Tip 9
Getting the Most Out of Story Time
Summary
Reading to children has a significant positive effect on their language, literacy, and cognition skills. Make the most out of story time by using expression to capture your child's interest and ask guiding questions to increase understanding.
Benefits
Engages children in reading
Builds listening skills
Improves vocabulary
Increases background knowledge
Helps children learn the concepts of print (see documents below)
Contributes to the development of individual interests, imagination, and creativity
Checklist
⃞ Talk about book parts (author, illustrator, cover, spine, page, etc.).
⃞ Read with expression and voice inflection to keep your child engaged.
⃞ Use the same book, but vary purpose
First time you read the book: introduce the author/illustrator and story problem. Pause while reading and have your child make predictions by guessing what will happen next. (For example, in The Three Little Pigs say "OH NO, I can't believe he made a house of straw. What do you think is going to happen?")
Second time: explain vocabulary and begin asking who, what, where, when, and why questions.
Third time: help your child to reconstruct the story prior to reading.
⃞ Make connections to the book. It would look like this for The Three Little Pigs:
Text to self: "What kind of house do you live in?"
Text to text: "We just read Goldilocks and the Three Bears. "What kind of house did the three bears live in?"
Text to the world: "What kind of house does grandma live in?"
⃞ Teach your child how to use context clues. (I.e. look at details in pictures or other words in a sentence to help make meaning of unknown words.)
⃞ Explain new words as simply as possible. For example, the word build is used in The Three Little Pigs: build means to make.
⃞ Build background knowledge in Three Little Pigs by looking at different types of houses through Google Images or by taking a walk in your neighborhood.
Resources
Hampton Primary School Video: Reading Aloud to Your Child
The National Institute for Literacy Guide for Parents