Reading Resources
The education blog
By | Kara Bobowski | November 27, 2018
Category | Supporting Families
Parent Strategies for Improving Their Child’s Reading and Writing
Today, perhaps more than ever, parents play an important role in their child’s education. Gone are the days when it was solely the school’s job to educate. Parents are an active part of the teaching and learning process, which can be challenging combined with all the other tasks of providing for a family.
The following ideas are intended to help increase your child’s understanding of reading and writing skills and to develop confidence in learning, while providing parents with a general framework for how to get this all done. Choose two or three of the following strategies and use them throughout the year.
General Reading and Writing Improvement Strategies:
Read to your child
Model good habits by reading in front of your child
Check your child’s assignment list daily
Provide a consistent time to study each day without distractions or media
Visit the public library frequently
Join public library summer reading programs
Provide opportunities for your child to attend theater performances
Use reading software or online games or apps, if available
Provide activities that relate reading and writing to daily life
Have your child write the menu for dinner
Have your child locate letters and words on food containers
Have your child help write a shopping list and have them check off the items on the list as you shop
When traveling, write words in a grid and have your child color in the boxes as they see the words on signs
Vocabulary Development:
Notice street and store signs together and talk about what they say and mean
Build vocabulary by having conversations with your child regularly
Talk about the people you see and the types of jobs they have
Talk about the colors and shapes of things you see
Sing songs you both know
Talk about the places you’re going and what you see along the way
Ask your child specific things about their day
Open-ended topics are especially good for building vocabulary. Have your child answer questions like:
When I grow up I want to be…
My family…
The only thing I could think of was…
One night I woke up so scared that…
I am happiest when…
When I feel angry I…
A trip I’d like to make is…
On the weekend I would like to…
My favorite television show….
Provide word search or crossword puzzles
Play word games (such as Scattergories®) to help develop word choice and categorizing skills
Read a challenging book aloud to your child to give exposure to higher level words
Label objects around the house with sticky notes
Describe objects using a simile or metaphor (e.g., the car is as red as an apple, or the clouds are like cotton balls)
Word Study:
Play word games
Practice word play with your child by saying words and having them say a rhyming word
Practice synonyms and antonyms by saying a word and having your child say a word that means the same or the opposite
Play games such as, “I’m thinking of a word. Who can guess a letter in it?”
Say one letter of the alphabet and have your child name the next three letters in order
Say a letter and have your child name the letter that comes just before that letter
Locate pictures in magazines and practice identifying the beginning and ending sounds of each picture
Play word games such as Hangman® or Scrabble®
Have your child look in old magazines and cut out pictures of people, places, and things (nouns), and then have them categorize the pictures any way they want
Say a letter and then have your child name an animal or food that begins with that letter (or, to further challenge the child, try having them name an animal or food that ends with that letter)
Name an animal, object, or country. Have your child use the last letter of that word and think of a word in the same category that begins with that letter, then take turns with subsequent words
Circle words in a newspaper or magazine that start with the same letter or are in the same word family (e.g., words ending with –ing or –unk)
Practice writing spelling words in shaving cream or pudding smeared on a plate
Color the consonants blue and vowels red
Have your child post their weekly spelling words on a sticky note and put it on the bathroom mirror
Reading Comprehension:
Read a story or have your child read
Have your child pick their favorite part
Ask your child to think of alternative solutions to a problem
Have your child predict what will happen next
Ask your child to change the ending
Make up a sequel
Use audio books to follow along with text
Have your child make a list of things that could never happen, things that might happen, and things that are sure to happen
Monitor your child’s reading by:
Asking literal questions about the facts
Asking inferential questions about what they think it means
Asking critical questions about how they might use the information, like:
Why did the author choose to use this particular word?
How could the author have explained this better?
Compare and contrast movies with previously read books
Provide high interest literature, including magazines
Provide reference materials and activities that encourage your child to use reference skills
Read newspaper articles with your child and discuss events in the news. Discuss:
What is the importance of the news?
What might happen as a result of these events?
What actions might have led to different results?
As children become more conscious of their larger society, they might begin to think about and investigate some of the following areas:
Providing food for the growing population of our nation
Living on the moon
Living peacefully with other nations
The impact of inventions on everyday life
After watching a movie, have your child retell the movie from beginning to end in the correct order, and using details, describe their favorite scene
While you’re reading to your child or when your child is reading to you, encourage them to create their own movie in their mind; have them draw pictures of the story
When reading together, after each paragraph ask the child ‘wh’ questions (Who? What? Where? When? Why?) to see if they are understanding
Writing:
Encourage your child to keep a journal (for travel, family events, or feelings)
Encourage letter writing, pen pals, and thank-you notes
Have your child write a declarative statement, interrogative question, and exclamatory sentence about a picture in a magazine. An example would be: There is a barn on the farm. What animals live in the barn? There are baby chickens hatching in the barn!
Have your child write a story, song, poem, or article about a family event and then read it back to an adult
Have your child write a conversation using correct punctuation. The conversation could be between two of their favorite TV characters, two characters in a book, or even two members of their family
Students who become interested in certain aspects of the news should be encouraged to write letters requesting information or commending the actions of some person in the news
Encourage students to write to their Congressperson. Their office staff is glad to supply information about current affairs—new bills being considered, their opinions regarding certain issues, and so on. They will often respond to letters that request information or ask questions
These parental strategies for reading and writing only scratch the surface. If you have other ideas, please share them with us on Twitter using the hashtag #ParentStrategies. We’ll be providing some parental tips that cover math in a blog to follow.
Seven Things You Should Be Doing as You’re Reading to Your Child
Guest Post by Leah of Your Dime Your Time
February 23, 2012 by Jenae
Reading daily with your child is critical to their development in many ways. There is no better way to increase vocabulary, teach literacy fundamentals, and expose your child to images and words to which they would otherwise not be exposed.
However, just saying the words on the page, while giving some benefits to your child, will not make the experience as productive as possible. By adding just a few small changes to your read-aloud time, you will be greatly increasing your child’s reading preparedness. Here are seven suggestions to make read-alouds the best learning experience possible every time you read together:
Read the Title, Author’s Name, and Illustrator’s Name-It’s important for children to become familiar with what these three things mean. Explain what author and illustrator mean. It’s also great for them to understand that every book is written and illustrated by real people.
Ask Your Child to Make Predictions-Read the title and look at the cover, then ask your child to tell you what they think might happen in the book. Most children will be quite uncomfortable with this in the beginning since they don’t know the answer, and they want to please you by saying only correct answers. Encourage them by saying that there is no wrong answer, but rather you just want them to take a guess. Ask them again in the middle of the book to make a prediction about how the story will end, and you could even make your own prediction and sometimes model that it’s okay to make an incorrect prediction.
Ask Your Child What Is Happening In the Pictures-It may not seem like pictures are as significant of a learning tool as the words, but when your child examines what is happening in a picture and explains it, it develops their inference skills. Just make sure not to do it with EVERY picture. Once or twice during a book will give them a chance to practice without completely interrupting the flow of the book.
Move Your Finger as You Read-By moving your finger underneath the words as you read, your child understands that you read left to right and top to bottom. It also helps children from a very young age to understand that the words you are saying are those written on the page, not just your own thoughts. However, this one takes a fine balance. Please don’t move your finger under every word on every page in every book. As a matter of fact, you should probably read most books without doing this at all. But every couple of days, use this trick on a page or two just so that your child will begin to take notice of some very important literacy fundamentals.
Ask Questions-Again, this involves a balancing act. Please don’t ask your child three questions per page. As a matter of fact, don’t even ask them one question per page. I think that asking a question every few pages is frequent enough to check your child’s understanding without breaking the flow of the story. You can ask basic recall questions, like “What did Mom say she needed at the store?” as well as reasoning questions like “How do you think Mom will get to the store?” and you can also throw in expansion questions like “What would you buy at the store to cook for dinner?”. The goal is to engage your child in the story, but beware that if you stop too often you will turn your child off to reading with you altogether because it will become a frustrating situation to them.
Reread the same books again…and again…(and again)-Most adults like to read a book once, and unless it’s a favorite, they will move on to another one. However, children like to read the same books over and over again. This helps them to make permanent in their mind the words and concepts that their brain is understanding. Regardless of the repetition, it is helping your child learn when you happily read and re-read books.
Really enjoy the book with your child-It really doesn’t matter if you follow each of these rules, AND establish a 1,000 book collection for your child, AND take them to the library twice a week. If you don’t take time to truly enjoy a book with your child, the likelihood of them enjoying it greatly decreases. Some of my children’s favorite books have been my favorite books, and I think it’s because my enthusiasm for the book shows. Enjoy the book and enjoy the time, because both are over much too soon.
Reading Resources Section
Sheppard's Software
https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab.htm
Wacky Web Tales
https://www.eduplace.com/tales/
Grammar Bytes
Myths, Folktales, & FAIRY TALES
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/index.htm
Book Adventure
http://www.bookadventure.com/Home.aspx