Reading at Home

How To Read With A Beginning Reader:

• Encourage your child to use his/her finger to point to each word (tracking).

• Read a sentence and have your child repeat it.

• Take turns reading a sentence each or a page each.

• Have your child practice the beginning sounds in unknown words and predict what the word could be based on context clues.

• Practice sight or "STAR" words nightly. If your child encounters an unknown tricky word when reading that cannot be decoded it is okay to give them the word and keep going.

• Talk about the story as you read it: What do you think will happen next? What does this story remind you of? How do you think this character feels?

• Don’t be afraid to read the same book again! Repeated reading helps build reading fluency!

15-20 minutes is perfect for a beginning reader!

Check For Understanding:

• Start the book by making predictions: What do you think will happen in this story? Ask questions and make comments during the reading process.

• After reading a book, have your child tell you the events from the story in the correct order.

• What was the problem in this story?

• How did the character feel when…?

• Encourage your child to make connections: Does this story remind you of another book you read, an event in your life, a movie?

• When possible, read nonfiction texts and discuss academic vocabulary as it is encountered.

Help your child become a better writer by encouraging them to write about what they read!