Inspired by the book "Reading Magic" by Mem Fox.

Reading Matters

Why read to and with your children?

·        The most important thing you can do with your young child to help him or her read and to be successful is to read with him or her. Reading aloud and talking about what you’re reading sharpens children’s brains. It helps to increase their ability to concentrate, to problem-solve and to express themselves.

·        Children who have not been regularly talked to, sung to, or read aloud to from birth find life at school much more difficult than they otherwise might.

·        Because words are essential in building the thought connections in the brain, the more language a child experiences – through books and conversations with others – the more advantaged, socially, educationally, and in every other way, that child will be for the rest of his or her life.

·        Experts tell us that children need to hear 1,000 stories read aloud before they can learn to read for themselves.

·        But TV doesn’t count!  Television doesn’t talk to children, it talks at  them. And talking back is what learning language is all about. When children talk, they are practicing language…and practicing thinking!

·        Watching TV is a passive activity. Loud, fast-paced TV sounds can dull children’s brains and can make listening for information and concentrating much more difficult in school.

·        Children who are read to early and regularly quickly acquire the skill of listening and the desire to hear stories   … and they develop the ability to concentrate and relax.

·        Children need to understand the language and how it works before they can make sense of what they read. Children who have been read to regularly will not read nonsense. They can tell the difference because they know what proper sentences and grammar is supposed to sound like.

 

    Reading to your child:

  • Read the same story over many times. Just because you are tired of it doesn’t mean your child is. Children love repetition and familiarity. If we read aloud a lot to children, the same stories repeated over and over, they learn to read more quickly.

 

  • Sing songs and nursery rhymes … in the car, at home. Rhymers will be readers.

 

  • Read non-fiction books together. And go for walks …. Look, listen, wonder, talk … and if you see something that raises a question, look it up together…..learn together!

 

  • Look for print in places other than books. When riding in the car, look for letters on signs, billboards, license plates.

 

  • You don’t have to teach when you read. Make it fun, relaxed and comfortable.

 

  • Be silly … hold the book upside down and start to read.  Or start reading a story in a way that is obviously incorrect. For ex: If reading Little Red Riding Hood, start the story with “Once upon a time there were 3 Little Pigs…” and wait to be corrected (with a smile.)

 

  • Practice identifying letters on the page. “This is an ‘e’. Can you find any more ‘e’s on the page? Now you choose a page. Your name begins with ‘t’. How many ‘t’s can you find?

 

  • When reading, leave out words or parts of sentences for your child to fill in. Or, for older kids, try changing a sentence or word at the end of every page to see if your child can find the mistake.

 

  • Reading aloud to your child is important, even as your child starts to read on his/her own. Listening is a valuable skill.

 

  • As your child is learning words, let him/her point to the words as you read them.

 

  • Have your child predict or guess what might happen on the next page.

 

  • Talk about the pictures in the story as your read it. What are  some ways in which the illustrations match the words?

 

  • Share your favorite parts of the story.

 

     Reading with your child:

 

  • ‘Popcorn read’ together. Just like popcorn pops around, take turns reading the lines of the story. Call out ‘popcorn’ when you want to switch turns.

 

  • Take turns being characters of the story. Remember to use different voices.

 

  • Do a ‘punctuation read.’ Each time you get to a new punctuation mark switch turns reading.

 

  • Think about a new ending for the story. Discuss it.

 

  • Look for details in the pictures. Or do a word hunt on the page. “Can you find the word, that?”

 

     When your child reads to you:

 

  • If your child mispronounces a word, do not interrupt immediately. Allow him/her the opportunity for self-correction. Or wait until the end of the sentence or page and ask maybe the question,
      • Does that make sense?
      • Does is sound right?
      • Does it look right?

 

  • Give them clues to solving the word before you tell them the word. It’s all right to help them with a word, however, children should have strategies to use when they meet a word they don’t know.
  • Does it look like any other words  you know? Does cake look like lake?
  • Can you see any smaller words  inside it? Help the child look for chunks in the word such as ‘it’ in sit, ‘art’ in ‘cart’….

 

  • What sound will the word start with?

 

  • Read the story aloud together. And then discuss it. Readers of any age benefit from thinking and talking about what they’ve just read.

 

  

With older students, here are some ideas of things to discuss with your child while reading, or after they have read to you:

  • Who is the main character?
  • Who are the other characters in the story?
  • What do you know about him/her/it so far?
  • Where do you think the story takes place? (What is the setting?)
  • When do you think the story takes place (day or night? Long ago? In the future?)
  • Do you think this story could really happen? (Is it fiction or non-fiction?)
  • Have you ever felt the same way as the main character? (or one of the other characters?) When did you feel that way? Does it help you understand him/her?
  • How do you think the story will end? What makes you think that?
  • If you were the author would you have made the story end differently?

 

   What to read

We have talked about reading books the child asks for, even if they want to hear the same book over and over. But it is also good to introduce new books and topics, both fiction and non-fiction.

The library is, of course, a good place to start but here are some web sites with some recommendations.

1. New York Public Library “On-Lion for Kids” – 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know

      http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61

2. Little Ones Reading Resource  -

     http://www.littleonesreadingresource.com/

3. Author Rosemary Wells on the” Most Important 20 minutes of your Day”

     http://www.rosemarywells.com/teacher.html

4. CHINABERRY is a commercial site for selling books, but it has nice reviews of books and  listings of books by level.                                                                                                      http://www.chinaberry.com