Reading at Home

Tips to Help Build a Strong Reader

Through reading aloud to your child, having them read to you and promoting positive attitudes about reading and writing, you can have a powerful impact on child's literacy and learning.  Using a few simple strategies will make a big difference in helping your child develop into good reader.

*Read with child  every day.

*When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help the child learn that reading goes from left to right.  It also helps them understand that the word he or she says is the word he or she sees. (one to one correspondence)

*Read your child's favorite book over and over again.

*Read many stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat. Invite the child to join in on these parts. Point, word by word, as he or she reads along with you.

*Discuss new words and ask questions. For example, "This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?"

*While reading to your child, stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening in the story.

*Read from a variety of children's books, including fairy tales, songbooks, poems, and information books.

 Strategies For Helping Your Child Read At Home

1.  USE YOUR PICTURE CLUES....Tell the child to look at the picture.  You may tell the child the word is something that can be seen in the picture.

2.  CHUNKY MONKEY...Tell the child to look for chunks in the word, such as "it" in sit, or "at" in mat, and "ing" in standing.

3.  LIPS THE FISH...Ask the child to get his/her mouth ready to say the word by shaping the mouth for the beginning letter.  When a child is stuck on a word I always ask them what letter does the word start with?  What sound does that letter make?

4.  WORD DETECTIVE...Ask the child if the word looks like another word he/she knows.  Does cook look like look?, for example.  We have learned how to read new words by changing the beginning letter, make/take/rake.

5.  SKIPPY FROG (skip the word)...Ask the child to go on and read to the end of the sentence.  Often by reading the other words in context, the child can figure out the unknown word.

6.  If the child says the wrong word while reading, ask questions like:

Does it make sense?

Does it sound right?

Does it look right?

7.  We are always reading for meaning (comprehension).  Please make sure to always ask your child questions about what he or she has read. (Why did the character do that?  How do you think the character felt?  Where did the story take place? etc)