Thirty Ways to Help Your Child Be a Better Reader

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD BE A BETTER READER

 Summer is almost here.  It is a wonderful time to make reading a part of your vacation and leisure activities.  The enclosed list of selections will make selecting books a bit easier but it is certainly not intended as a comprehensive guide.  Other great sources for summer reading include children’s librarians and media specialists at the public library and the children’s section of local bookstores.  The Internet is another great source; Amazon.com, for example, will make personalized recommendations and give you mini-book reviews at no cost.  Two excellent books for parents to use as resources are Books Kids Will Sit Still For by Judy Freeman and The New Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.  Many libraries have these available for your use.

Summer reading should help your child to develop a passion for all kinds of reading.  Place your emphasis on reading books for pleasure.  Be an enthusiastic reader yourself!   Your kids pay attention to what you do; not just to what you say.  Students, who read voluntarily, according to sound educational research, do better overall in school and on standardized tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Help create life long readers!  Make reading a part of your family activities.  Encourage your child to read different genres.  Encourage them to read non-fiction as well as poetry.  Make your own family book club. Once a week sit down and talk about what you are each reading.  What could be more motivating than having someone to talk to about a great book that you have read?

 Create some fun activities together or use some of the following.

Thirty Suggestions for Promoting Reading and Writing at Home:

1. Have many children’s books available.
2. Subscribe to a children’s book club.
3. Subscribe to a children’s magazine.
4. Read predictable books that children can learn by heart.
5. Take children to the library.
6. Get your children their own library card.
7. Take children to bookstores.
8. Read books on topics about which your children show interest.
9. Read from many genres; poetry, non-fiction, songs, chants, etc.
10. Tell stories.
11. Tell family stories and stories from childhood memories.
12. Encourage your children’s reading by approving of their choice of readings – even if you think a book is of poor quality.  Guide them toward more quality literature, but don’t squash their interest.
13. Look for books that deal with life-situations that your child may be experiencing: a friend is moving; a quarrelsome classmate, fussy eating, etc.
14. Read to and with your child daily.
15. Let your child see you reading (for work, for pleasure, for information; etc.).
16. Have family book talks.
17. Read some of your favorite poems to your child.
18. Occasionally follow-up a book with a related activity.  For example, make jam sandwiches together after reading Bread and Jam for Francis.
19. Write to your children.
20. Put a note in their lunch bags.
21. Put a note beside their breakfast.
22. Write notes and memos and leave them on the refrigerator.
23. Leave a note on your child’s pillow.
24. Encourage your child to write and to experiment with writing.
25. Provide plenty of materials for writing; index cards, post-its, lined paper, unlined paper, stationery, envelopes, etc.
26. Provide your child with a small book for private writing.
27. Provide a wide variety of writing tools:  pens, makers, crayons, pencils, etc.
28. Praise your child’s efforts for writing.
29. Encourage your child to write for real reasons; to a favorite TV show or star, for example.
30. Model the literacy activities in which you would like your child to engage.

Tina Gordon, Ed.D. @1999