Reading and viewing begins at birth and continues steadily as children develop. They are essential skills for one to be able to understand the world around them. This is supported by Hill (2012), which states that reading is a complex process that involves decoding and understanding modes in order to deduct and deduce meaning. 

 

Reading is a socially embedded meaning-making process that occurs through multi-literacies and multimodal textual practices (Bull & Anstey, 2010; Cope & Kelantzis, 2013; Kress, 2010; New London Group, 2000). This means that reading is not just print or language; it also includes the ways in which meaning is represented in signs, logos, music, animation and forms of multimedia. Reading and viewing is everything. According to Singapore Ministry of Education NEL Framework, the desired outcomes of preschool education is to develop “A confident person” and “An active and self-directed learner”. As such, literacy is important as one of the factors in contributing to these outcomes. When children are able to make meaning from decoding, they will feel confident and take initiative in learning. 

 

Reese lives in a stable and functional family with her father, mother, and sister. Both Reese's parents are bilingual in English and Chinese, however insist on only speaking English at home. Reese's parents are working long hours in the veterinary industry, hence she is taken care by a caregiver during the day. She is extremely outgoing, with a passion for investigating the things around her and is always asking questions. She enjoys spending quality time with her family especially watching television programs on the National Geographic channel with her father. Due to the parents' nature of work, it sparked Reese's interest in science especially animals and its link to natural world. 

 

This knowledge could present many options for learning in the classroom. This is supported by Hill (2012) which states “building on the familiar is linked to making connections to children’s world,” (Hill, 2012). Additionally, “teachers need to learn about children’s homes and communities in order to make connections between what children already know or are interested in and what they need to learn to be readers and writers.”

 

A fluency of reading rubric (Hill, 2012) was one strategy used to access Reese as she read the book. When reading the book 'Not Too Many', she scored a fluency score of 2 with her reading 100 words in 50 seconds. Comparing Reese’s score of 2 with Hill’s (2012) reading fluency rubric, she would be classed at between level 2 and 3, steering towards level 3. 

 

Evidence for the following conclusion can be heard on the audio attachment. Reese performed a mixture of word by word and phrased reading. As Reese read, most words and phrases flowed. She demonstrated an awareness of syntax with her smooth sentence reading and attention to punctuation. Her interpretation of expression was also evident in the audio attachment, as it is a book he is familiar with. 

 

Hill (2012) defines reading as fluent if the “words are read together in meaningful chunks… there are few examples of word-by-word reading (and) there is attention to syntax and punctuation”. By this definition, Reese read fluently. Reese's ability to understand a text without struggling to decode words or meaning has ignited a sheer pleasure of reading in this student.