Helping your child learn to read at home
Expand your children’s world- help them become a reader even if you have extremely busy schedules! You don’t have to be a good reader to help your child. You don’t have to enjoy reading to help your child.
You don’t have to read lengthy books to help your child become a great reader. You don’t need to spend a huge amount of time reading with your child. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on books. You don’t have to take expensive classes to know what to do and how to get started.
Let’s begin this article by talking about what you CAN do. Here are some practical and simple ideas. If you want to get some ideas about supporting the school’s reading program volunteer as a reading helper and talk with your child’s teacher about what to do at home.
You can lay the foundations that will help your child become a lifelong reader. Their world will be expanded and enriched by reading experiences that you can provide with only a short, consistent time commitment each day. The benefits are immeasurable.
The first thing to do is to stimulate your child’s interest in reading. There are many ways to do this, the most obvious being to read a book to them. Choose a book that is suitable for their age and interests.
Start with a picture book, even big kids love picture books, particularly the ones by Graeme Base. Show them the pictures, discuss what you all see. Let them listen to your voice, and become aware that words convey meaning. They associate the written word with spoken language. If you are reading to beginning readers, track under the lines so that your child sees that you read from left to right. Turn the pages slowly and say, perhaps, what do you think will happen next.
Parents need to model reading behavior and label it as such. Whether you read a magazine, technical manual, cook book, cereal packet or newspaper, capture your child’s attention by sharing a piece of information. Some simple ideas include: read the cereal box at breakfast time; read some words that have many syllables and clap their rhythm.
There are many core skills and concepts that underlie reading, like word recognition, rhyming, starting and ending sounds of words, even joining in by looking at text. Have the kids help you prepare meals by reading recipes or instructions on packets and cans. When eating out or getting take out, find words and symbols that have meaning, like the golden arches of MacDonalds.
Parents should read to their children even when the children have become independent readers. Everyone, even adults, enjoy listening to stories read to them. Listening to a poem, book or short text read stimulates imagination and builds vocabulary as well as expanding understanding of our world.
Read to your children all the time. Read fiction and non-fiction; read poems and short stories. Read about real things- animals in Africa, Space travel – whatever interests you and your child. The advantage of reading to your child is that you can read books about things that interest them and stories that are beyond their reading level. This will motivate them to increase their reading skills so that they can read more complex text.
Consider having a collection of children’s reading CDs for long travel time. Visit libraries and join up so that all the family can borrow books. Family reading time can be fun when each member reads independently. Endeavor to have a set time when everyone sits and reads, no TV no answering or using phones, no texting, no sitting at a computer, no drawing or writing.
Vary the content of what you read to children. Read them a cleverly crafted poem and talk about the ‘mental pictures’ the poem creates. Select some of the most exciting words from the poem – the fun words or the mysterious words. Encourage your children to enjoy the intricacies and beauty of your language. Select from magazines, books, letters, emails, catalogs, mail from the mail box – anything. Words are magical. Reading is fun. If you believe this and if you spend lots of time helping your child read, your child will do brilliantly at school and love language and reading.
Warm regards
Columbia
For the team at
mightydigitaldownloads.com
Columbia Lee is a passionate educator with 35 years of teaching experience. She knows parents can create exciting learning at home. Do you want to help your child learn to read? Want your child to read better? Get her collection of helpful books to increase learning at home.
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