Brief guidelines for home and school reading for K-12 students, with a few book recommendations.

1. Reading: A Skill that
Gives for Lifetime
Dr. Russell Frank
阅读：终生受益的技能

2. Children’s Developmental Stages
儿童的发育阶段
01
02 Reading in the Preschool Years
学龄前阅读
03 Early Primary School Reading
小学早期读书
04 Reading in the Middle Grades
在小学和中学读书
0
1 02 03 04
05 Some thoughts on When, How, and
What
在高中，大学和职业中阅读
05

3. 02 03 04
Children’s Developmental
Stages
(Piaget, Vygotsky, et al.)
Ages 3-5
“Pre-operational”
(Pre-logical)
o Develop symbolic thought
o Pretend play
o Centration of thought
o Memory – mainly
recognition
o Own ways of categorizing,
reasoning, and problem-
solving
“Read to me.”
Ages 6-7
Change
o Fantasy > logic & reason
o Capable of independent
problem solving
o “Right way” to do things
o Prefer structured rather
than open-ended tasks
o Difficulty with abstract/
hypothetical concepts
“We read together,
I read alone.”
Ages 8-
10
“Concrete Operation”
o Apply logic and reason to
concrete problems,
objects, and events
o Focus attention.
o Can consider multiple
perspectives
o Still has difficulty with
abstract or hypothetical
concepts
“I read, we read,
and we talk.”
Age 11+
“Formal Operation”
o logical thought
o deductive reasoning
abilities
o improved memory
o executive function skills
o Metacognitive skills
“I read, and we talk
about ideas and
strategies.”
05

4. 01 03 04
Reading in the Preschool Years: At
Home
“Read to me.”
Talk often to build listening and speaking
skills
Talk about events, recent family pictures, books read
together… to help memory development. Play a game
together to help them learn sequencing skills. Listen and
answer children’s (many!) questions.
Show your child how books and print work
Point out things like front and back covers,
authors’ names, illustrators…
Show the connections between print and pictures.
Focus attention on the sounds of spoken
language
Nursery rhymes or poems; word games; during story reading
listen for words starting with the same sound; during reading,
stop and say a simple word
05
Help build vocabulary, world knowledge,
comprehension
During reading, pause and ask the meanings of words; repeat
important words—e.g., places; help your child develop an
interest in the world around.

5. 01 03 04 05

6. 01 03 04
Reading in the Preschool Years: At School
Developing talking and listening abilities
Teaching about books and print
Teaching about the alphabet
Teaching about the sounds of the spoken
language
Teaching phonics
Developing spelling and writing
Building vocabulary and knowledge of the
world
Building comprehension
05

7. 01 02 04
Early Primary School Reading: At Home
Use reading opportunities to help
develop fluency
o Listen to your child read. Repeat reading
for difficult passages
Find opportunities to practice spelling
and writing
o Letters and thank you notes, simple
stories, emails, grocery lists
Find opportunities to develop vocabulary,
knowledge of the world, and
comprehension
o Talk about new words, help with
dictionary, Help learn about word parts,
learn to use context to guess, ask about
meaning
05
“We read together, I read alone.”

8. 01 02 04 05

9. 01 04
Early Primary School Reading: At School
Promoting reading accuracy
Building fluency
Teaching spelling and writing
Developing vocabulary and knowledge of
the world
Increasing comprehension
0502

10. 01 02 03
Reading in the Middle Years
Begin to use reading skills across subject areas.
Parents can ask questions to encourage
elaboration on information and model and discuss
successful strategies across contexts.
Understand and use non-literal uses of language—
e.g., metaphor, sarcasm, proverbs, analogies.
Rapid development of vocabulary. Parents can
monitor and encourage effective vocabulary
development strategies.
Notice the strategies used to learn, the kind of
questions asked, and if these are working.
(metacognitive strategies, schema, etc.)
05
“I read, and we talk about ideas and
strategies.”

11. 01 02 04 05

12. 01 02 04
Thoughts on When, How, and What to
Read
When?
o Routine, especially for
younger readers
o Separate times and
situations for separate
languages
How?
o Physical book vs Ebook
o Together vs. alone
o Sustained silent
reading vs.
Task-based reading
What?
o Make reading fun!
o Promote the reader’s
interest
o Encourage diversity
03

13. 01
Sample Reading Books by Age: Preschool
02 0403
I Say Ooh, You Say Aah
by John Kane and Kane Miller
There’s a Dragon in Your Book by Tom
Fletcher, Greg Abbott
What Do They Do with All That Poo? By
Jane Kurtz, Allison Black
Grow up, David by David Shannon
Day at the Beach by Tom Booth

14. 01
Sample Reading Books by Age:
Early Primary School
02 0403
What Do Animals Do all Day?
by Wendi Hunt and Muti
Safari Pug by Tom Fletcher, Greg Abbott
Down by the River
by Andrew Weiner, April Chu
Titanic’s Fatal Voyage by David Shannon
School People by Lee Bennet Hopkins,
Ellen Shi

15. 01
Sample Reading Books by Age:
Middle Years
02 0403
Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood
Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Mythology Book
by DK
Grenade by Alan Gratz
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four
Black Women and the Space Race
by Margot Lee Shetterly

16. Thank you!
• Contact information
russell.frank@frank-ed.com