On the Road to Reading

Designed to be used in conjunction with "On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners," this handbook focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for tutors to help children from birth through third grade master reading fundamentals. The 5 chapters of the handbook present 11 training sessions for tutors, comprising 36 hours of training. Chapter 1, "First Steps for Reading Helpers," provides an orientation to basic principles and techniques of tutoring. Chapter 2, "How Children Learn To Read," presents an overview of how children become readers and writers. Chapter 3, "Tutoring Strategies for Preschool and Kindergarten," addresses strategies for talking with children, reading aloud, and writing with children. Chapter 4, "Tutoring Strategies for the Primary Grades," explores reading together, helping children with reading strategies, focusing on meaning, and improving writing skills. Chapter 5, "Partnering with Families," discusses how to support children's reading at home and promote family literacy. Each chapter is organized in two parts--an overview summarizing the topic and highlighting the principal themes, and the training sessions and activities related to the theme. Each training session follows a standard format: (1) learning objectives; (2) basic concepts; (3) tutor reading; (4) trainer preparation; (5) materials needed; (6) activities; (7) debriefing; (8) tutor follow up; and (9) evaluation. The handbook's two appendices list of training resources and includes overhead transparencies and handouts. Contains a 47-item annotated bibliography