Children are habitual creatures. The more that is the same, the better they can understand and learn. That is why children learn to read with predictable books.
A predictable book is one that is repetitive in the text or repetitive in the ideas. Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle is a great example of a predictable book. The repeating text of “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?” is great for emergent readers. They can predict what each page is going to say, learning that text moves from left to right, and remembering what each of the repeating words looks like.
Many people think that a repetitive book only teaches a child to memorize. That is true. Children learn to read by memorizing what words look like, or the pattern the letters make. They also learn to read by sounding words out. By memorizing the text, a child is learning that a /B/ is the beginning of Brown and a /b/ is the beginning of the word bear. The can form a relationship to the letter and the sound and use that knowledge another time when they see the “b.” The memorization is an important part of learning to read.
Repetitive ideas or themes are also a good way to help children learn to read. Series books, such as Bear About the Town, Bear at Home, Bear in the Sunshine, and Bear in a Square by Stella Blackstone help children learn to read by repeating the same ideas of the bear through each book. Series’ books help children form connections between different books and can help them compare and contrast what is happening to the character. All of these elements are important in learning to read.
Helping your child learn to read by providing repetitive books will give your child the confidence to read. The confidence is from the ability to predict what is coming next, even if at first they are “pretending” to read. The repeating text and ideas will help them form connections between what they see and what they hear. This is a fun way to encourage reading. 👨â€ðŸ‘¶ðŸ½ðŸ‘©â€