READING AND

WRITING
ANDREA JANINE F. SANCHEZ

SUBJECT TEACHER
 WHAT IS READING?
• Reading is the process of looking at written symbols
and letters and understanding their meaning. It’s one of
the four main language skills, alongside listening, speaking,
and writing. In your native language, reading typically
comes after listening and speaking. When we read, our
eyes receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks,
and spaces), and our brain converts them into words,
sentences, and paragraphs that communicate something to
us.
• Reading involves a multifaceted process,
including word recognition, orthography
(spelling), alphabetics, phonics, phonemic
awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency,
and motivation1. It’s not just about decoding words; it’s
about extracting meaning from the text, whether it’s a
captivating novel, an informative article, or even a
simple sign on the street.
 WHAT IS WRITING?
• Writingis the process of using symbols (letters of the alphabet,
punctuation, and spaces) to communicate thoughts and ideas in a
readable form. It encompasses various aspects:
• Handwriting: When we use a pen or pencil to write on paper or a
whiteboard.
• Typing:Using a keyboard attached to a typewriter, computer, or
mobile device.
• Voice Recognition: Programs that transcribe spoken words into
written text, allowing those who can’t see or use their hands to
express their thoughts
• Inthe realm of language skills, writing is the fourth skill,
following listening, speaking, and reading. To write
effectively, one must understand grammar, punctuation,
sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling, and formatting.
Writers create for personal enjoyment, specific
audiences, or public platforms like blogs. Whether
writing for oneself, a friend, or an unknown audience,
considering the audience is crucial. Styles of writing can
range from informal to formal, each serving different
purposes and contexts.
READING AND WRITING
CONNECTIONS
• The benefits of reading
Reading has many benefits, but it’s a skill that even a lot of adults don’t use
enough. Apart from the necessity of reading to get by in today’s world, let’s
look at some other benefits of reading and how these can contribute
positively to your child’s development.

• Reading helps you discover the world

Reading is a gateway to learning anything about everything. It helps you
discover new things and educate yourself in any area of life you are
interested in. You can find a book on just about any subject you can
imagine, dive in and start learning. Your child can learn about their interests
(and even themselves) through reading things they enjoy.
• Reading develops your imagination and creativity
When we watch television or a movie, all the information is given to us
on the screen – there’s nothing we need to imagine. A book in its pure
form is just words on a page, and our minds have to do the work,
imagining the words coming to life. This does wonders to develop our
creativity and imagination.
• Reading improves vocabulary and communication
Giving your child access to a world of words is one of the best ways to
improve their vocabulary and enhance their spelling skills. New knowledge
that’s gained through enjoyment has a tendency to stick and doesn’t even
feel like work! Both their written and spoken communication abilities can be
improved through regular reading.
• Reading helps with building a good self-image and playing well with
others
Learning new concepts, discovering exciting places and understanding
others’ perspectives is key to building a well-rounded self-image – not to
mention the self-esteem boost from being able to read well! It’s at early
ages that children can be most easily influenced, and a positive reading
experience can do wonders to help them form a positive perception of
themselves. Reading also has social benefits. Children can discuss stories
with others and form friendships over shared interests.
• Reading improves concentration and reduces stress
Not only does reading focus your attention entirely on the
task at hand, it also immerses you in the information,
improving concentration and memory of what you read.
Getting completely involved in a book can help us relax and
feel calm.
• Active vs passive reading
Learning to read is the first step. From there, The use of
appropriate reading strategies is essential in learning and in
life. So, what is the difference between a “passive” unskilled
reader and an “active” skilled reader?
• The passive reader
Have you ever read a page in a book and not taken in anything
you’ve just read? Or caught yourself reading and re-reading the
same paragraph without actively acknowledging the words? This is
passive reading without any meaningful engagement.
• The active reader
Active readers engage with what they’re reading. They read with an
open and questioning mind, and they stop to think more about what
things mean. Here are some ideas, of how skilled active readers
read:
• They can predict what will happen next in a story using clues they gain from
reading.
• They create questions about the main idea, message or plot.
• They monitor understanding of the sequence, context or characters.
• They stop to clarify parts of the text that have confused them.
• They connect events in the text to prior knowledge or experience.
• The importance of reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand a written
passage of text. It’s the bridge between the passive reader and
active reader, and the crucial link to effective reading – essential for
a rich academic, professional and personal life. Reading
comprehension involves several different processes, such as
imagining what the words describe, understanding the context of
the book and being able to answer questions related to a text.
Think about a book you’ve read before, and then try to summarize
what the book was about. If your child can answer questions about
a book or text, explain important events that happened in a story
and have an opinion about why the events may have occurred,
they’re displaying comprehension skills .
• Without reading and comprehension skills, children will struggle to grow
academically, as reading is the foundation to all academic subjects such as
History, Mathematics and Science. It also influences your child’s ability to write.
Reading fluency is also a very important part of reading comprehension, as
readers who spend their time decoding words often lose the understanding of
what is being read. If your child is still decoding it’s vital to focus on the basics
to give them a strong reading comprehension foundation. This can include
paying more attention, auditory analysis, sound blending, memory, processing
speed and visual perception. A lack of strong reading comprehension skills
affects a child’s success at school, as academic progress depends on
understanding, analysing and applying information gathered through reading.
• How to help your reading comprehension
If your child needs some help improving their reading comprehension,
encourage active reading by focusing on these strategies:
• Reading with purpose
Active reading encourages understanding through engagement with the text. If
your child is interested in the material, they will be far more likely to involve
themselves in learning about it and become a more active reader.
• Learning vocabulary
It’s very easy to lose track of what you’re reading if you don’t understand some
of the words, but we all tend to skim over words we don’t know on occasion
without taking the time to look them up. Learning new vocabulary will help your
child get a deeper understanding of what they’re reading. Ask your child to write
down any words that they don’t understand and you can look up the meanings
together.
• Retelling what they’ve read
After they’ve read a short section of a text, ask your child to tell you about it in their
own words. Recalling the story helps with comprehension, and you can also gauge
how much they’ve understood.
• Asking and answering questions
Read the same text or chapter as your child and open a discussion by asking them
questions about it and inviting them to do the same. Discussing a book is an excellent
way to check understanding and keep the material fresh in their mind.
• Summarizing the important facts
Summarizing is a great way to improve active reading and comprehension skills. It
requires an understanding of the whole text and judgement about which information is
the most important. If your child can tell you the important parts of a story, they’re well
on their way to being an exceptional active reader!
Graphic Organizer
• A graphic organizer, also
known as a knowledge
map, concept map, story
map, cognitive
organizer, advance organizer,
or concept diagram, is a
pedagogical tool that uses
visual symbols to express
knowledge and concepts
through relationships between
them.The main purpose of a
graphic organizer is to provide a
visual aid to facilitate learning
and instruction.
Topic Outline
• In making a quick overview of topics to be included in a certain topic or subject,
the most effective thing to do is topic outlining. It has headings and subheadings which
must be in words and not sentences. It simply generalizes the logic of your paper. The
hierarchy shows which points are the main and which points are the sub.

Sentence Outline
What is the Sentence Outline? – Definition
A Sentence Outline is a type of outline where each entry is a complete sentence, as opposed
to a single word or a phrase. It provides a highly detailed plan for your writing, down to the
specific arguments and evidence you will use.
Patterns of Development
• Most academic essays have an overall structure –
introduction leading to a thesis, body, conclusion. Essays
also have topic sentences and units of support that
constitute the body, and these topic sentences and units of
support need to be ordered logically in a way that’s
appropriate to the essay.
• Knowing that these common patterns of human thought
exist, will help you as a writer to both develop and
organize information in your essays. The following image
identifies common patterns. Although it refers to
“paragraph” patterns, understand that these are also
common patterns for whole essays.
• Consider these common patterns of thought and consider specific ways in which you’ve applied
each thinking pattern in your everyday life.
• 1. Narration

The purpose of narration is to tell a story or relate an event. Narration is an especially useful
tool for sequencing or putting details and information into some kind of logical order, usually
chronological. Literature uses narration heavily, but it also can be useful in non-fiction,
academic writing for strong impact.
• 2. Description

The purpose of description is to recreate, invent, or visually present a person, place, event,
or action so that the reader can picture that which is being described. It is heavily based on
sensory details: sight, sound, smell, feel, taste.
• 3. Example

It’s common to see examples used in all kinds of situations—an idea can be considered too
general or abstract until we see it in action. Exemplification extends this idea even further: it
carries one or more examples into great detail, in order to show the details of a complex
problem in a way that’s easy for readers to understand.
• 4. Definition

Definition moves beyond a dictionary definition to deeply examine a word or concept as we

actually use and understand it.
• 5. Process Analysis

Analyzing a process can also be thought of as “how-to” instruction. Technical writing

includes a lot of process analysis, for instance. Academic writing can incorporate process
analysis to show how an existing problem came to be, or how it might be solved, by
following a clear series of steps.
• 6. Classification/Division

Classification takes one large concept, and divides it into individual pieces. A nice result
from this type of writing is that it helps the reader to understand a complex topic by
focusing on its smaller parts. This is particularly useful when an author has a unique way of
dividing the concepts, to provide new insight into the ways it could be viewed.
• 7. Comparison/Contrast

Comparison focuses on similarities between things, and contrast focuses on their

differences. We innately make comparisons all the time, and they appear in many kinds
of writings. The goal of comparison and contrast in academic essays is generally to show
that one item is superior to another, based on a set of evaluations included as part of the
writing.
• 8. Cause/Effect

If narration offers a sequence of events, cause/effect essays offer an explanation about

why that sequence matters. Cause/effect writing is particularly powerful when the author
can provide a cause/effect relationship that the reader wasn’t expecting, and as a result
see the situation in a new light.
• 9. Problem/Solution

This type of academic writing has two equally important tasks: clearly identifying a
problem, and then providing a logical, practical solution for that problem. Establishing that
a particular situation IS a problem can sometimes be a challenge–many readers might
assume that a given situation is “just the way it is,” for instance.