Here are ways to promote reading with your child at home.
What Can You Do at Home?
Home Activity Suggestions to Promote Kindergarten Academics
o Read to your child, every night before bedtime! ( research shows this is the most effective way to learn and develop love reading.)
o Listen to your child “read” – as s/he turns pages in familiar books, encourage your child to retell the story.
o Set aside a special reading time. Let your child know that your look forward to and enjoy your time together.
o Play games with your child.
o Help your child get to the library; schedule regular times to visit the library and select new books. .
o Talk to your child about subjects that are interesting to him or her.
o Listen to your child retell stories from his or her day.
o Write a note to your child.
o Help your child write notes and letter to friends/relatives.
o Ask your child to add a sentence to letters you write to far-away relatives.
o Encourage your child to keep a scrapbook about a subject that interests him or her: stamps, dogs, birds, sports teams, trucks, etc.
o Read over and discuss your child’s schoolwork when it comes home. Help him or her read the feedback notes from the teacher.
o Provide your child with a calendar so that s/he can write down special events and mark off each day.
o Help your child make a telephone directory with the names and phone numbers of his or her friends.
o Give your child specific duties to perform on a regular basis at home.
o Let your child help you prepare dinner.
o When traveling, read road signs with your child. Discuss what they mean.
o Show your child how to use a yardstick, ruler, and tape measure for measuring objects around the house.
o Provide counting experiences for your child (count how many pairs of socks come out of the laundry, how many cups need to be put away, etc.)
o Show your child how to count change – name the coins together.
o Give your child a special place (a box, bin, etc.) to keep items s/he must take to school each morning. This promotes responsibility for materials!
(Ideas By Natick Public Schools)
More Ideas by Mrs. Lamonaca
Have your child pick one word to read to you every night from the story you read.
Use highlighting tape and highlight one word for your child to read to you each night.
Have your child read a story to you starting on the last page and read it backwards to the front of the book.
Comprehension Questions for you to ask or put them on notecards and have your child pick one from a pile.
Ask the 5 W questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why?
Ask who were the characters in the story?
What was the setting?
What was his/her favorite part of the story? His/her least favorite part of the story?
What was the problem in the story? What was the solution?
What happened at the beginning, middle and the end of the story?
Does the story remind you of anything that has happened in your life?
If you could add one more page to the story, what would it be?
Is the book fiction or non-fiction?