Parent Information on Reading & Writing:
Reading Tips for Parents
Talk to your children, and encourage them to talk. Include vocabulary
lessons in everyday activities, explaining to your children what things are
called and having them tell you what things are and what words mean. This
will help you ensure that your children know words and can properly use them
in conversation.
With younger children (birth to pre-K), talk and sing. Recite nursery rhymes
and other verses with repeated sounds. Practice the alphabet. Use single
words and simple sentences so they can understand. Help your children follow
directions. And show enthusiasm.
With older children (kindergarten and older), ask questions and answer
questions. Engage in conversation about their day, what they are doing, what
is happening around you and them. Show your interest in what they have to
say. Make sure they are speaking in complete sentences and using words
correctly, but try to do this by modeling rather than just pointing out
errors.
Understand the processes of reading. Know the areas in which your children
need help. If they have difficulty sounding out words, focus on phonics
skills, by playing rhyming games and putting sounds together. If they
struggle in reading a paragraph or page, work on fluency skills by rereading
familiar paragraphs or books. Children often enjoy reading to you a book you
may have read to them several times; this is good fluency practice! If they
have finished a book, but cannot tell you what it is about, concentrate on
their reading comprehension skills by asking questions before, during, and
after reading, and by talking with them about events in the story. All are
important to building strong readers.
Point out printed words to your children. At home, at the grocery store,
driving down the street. Help them to read street signs, billboards, and bus
advertising - make it a game. Have them read recipes or directions as you
prepare dinner, or labels and grocery lists at the store.
Take children's books and writing materials with you whenever you leave home
to make any time reading time.
Use your time in the car, bus, or train wisely. Always have books available.
Bring a mini chalkboard and chalk or paper and crayons and encourage your
children to write with them. If you are in the car, use tapes of songs and
nursery rhymes (for younger children) and books on tape (for older children).
As your children are reading, watch or listen for passages where they may
struggle or have problems. Have them reread that section until they are
comfortable with it. Doing so will build fluency skills.
Ask your children questions about what they have read, and help them think
about it. Have them retell the story. Talk with your children about the
sequence of events in the story, and about the characters. Doing so will
build comprehension skills.
Create a quiet, special place in your home for your children to read, write,
and draw. Have your children use that reading space every day. Keep reading
materials in places where your children will see them and can access them.
If your children insist on watching television, focus on educational
programs such as Sesame Street or Between the Lions. Watch TV with your
children whenever you can, and talk about the stories and reading activities
on those programs, and then recall those when reading with your children.
Provide your children a wide variety of reading options - fairy tales, song
books, poems, magazines - and encourage them to reread favorites.
Tap into your children's interests. If video games are their thing, turn
them onto comic books. If they are into sports, have them read the sports
section in the newspaper. If they are glued to the computer, make sure they
spend time reading informational pages and stories online.
Most of today's movies also come out in book form. Before letting your
children see the latest blockbuster, have them read the book. Then, after
you see the movie, discuss the differences.
Set a good example. Let your children see you read - newspapers, magazines,
and books. Children tend to mimic parents.
Reward your children with books. Through community book sales, used book
stores, and programs like Reading is Fundamental (RIF), you can give your
children a gift that will keep giving.
Reach out to your libraries and community and faith-based organizations.
They have age-appropriate books for your children and can often offer
creative ways to use books.
Create a book club for the children in the neighborhood, where they read
books together. Share hosting duties with other parents or older children.
Have book club members act out the books they are reading.
Do not limit your involvement or concern to summer. Reading is a year-round
activity. Just like any other complex skill, strong reading skills come from
practice, practice, practice. Make sure that any summer activity is
continued come the fall. Bring your children to the library, and make it fun.
~ provided by the Partnership for Reading, a collaborative effort of the
National Institute for Literacy, the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the
U.S. Department of Education. Their mandante is to make evidence-based
reading research available to anyone interested in - and responsible for -
helping all people learn to read well. For more information on these issues
and other discussions of scientifically based reading research, please visit
Partnership for Reading