Helpful Tips
Reading to your child AND listening to your child read are the best ways you can help your child learn to read! Lifetime readers have fun when they read!
Helpful Tips:
• *Children thrive on routine. Set aside time each day to read to your child.
• *Men should make an extra effort to read to their children. Primary teachers are 98% female so many young children associate reading with women and schoolwork.
Show your child everyone values reading!
Finding a Suitable Place and Time: • quiet and peaceful . . . free from distractions • turn off the TV and stay away from your cell phone and computer • timing is everything! Your child shouldn’t be hungry or tired.
How much is enough? Dedicate 10-15 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week.
When reading to your child, remember to:
• sit close to your child • talk about the pictures before reading the book • ask your child to talk about the pictures • occasionally ask, “What do you think will happen next?” • choose stories you really like so you can read them with enthusiasm
When listening to your child read, remember to: • be interested and engaged! • accept and celebrate your child’s efforts!
Reading can be very hard at first. • avoid criticism, threats, and comparisons with other children. • stay relaxed. . . if your child gets frustrated, gently take over the book and finish reading it to your child.
Praise often . . . especially when your child: • tries, even if he’s wrong • reads for meaning • finds the right word after making a mistake • reads a word correctly, after you have provided some help
Provide opportunities for your child to figure things out: • WAIT! Give him a little time to think about the word and the story (about 3 seconds) • If he still does not know, just tell him the word. Do not make him ‘sound it out.’
Other Tips: • If the story is too hard (more than 5 mistakes in 50 words), gently ‘take over’ the book, reading it to the child or just telling him how the book ends. • If the story is too long, share the book. You read a page and he reads a page. • If the child is not that interested in the book, try talking about the book and pick another.
Helpful Tips:
• *Children thrive on routine. Set aside time each day to read to your child.
• *Men should make an extra effort to read to their children. Primary teachers are 98% female so many young children associate reading with women and schoolwork.
Show your child everyone values reading!
Finding a Suitable Place and Time: • quiet and peaceful . . . free from distractions • turn off the TV and stay away from your cell phone and computer • timing is everything! Your child shouldn’t be hungry or tired.
How much is enough? Dedicate 10-15 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week.
When reading to your child, remember to:
• sit close to your child • talk about the pictures before reading the book • ask your child to talk about the pictures • occasionally ask, “What do you think will happen next?” • choose stories you really like so you can read them with enthusiasm
When listening to your child read, remember to: • be interested and engaged! • accept and celebrate your child’s efforts!
Reading can be very hard at first. • avoid criticism, threats, and comparisons with other children. • stay relaxed. . . if your child gets frustrated, gently take over the book and finish reading it to your child.
Praise often . . . especially when your child: • tries, even if he’s wrong • reads for meaning • finds the right word after making a mistake • reads a word correctly, after you have provided some help
Provide opportunities for your child to figure things out: • WAIT! Give him a little time to think about the word and the story (about 3 seconds) • If he still does not know, just tell him the word. Do not make him ‘sound it out.’
Other Tips: • If the story is too hard (more than 5 mistakes in 50 words), gently ‘take over’ the book, reading it to the child or just telling him how the book ends. • If the story is too long, share the book. You read a page and he reads a page. • If the child is not that interested in the book, try talking about the book and pick another.