‘Reading Help’ Category
» posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 2:54 pm by Mrs. C
13 Simple things to help your child to read and write
The key to your child’s education is reading, followed closely by writing. The more you can do as a parent to help your child read and comprehend, the more successful your child will be in his or her educational career. While your child will be encouraged and taught to read at school, it is very important that he or she is exposed to reading and helped with reading at home. Here are a few simple things from the US Department of Education that you can do to help your child at home.
- Read to and with your children for 30 minutes every day. It is very important to read out loud to your children before they start school. Help your children to read with you. Ask them to find letters and words on the page and talk with your children about the story.
- Talk with infants and young children before they learn to read. Talk with your children all day long, using short, simple sentences. Talking with them even before they can speak will help them later when they learn to read and write.
- Help your children to read on their own. Reading at home helps children do better in school. Have lots of children’s books in your home and visit the library every week. Help your children get their own library cards and let them pick out their own books.
- If your child has a developmental delay, your child may find reading frustrating. Have books on tape in your home. Borrow or buy a tape player that is easy to work. If you cannot find recordings of your child’s favorite books, you or a family member could make recordings of them for your child to listen to while looking at the books.
- Help your child to see that reading is important. Suggest reading as a free-time activity. Make sure your children have time in their day to read. Set a good example for your children by reading newspapers, magazines, and books.
- Set up a reading area in your home. Keep books that interest your children in places where they can easily reach them. As your children become better readers, make sure that you add harder books to your collection.
- Give your children writing materials. Children want to learn how to write and to practice writing. Help them learn by having paper, pencils, pens, or crayons for them in your home. Help your children write if they ask you. If your child has a special learning or physical need, regular pens and pencils may not be the best choice. Ask your pediatrician or people who work with your child at school or at the child care center to suggest other writing materials your child can use.
- Read and write with your children in their native language. Practicing their first language will help your children learn to read and write English.
- Talk with your children as you do daily activities together. When you take your children places, talk with them about what you are doing and ask them questions. If your child cannot hear, use whatever form of communication your child usually uses.
- Ask your children to describe events in their lives. Talking about their experiences makes children think about them. Giving detailed descriptions and telling complete stories also helps children learn about how stories are written and what the stories they read mean.
- Restrict the amount and kind of TV your children watch. Watch educational TV programs with your children that teach letter sounds and words or give information about nature and science.
- Keep track of your children’s progress in school. Visit your children’s classrooms to learn how your children are doing in school and how you can help your children become better students. Ask about the school’s reading program and where your children need help.
- Become a learning partner/reading tutor to a child in your neighborhood or from your local elementary school. Volunteer to read with or to a child for 30 minutes a week for at least eight weeks. Take the child to the library to get him or her a library card.
As the PSA from the 70’s said, “Reading is FUNdamental”
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» posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 9:05 pm by Mrs. C
15 Ways to encourage students to read
As a teacher who knows the importance of reading, I try to find ways to encourage my students to read. Of course, parental involvement is most important as children tend to pick up on their parents’ “habits”. I would like to share some ideas I have to encourage your children to read. Not all of these suggestions will work with every child, but once you find the key, you will develop your own techniques.
- Care about reading yourself. Children who know that reading is important to the adults in their lives (parents, teachers, grandparents, etc.) tend to put more emphasis on reading. Children who see their parents read are usually readers themselves and accept reading as a daily activity.
- Allow your child to read for fun. Children are required to read every day at school. They must read in every class and, most would agree, that is not fun. Allow your child to read what interests him or her, even if it is a magazine. Set aside some time for the whole family to read so your child knows that this hour is set aside for reading. No television, video games, etc.
- Subscribe to magazines that interest your child. Subscribe in their name so they have some ownership in the idea. Also, visits to the news stand to purchase magazines is a great idea. Again, allow your child to pick the material (of course, you need to monitor to make sure it fits in with your family’s values).
- Put a bookshelf in your child’s room for his or her books.
- Read aloud to your children and encourage older siblings to read to their younger brothers and sisters. Again, they see their parents and older siblings reading, they tend to want to read themselves.
- Take your children to the library. Open a library card in their name. Teach them how to find books that interest them and have them check out books with their own cards.
- If age appropriate, recommend books you’ve read to your children. Give them a brief synopsis and let them decide if they want to read it or not.
- Allow your children to read to you, encourage them and praise them when they do.
- When a child starts asking questions, encourage them to look it up.
- Review vacation spots by reading travel brochures and books. Encourage your children to find facts about your destination, and spots in between.
- Discuss books your child is reading for school. Read the book yourself so you have a frame of reference. This usually provides good discussion.
- When you are assembling something, have your child help by reading the directions to you.
- Praise your child for reading. If your child has finished a difficult or long book, celebrate the feat with praise.
- Ask your child to review a book he or she has just finished. Ask them if they recommend it to you.
- Shop for books on the web with your children, such as at Amazon.com.
I hope this list helps, and I’m sure to be posting more in the future.
<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2F&tag=mrclobo-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957″>Amazon.com</a><img src=”https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mrclobo-20&l=ur2&o=1″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />
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