using positive comments during reading lessons can also make a difference. Hearing negative remarks discourages students by making the learning process unpleasant and can even make them doubt themselves. Encourage them by emphasizing the achievements they are making and gently letting them know what they need to work on.
Once your students ?want to read,? you can keep them going by offering them materials that are of interest to them, use natural language and have expectation of meaning. Reading materials that are interesting to students encourage them to turn the page and persist. If they are interested in the subject matter, they will want to know what happens next. They will also enjoy repeat readings, which are important to reading practice.
Using natural language in emergent reading materials is important in helping students guess unknown words. If stilted, unnatural language is used, students will be tripped up and discouraged. Natural language also helps with a student?s expectation of meaning. If the words are naturally flowing, students will not struggle to understand the meaning of a story. Expectation of meaning is also enhanced by familiar subjects. If a subject is foreign to a student, meaning is hard to find.
By fostering a desire to learn, and then encouraging the process with appropriate reading materials, you can make a real difference in your students? experience. And of course, when learning is fun, teaching is fun. |
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| Introducing ELF Readers! |
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 Didax is pleased to introduce a new Emergent Reading Series designed to provide children with a happy and successful experience in learning to read. Based on current research and the vast experience of Dr. Peter Sloan, author of many reading series, ELF Readers feature:
? Carefully graded texts
? Controlled syntactic structures
? Subjects interesting to young students
? Dramatic and vivid pictorial content
? Strong picture-word correlation
The ELF Readers Collection consists of 40 Readers, 5 color-coded levels of 8 Readers each, 5 Big Books (shared reading books), and a comprehensive Teacher's Guide.
The Big Books for each level of Readers enrich concept themes and language or can be used as a set of progressive stand-alone books. Language patterns are matched to the related ELF Readers. The Big Books are 16 full-color pages each.
The comprehensive Teacher's Guide includes:
? Teaching notes for each Reader
? Blackline masters for each Reader
? Assessment forms and strategies
? Big Book notes
? Suggestions for postreading activities
? Program rationale and research
It offers a step-by-step approach to help you get the most out of each book including prereading activities, introducing the text, what to do when reading, and postreading activities. |
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| Emergent Reading Internet Resources |
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 The Internet is a great resource for preparing your Emergent Reading instruction. From learning about what Emergent Reading is and theories about it to practical classroom activity ideas, we are sure you'll find these sites packed with useful information. |
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| Free Emergent Reading Activity Pages |
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 Are you looking for some quick and easy to prepare activities for your emergent readers? Check out these pages from some of our popular reproducible book series. Just download, photocopy and watch your students learn! |
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| February Newsletter Theme: Emergent Reading, Part 2 |
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| Next month's issue will further explore Emergent Reading. It will include useful hints for in-class reading instruction, Internet links, free activities and a newsletter subscriber only special. |
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