Contents
It all starts at home
First the language. We know that the fetus perceives sounds, mainly the voice of its mother. At birth, he distinguishes vowels and syllables then, gradually, he will recognize certain words, such as his first name, detect the meaning of certain sentences, according to their intonation. Around 1 year old, he understands that words have a meaning, which will encourage him to want to appropriate them to make himself understood in turn.
Youth albums, an interesting tool. Listening to his parents read him an album, he understands that the words spoken have a relation to what is written. Most children’s albums are made up of very short sentences, daily and repetitive in their melody, allowing children to ‘hang on’ to the words used. This is why they often claim the same story that they try, from 2’3 years old, to ‘read’ on their own. In fact, they know it by heart, even if they don’t get the wrong text as they turn the pages.
Speak it well. We now know that we should no longer talk about ‘baby’ to children. We know less that it is essential for him to grow up in a ‘language bath’ as the specialists say. Using an adequate and varied vocabulary, articulating words well and repeating them are all good habits to adopt. And of course, surround it with books and privilege the story told to that recorded on CD.
In small section, access to writing
From the first year of kindergarten, children are familiar with the world of writing: magazines, newspapers, albums, life books, posters… They recognize their first name, learn the alphabet through nursery rhymes. The priority of the small section is also to develop the language, enrich the vocabulary, stimulate, fundamental acquisitions to learn to read.
In average section, the acquisition of the body diagram
Besides his first steps in graphic design (reading and writing being linked), mastery of space (front, back, top, bottom, left, right…) is essential to progress towards reading. As Dr Régine Zekri-Hurstel, neurologist (1), says: “You have to have had the possibility of moving freely and with ease in space, to accept painlessly reducing it to a sheet of paper.”
In large section, initiation to reading
Integrated into cycle 2 which includes CP and CE1, the large section truly marks the entry into the world of writing (reading and writing). At the end of the large section, the child is able to copy a short sentence and it is in this writing activity that he manages to ‘print’ the letters that distinguish the words between them. Finally, a primary place is given to books in the classroom.
CP, learning by method
He speaks fluently, knows the alphabet, recognizes and already knows how to write several words, loves to immerse himself in books and likes you to tell him his evening story … Your child is already well equipped to approach a method of reading. Trust the teacher who will choose the learning manual. Do not try to teach your child to read on your own. Learning to read is professional, you could only confuse your child by adding confusion to an already complex learning. He has a year ahead of him.
The new directives of 2006
They invite teachers to reinforce the use of the so-called syllabic method ‘namely the deciphering of signs’ for learning to read without however totally excluding the global method which favors access to the meaning of a word or a word. ‘a whole sentence. Exclusive, the global method was very controversial and, for several years, most teachers have used a so-called mixed method, which combines the two. Contrary to the controversy aroused by these new directives, it seems that the objective is not the elimination of the global method and the supremacy of the syllabic method, but “the recourse to two types of complementary approaches to identify the words by the indirect way (deciphering) and the analysis of whole words in smaller units referred to already acquired knowledge ”(decree of March 24, 2006) (2).