Byrnes - Johnson, P. (2006). Laying the foundations. In P. Johnson, One child at a time: Making the most of your time with struggling readers (pp. 13-25). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

APA Citation:  Johnson, P. (2006).  Laying the foundations.  In P. Johnson, One child at a time:  Making the most of your time with struggling readers (pp. 13-25).  Portland, ME:  Stenhouse.

I was very skeptical when i first read the title of the article. I thought, "one child at a time?!" I'm very glad i read the article anyway. Reading this article made me realize that I truly am helping my students learn to read to the best of their ability! As a 4K teacher, these students do not have the strategies to "figure it out" by themselves. Also, telling my students to "sound it out" just does not work if they are unable to even recognize the letters. The fact that I am using books that the students have made and teaching them to use the pictures to help them figure out what the book is about is exactly what the passage was talking about. We cannot just assume that our students have the strategies they need to figure out words or that they even know where to begin to try to understand what they are reading. This passage reinforced what I have been trying to teach my students. while the passage was talking about older students, it is certainly applicable to my 4K class...especially due to the fact that i have some students that are ready for leveled readers now. If I can help my students with some strategies on figuring out how to read with strategies, I will be setting them up for success as readers...one child at a time.