How to Read With Your Child
You have a big influence on your child when you spend time reading together. Learn how to make the most of this special time with your child.
Experts in child literacy are unanimous in their belief that parents should
read with their children. The power of the parent-child bond has a positive effect on a child's attitude toward reading and his ability to read. Try the suggestions below to help make reading with your child both a pleasure and a learning experience.
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1. Choose the right book using the "Five-Finger Rule." Have your child open the book to any page in the middle of the book and read that page. Each time she comes to a word she does not know she should hold up one finger. If she gets to five fingers before she finishes reading the page, the book is too hard. If she doesn't hold up any fingers, the book is probably easy for your child and can be used to build reading fluency. If she holds up two or three fingers, the book is likely to be a good level for her reading to grow.
2. Use "sound" strategies to tackle a new word.
- Ask your child to sound out an unknown word. Look at the letters in a difficult word and have your child pronounce each sound, or "phoneme." Then see if he can blend the sounds together to pronounce the word.
- Help him memorize irregular words. Explain that words like "where," "hour" or "sign" are hard to sound out since they don't follow normal sound patterns. Point these words out when you're reading to help your child learn to recognize them on his own.
- Use suffixes, prefixes, and root words. If your child knows the word "day," guide him to define new words like "yesterday" or "daily." Similarly, if he knows what "pre" means, it's easy to learn new words like "prepare" or "preschool."
- Ask your child what word or idea would make sense in the plot of the story when he gets stuck on an unfamiliar word.
- Encourage your child to look at illustrations, pictures, titles or graphs to figure out the meaning of new words.
- Challenge your child to figure out new words, but always supply the word before he becomes frustrated.
- After your child has read a story, reread it aloud yourself, so that he can enjoy it without interruption.
6. Make reading a priority. Whether it's 10 minutes every night before bed or an hour every Sunday morning, it helps to set aside a specific time for reading. This kind of special "together time" can go a long way in getting your child interested in books.
7. Create the right atmosphere. Find a quiet comfortable place to listen to your children read. While you don't need to build a special reading nook, it helps to ensure that even in a busy home, there's a quiet place for reading.
8. Make reading fun. Kids may not get excited at the idea of quiet time spent curled up on the couch. Why not make it fun by turning reading sessions into impromptu theater performances? Play around with funny voices to impersonate animals or unusual characters in stories. You'll get to release some tension and your child will learn to think of reading as fun rather than work.
9. Keep reading aloud to your child. Don't stop reading aloud to your child once she learns to read by herself. When you take a turn at reading, you let your child enjoy books that are beyond her independent reading level and build her vocabulary by exposing her to new words. Reading aloud is also a chance for you to model reading smoothly and with expression.
10. Introduce new books. Each year there is one book that seems to steal the hearts and minds of all children. While it may seem it's the only book your child wants to read, it's important to remember that there are millions of books that will suit your child's interests and capture his imagination. Use these resources to help your child find great books:
Updated February 2008
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