When a child appears to be reading a book aloud with some non-speech sounds, which teacher action is most appropriate?

• A. Comment that the child is reading and discuss the pictures.
• B. Force the child to read the text aloud with a finger on each word.
• C. Tell the child to wait until he learns the letters.
• D. Sing a song about letters instead.

Answer: (A)

Engaging emergent readers by validating their attempts and connecting meaning to print is the key idea here. When a child uses non-speech sounds and reads aloud with pictures, they’re exploring how stories work and how pictures relate to text. The best teacher response is to acknowledge the effort and talk about what’s happening in the pictures. This supports vocabulary, comprehension, and print awareness, and it models that reading is about meaning as well as how words sound.

Forcing a rigid reading method, such as requiring every word to be pointed to or read aloud, can stifle confidence and ignore the child’s current stage. Saying to wait until letters are known delays engagement with literacy, and singing about letters doesn’t build on the child’s current reading attempt.