Tips for Helping Your Child Grow as a Reader
Tips for Helping All Readers
- Read to and with your child - Research continues to emphasize that this is the most effective way of helping your child grow as a reader. Benefits include vocabulary development, comprehension development, an increase in appreciation and enjoyment of books, a better understanding of story structure, knowledge of their world around them and stimulating their curiosity to want to learn more. Besides, who can deny the added benefit of just enjoying some relaxing time together? Your reading also shows your child how reading should sound by the way your voice reflects the punctuation with appropriate phrasing and expression.
Have a conversation about whatever you are reading. If it’s the sports section of the newspaper, the comics, a chapter of a book or a picture book, share what you find surprising, interesting, or puzzling. Think aloud your own questions, what you find funny, predictions, or wonderings and invite your child to do the same. Your think-alouds help model important comprehension strategies such as asking questions, making predictions, stopping and thinking does it make sense, making pictures in your mind as you read, etc. Your conversations reinforce to your child that reading is all about meaning - not saying the words but understanding what the words are telling them.
- Visit your local library. Every child loves the freedom to choose from such a fantastic assortment of fictional and informational books. Having to return books by a certain date helps one to read regularly.
- Try to monitor your child’s choice of independent reading so that he or she is choosing books that he or she is able to read without having to stop often to figure out a tough word. Children grow much faster as readers when they read easier books that allow them to enjoy the story or learn new information. If you have a reluctant reader or one who tends to lose interest and not finish books chances are that they are not choosing appropriate level books. We emphasize to students the importance of choosing a “just right” book which they can read “like talking.” A child is often capable of reading a more challenging or Harry Potter type book but their reading sounds choppy with great effort put into what the words say rather than enjoying the story. When the reading is work a child often develops a dislike for reading in general.
Make reading “just right” books part of their daily routine. I know many choose bedtime as a time for your child to read but reading is an active process. An additional or other time when your child is feeling more alert might be a better routine. Your child needs to be sitting up with a good light when reading.
Tips for Helping the Younger Student
- Read lots of picture books and begin by reading the pictures. We call this “taking a picture walk” but take a little time to scan the pictures first and have some fun guessing what might happen in the story. Younger children gain a lot of information from reading the pictures. Plus, it’s an important habit to reinforce checking the pictures to see if what they read makes sense as well as to help them figure out what is being said. The first strategy we emphasize with beginner readers when they come to a word they don’t know is to check the picture and think - what would makes sense?
- The second strategy we teach emerging readers is to check the first letter of the word as well as the picture. Occasionally as you read, you might pause at a word and ask your child what sound the first letter makes. Then finish the rest of the sentence and see if he or she can guess the word. Good readers use three main strategies automatically to both solve new words and to check themselves. They use meaning - does it make sense (check the picture); their phonic skills- patterns of letters - does it look right; and the grammar of their language - does it sound right? When your child is reading to you and gets stuck remind them to check the picture and the first letter.
When a child is just beginning to sound out words we often teach them to “tap them out.” This is a very effective way of helping your child to look carefully at each letter and make each sound. Then they need to blend the sounds to say the word. The procedure is this. - Put your right hand (never the left hand) down on the table and begin by pressing down with your thumb as you say the first sound.
- Then press down with your next finger and say the next sound and so on.
Since we read from left from right we always start with the thumb on the right hand and proceed from left to right with the fingers.
It takes a little coordination but with practice most students are able to do this in a short time. I have found this to be a very powerful technique for children who tend to guess at words or who tend not to look through all the letters and say any word that starts in the same way. For others it helps to slow their thinking down and to focus on each of the letters in the word.
- Reread short stories or single pages. Rereading helps to build a very important skill that every level reader needs to strive towards. This skill is called fluency and is thought to be the bridge between word solving and comprehension. Reading words fluently means to read them accurately, at a reasonable rate, in meaningful phrases with appropriate expression. We tell students to make their reading “sound like talking.” When a character is talking their voice should reflect how that person would say it. It involves reading the punctuation so that your listener knows if you are reading a question, statement or exclamation. Generally, when a child reads in meaningful phrases it indicates that he or she is thinking about what they are reading and are reading for meaning. Taking turns reading different characters or pages is a fun way to practice reading fluently.
Tips for Helping the Older Student
- Continue to take time to read to your child to build vocabulary and to share the enjoyment of books.
- Have conversations about what they are reading just as you might with another adult. What’s this book about? How’s it going - have you come to any surprising or good parts? Tell me about them. Keep the tone conversational rather than grilling them for recall of details. Have your child read you a page or two or take turns reading pages. Listen to how his or her reading sounds. Does it sound like he or she is thinking about the story or just saying the words, is it smooth or choppy, do you think he or she has chosen a “just right” book or is this book a lot of work to read? If it’s too hard you might ask them if they are enjoying the story or if they understand what’s happening. You might suggest looking for another book or help read it with him or her.
- Keep a supply of small post-its handy. If you know your child tends to have difficulty remembering and understanding stories try having him or her put question marks on five post-its and exclamation marks on five. As they read when they come to a confusing word or part they place the question mark post-it on the page. When they come to a surprising or important part of the story they place the exclamation post-it on that page. When the post-its are used up then they might check in with you and talk about these parts or talk at the end of the chapter.
Here’s to curling up with a good book!
Kathy Zito Nixon Literacy Specialist