Supporting Reading At Home

The What Works Clearinghouse offers 4 tips highlighting evidence-based practices from classroom settings that could also help parents and caregivers support their children’s reading skills at home.

1. Have conversations before, during, and after reading together. The kindergarten teachers at Douglas Creative Arts and Science Magnet Elementary School provide reading conversation prompts and narrative and non-fiction comprehension questions that are great conversation starters for any age reader.

2. Help children learn how to break sentences into words and words into syllables.

3. Help children sound out words smoothly.

4. Model reading fluently by practicing reading aloud with your child. Steps for developing read-aloud routines are available in English and Spanish from the University of Texas.

For more details and examples on how to use these tips, please download Tips for Supporting Reading Skills at Home. Additional tools for developing children’s reading and language skills at home can be found at the National Center for Improving Literacy.