How Parents Can Help With Reading At Home
- Provide a quiet place and time for reading.
- Talk to your child often and in complex ways. Children do not naturally understand words they have not heard. Rich vocabularies are essential for good readers to have.
- Encourage your child to touch the sounds in the words when they are not automatically reading a word.
- Encourage, encourage, encourage! Remember that everyone likes to read different things at different paces.
- Always let your child try a new or difficult word before helping. Wait several seconds before even thinking about helping them. See what they do to figure it out. Rushing in to save them does not allow them to try different ways to read or know a word. Help them only when you feel they need your help. This also helps your child build confidence about what they are reading.
- Let your child see you reading often.
- Read with your child regularly.
- Get a library card and use it!
- Visit bookstores with your child.
- Let your child choose what he or she wants to read.
- Give your child lots of opportunities to read. Let him or her read magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, recipes, plays, songs, poetry, journals, books on tape, posters, and more!
- Let your child know that you expect him or her to learn to read, just as you expect him or her to learn to talk.
- Ask your child questions about what he or she is reading. When kids talk about books, they understand them better.
- Share what you are reading with your child. Tell them what you think about your own story.
- Encourage your child to read road signs while traveling.