Did you know research studies have shown that the amount of parental involvement in children’s reading is the number one predictor of reading achievement worldwide?

Meeting with parents during fall conferences is always meaningful! It provides the teachers and myself with the opportunity to learn what information parents find helpful and useful when helping their children grow as readers. Many parents often ask, "What can I be doing at home to help with reading?" or "How can I better support the reading my child is doing at home?" Whether you read with your child or not (our kids are NEVER too old to read to/with them), discussing the texts they are reading is KEY. Talking about books helps our children process and synthesize what they're reading about, which builds understanding and a heightened awareness of text.

"Checking for Understanding" Strategy

When we teach and model "monitoring understanding" with books, we show our students what it actually looks and sounds like to stop and check in with our thinking WHILE we read. This models for children the importance of stopping to "check in" for comprehension. However, with children, they need to be reminded to use this strategy daily to apply it. They tend to keep reading and do not realize they lost comprehension until the end of the story. They are too concerned with reading accurately, and forget to take the time to think about what they are reading. How can we help them gain comprehension?

Parents can reinforce the comprehension strategy: "Check for Understanding" because good readers stop frequently to check for understanding or to ask who and what.

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

1. When reading to your child, stop periodically and say, “Let’s see if we remember what I just read. Think about who the story was about and what happened.” Do this 3 or 4 times throughout the story.

2. When reading to your child, stop and have them practice checking for understanding by saying, “I heard you say…”

3. Ask your child the following questions:

• Who did you just read about? (fiction) or What did you just learn about in this section (nonfiction)
• What just happened?
• Was your brain talking to you while you read?
• Do you understand what was read?
• What do you do if you don’t remember?

With your help, we can teach our students that readers have two important jobs: Good readers read the words accurately AND understand what they have read.

AVOID the Summer Reading DIPS with these Summer Reading TIPS!

"Access to reading materials has been consistently identified as a vital element in enhancing the reading development of children. Of ALL the activities in which children engage outside of school, time spent actually reading is the best predictor of reading achievement – the more students read, the better readers they become (Allington, 2006; Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988)."

1) Make a daily summer schedule. I always have the best intentions for having my family engage in summer reading, but it can be challenging to actually carry out the plan! Our kids stay up later in the summer, so reading before bed isn’t always ideal. MAKING A SCHEDULE WORKS because it keeps reading somewhere in our day. It has to be revised throughout the summer, especially after returning from a vacation, but it is effective. If you find that days have gone by without reading with your child, don’t sweat it. Just make a quick schedule and start it again!

2) Conduct your own author studies. Go to the library website wccls.org and reserve all the books you can find from the same author. When they come in, check out the big stack of books. Read them together with your children. Talk about which books you like best, what you notice about the author’s style, and so on. Or just read them and reread favorites! You can do this same thing with a particular series or with books around a common theme (i.e., math topics, science topics, and so on).

3) Family novel read-aloud. I usually pick a novel that I can read aloud to my two children (and husband) at the same time. I read the novel at bedtime while we all gather on someone’s bed, in the morning to start the day, in the afternoon when they all seem to be needing a distraction from each other, during breakfast or lunch when they're settled at the table, or on vacation (especially in the car). I let them bring cozy things and/or coloring so they can settle in for some listening time. This is a great time to read something more challenging with themes that teach good lessons and are great for discussing. Some favorite family read-alouds are Where the Red Fern Grows, Mockingbird, The Unwanteds, The Hunger Games series, The Orphan of Ellis Island, and Number the Stars (and other historical fiction that teaches about important time periods in history).

4) Make a plan to visit the library regularly, and put it on the calendar. When there, check out the "new book" section in the picture books to see new stuff.

5) Visit bookstores. Kids LOVE bookstores! You don’t have to buy something every time, but it's a great way for kids to check out what's new and popular. If you are on vacation, check out bookstores at your destination—it’s a great way to spend an hour of quiet and fosters reading no matter where you are.

6) Try audiobooks. Listen to them everywhere! For example, play them at bedtime as your children are falling asleep, in the car, on the back porch, and so on. Reading along with the books is great, but often, just listening works better for us. This frees up your child's mind and gives them the chance to visualize on their own. What a great way to develop the imagination! There are lots of great picture books (nobody is too old for them) and chapter books available at libraries and bookstores (these aren’t always cheap, but you can trade with friends!).

7) Memorize poems. Reading poetry doesn't take a lot of time and is fun for children. Have some poetry books in the car, on teh coffee table, and in places where they can be picked easily for a quick read. Shel Silverstein has always been a favorite and mine, Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic in particular, are still fun to read and memorize. There are so many other poets and poetry anthologies that are fun for children.

8) Book-a-Day Challenge. The goal is simple (try to read a book every day of summer), and the format is relaxed. This is a perfect challenge for students who have a hard time finishing chapter books and like a variety of reading material to keep them engaged! Read a book every day and record the title somewhere. If you are reading a novel, record it on the day that you finish it. In the meantime read a picture book every day. If you miss a day, catch up and read two the next day. If you are going on vacation for five days, read five books before you go, then start again when you return. It’s a fun challenge, and fun to look back at the list of books that you’ve read at the end of the summer!