Reading at Home
How to Help Your Child Read at Home
Encourage your child to read and write.
Be a good model of reading and writing. Let your child see you reading and writing. Talk with him or her about how you select books or decide what to write in your daily life.
Read Aloud with your child. Take turns reading from the same book.
Ask Questions. Ask your child questions about what he/she is reading or writing. What’s the story about? Where does the story take place? What are the characters’ motivations for his/her actions?
Read and Read. Be sure your child reads every night. This will increase fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension and allows for more opportunities to practice the strategies taught at school.
Have your child read like the character.
Read as if he or she is the character. Read in a way that shows the character’s feelings, thoughts and actions.
Children need to read books that make them feel strong as a reader.
Choose books in which your child does not have to spend time tackling unfamiliar words. BIGGER, LONGER, HARDER books are not better!
Reading Videos: How to Help a Beginning Reader
Norah Day1.mp4Night 1: Focus Areas
Parent reads book title.
Child makes predictions.
Child takes a picture walk/sneak peek.
Parent supports vocabulary.
Mallory Day2.mp4Night 2: Focus Areas
Parent reads the title.
Child recalls information gathered from picture walk/sneak peek.
Child uses reading finger to point to words.
Child reads.
Parent assists with strategies like using pictures, beginning and end sounds, and skipping the word.
EllaDay3.MP4Nights 3 &4: Focus Areas
Child recalls events in the book without looking back.
Child sounds more fluent and feels successful.
Child stops and interacts more independently.
Parent supports reader if necessary.
Parent asks about a favorite part or something that was learned from the text.
Parent can help the child make a connection to the texts.
Parent asks if/why the child liked or disliked the text.