Reading With Your Child
Following
are several ways that parents can engage with their children to foster a
lifelong love of reading. Remember to: 1) give a direct explanation of what you
are doing, and why it is important, 2) model how to apply a strategy by
“thinking aloud”, 3) guide and assist the child as they learn, 4) help the
child practice the strategy until they can apply it independently. Happy
Reading!
For Emerging Readers (When a child is sounding words out)
Oral Reading: Have your child read some, or all, of their reading book out loud. Listen to hear if the book is too easy, just right, or too hard, and please give your child’s teacher feedback. Oral reading facilitates fluency with the goal of a child’s reading sounding like their speech.
Word Sorts: Choose a pattern to follow in the text and have your child point out the words in the pattern to you. You can write the words in a list for your child or have them do it themselves. Pick a word family (all words that end in –at) or a syllable type (all silent –e words) and watch for them in the text.
For Fluent Readers (Once a child is reading 40 words a minute)
Five Finger Rule: Help your child learn how to pick a book at the right level by having them read the first page, or any paragraph, and put up a finger for each word they have trouble reading.
0-1 Fingers – Too Easy
2-3 Fingers – Just Right
4-5 Fingers – Too Hard
Repeated Reading:(You will need 2 copies of the text and a stopwatch). Pick a passage that is “just right” and have the child read out loud for one minute. Mark the errors on your copy, and gently correct them at the end of the passage. Record the number of words read correctly in a minute. The goal is to read (child’s age + zero) words correctly in a minute. Have them read the same passage 2 more times and note progress.
Summarizing: After your child has read, ask them to summarize what they read in 10 words or less (you can adjust this number as a child is first learning the strategy). Guide them to identify main ideas, and important details. Have them tell you their summary or write it down. See if you can tell them back what they said to you.
For Emerging Readers (When a child is sounding words out)
Oral Reading: Have your child read some, or all, of their reading book out loud. Listen to hear if the book is too easy, just right, or too hard, and please give your child’s teacher feedback. Oral reading facilitates fluency with the goal of a child’s reading sounding like their speech.
Word Sorts: Choose a pattern to follow in the text and have your child point out the words in the pattern to you. You can write the words in a list for your child or have them do it themselves. Pick a word family (all words that end in –at) or a syllable type (all silent –e words) and watch for them in the text.
For Fluent Readers (Once a child is reading 40 words a minute)
Five Finger Rule: Help your child learn how to pick a book at the right level by having them read the first page, or any paragraph, and put up a finger for each word they have trouble reading.
0-1 Fingers – Too Easy
2-3 Fingers – Just Right
4-5 Fingers – Too Hard
Repeated Reading:(You will need 2 copies of the text and a stopwatch). Pick a passage that is “just right” and have the child read out loud for one minute. Mark the errors on your copy, and gently correct them at the end of the passage. Record the number of words read correctly in a minute. The goal is to read (child’s age + zero) words correctly in a minute. Have them read the same passage 2 more times and note progress.
Summarizing: After your child has read, ask them to summarize what they read in 10 words or less (you can adjust this number as a child is first learning the strategy). Guide them to identify main ideas, and important details. Have them tell you their summary or write it down. See if you can tell them back what they said to you.