READING TIPS FOR PARENTS
Helping your child become a better reader. Make reading fun. Add a note or a riddle to your child’s lunch or put one on their pillow. Share a newspaper and read the sports page together. Take time to read comic strips together. Share favorites from your own childhood and have your child put his favorites on the fridge Read a menu together. Read the classified “For Sale” ads together. Decide if there is anything you need. Choose many different kinds of books. Pick old favorites and new titles, fairy tales and science books, poetry and riddles, newspapers and magazines—all kinds of stories with many kinds of illustrations. Help your child choose books that they can read. See “Choosing the Right Book.” Don’t make reading a test or a chore. When you talk about books, there are no “right” answers. Talk about the pictures and what is happening in the story. If your child asks questions, stop and discuss them. Read a book aloud together. Remember that reading aloud comes naturally to very few people—practice helps. Read slowly enough for the child to build mental pictures of what he/she just heard you read. Children of all ages like to be read to—even those ten years and older. Talk about the pictures and what is happening in the story. See Recommended Read Aloud Books and Series Read Alouds. Be a role model. Always have a book with you. Let your child see you reading for pleasure and a variety of books, magazines, newspapers. Keep lots of reading materials available in your home. |
READING TIPS FOR CHILDREN
IN GRADES 4-6 Take turns reading a book aloud with your child. Ask your child to compare a book to another familiar book. How are the characters alike of different? Do the stories take place in similar settings? How are the illustrations the same or different? Ask what part of the story or book your child liked best and why. Ask if your child liked the ending of the story. Why or why not? Ask your child what type of mood the story or chapter in a book creates. Ask how the author creates the mood. For example, does she use certain words, events, or settings that create a particular feeling? See Recommended Read Aloud Books and Series Read Alouds. |