Reading: It's Like Riding a Bike

Riding a bike might seem like simple task, let’s take a look at all of the skills that unlock your freedom to enjoy a ride.  You must learn how to pedal, balance, steer, and brake.  Eventually you weave these skills together enough to make that wobbly ride down the street, focusing on each skill as you go.  With repeated practice, these four loosely woven skills strengthen together as one.  Riding a bike has become one seamless task.  What was many becomes one unlocking the world around you creating endless joy with ease.  

Now let’s think of learning to read in the same way.  Just like riding a bike, reading is a collection of skills woven together.  When these skills are combined and strengthened together, reading can become as automatic as riding a bike.  When you’ve reached this fluent level of reading, printed words on the page transition from intensive work to an endless world to enjoy and explore just like your first bike.  

What skills do we need to achieve reading success?  Awareness (visual awareness and auditory / phonological awareness), letter recognition, phonics, context, and comprehension.  We call this the SkillStack.  These 5 skills weave together to form a strong foundation in reading.  

How do we develop these skills?  By building multiple skills in one activity, maximizing each interaction with a child.  For example:  when you read a story to your child, pause on rhyming words.  Encourage your child to repeat the rhyme or make a new one (auditory / phonological awareness).  Use your finger to track the words on the page as your read (visual awareness).  Choose a letter from your child’s name and play “I Spy Letters” (recognition).  Discuss the characters and events in the story.  Can you relate it to something your child’s life? (context).  Ask your child to flip back through the pages and retell the story to you or someone else.  (comprehension).  With repeated exposure to these reading moments, your child will strengthen the neurological connections needed to weave all five skills into a strong foundation in reading.

Each PB& J Everyday product is developed using the principles of the science of reading and designed to build multiple reading skills with each activity.  Look for the SkillStack list on each product.  Unlock the reading ride.   We look forward to seeing you under the reading tree.