Great Reading Tips
Responding to Reading
Many adults tend to take certain things for granted because reading has become automatic for them. Your child must learn that words on a page have meaning and that the purpose of reading is to get that meaning. As you read in front of your child, model the strategies good readers automatically use:
It is all right to break the flow of text to talk about what you’re reading. Talking expands vocabulary and improves understanding of words.
Predict what the book will be about by looking at the cover and the title.
Speculate as you read – “I wonder what will happen next?”
Anticipate the outcome of an event – “I bet the prince comes to save her!”
Question as you read – “Why would she carry an umbrella?”
Compare the text to a personal experience – “Remember when….”
Retell the story in the order it happened.
Discuss favorite parts, funniest parts, parts you didn’t like, or something you learned.
Communicate your thoughts and feelings about what you are reading.
Reacting to Errors
Mistakes are a fact of life, especially when you are learning something new. Encourage your child to take a risk, then praise him or her for trying. The following hints will help when your child has difficulty:
Have patience. Give your child “wait time” of 10 seconds to let him or her figure out the word.
Ask your child, “What do you think the word could be?’
Suggest that your child use a picture clue if appropriate.
Tell your child to reread the sentence or read the rest of the sentence.
Ask your child, “What sound does the word begin with? What sound does it end with?” Have your child sound out the word.
Tell your child the word. Don’t lose the flow of the text. Some words are difficult to figure out.
Give your child time to self-correct as he or she reads and praise him or her for the effort!
Accept appropriate substitutions such as “mom” for “mother.”
Focus on what your child is doing well. Praise your child with “good try!” and “You really figured it out!”
Ideas to Help Build Literacy
Introduce the book by showing the picture on the front cover. Read the title. Ask “What do you think this book is going to be about?”
Go on a picture walk. Beginning readers rely heavily on the pictures to help tell the story. Look through the book and think about what the story might be about and what some of the words might say. Encourage your child to link the pictures with their own experiences.
Teach how books are read. We take this for granted, but we need to point out the basics. You can do this by pointing to a word and explaining that a word is a group of letters. Show that there are spaces between words. We read the left page before the right. We also read the words from the left to right and make a return sweep at the end of the sentence.
There are different punctuation marks. Talk about how we read the word when we see the different marks: ? . and !
Read the book to your child and track each word by pointing. Next, read the book together. Work on using the pictures to sound out words and identify sight words (words that need to be memorized). Then listen to your child read to you.
Comprehension is an important part of reading. It’s important to understand what we’re reading as we read it. You can use these questions with any books. Who were the characters? Where did the story take place? When did the story take place? Is it real or pretend? How do you know? What happened at the beginning? Middle? End? What was the problem and how was it solved? What would you have done? Also, compare your child’s predictions from before you read the story.
Keep Reading times short (about 20 minutes) or when your child (or you) get restless. It’s better to work on reading for shorter, more frequent times than long periods of time.
Have fun, enjoy reading with your child and let me know if I can help or give you more ideas.
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