READING TIPS FOR PARENTS
For some, a love for reading needs to be nurtured. Small actions, practiced consistently, can produce healthy reading habits in children of all ages. Below are tips and strategies to get kids of all ages reading.
Select your child’s age:
Tips to Build Oral Language and Background Knowledge Skills
Long before young children learn to read, they hear lots of words in everyday conversations and through being read to. Building up a child’s “word bank” from a very young age is great preparation for reading fluency and comprehension later on.
TIP#1
When reading together, talk about the story and the vocabulary you encounter.
TIP#2
Talk about new words and use them in lots of different ways.
TIP#3
Ask about the characters, places, and events that took place in the story. Talking about the story and asking questions builds comprehension skills.
TIP#4
Continue reading aloud to your child even after they’ve learned to read on their own.
TIP#5
Ask your child questions that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer. Some questions that could help are “Why do you think that happened?” “What do we do next?” “What would happen if we did it this way?”
Tips to Build Phonological
Awareness Skills
Phonological and phonemic awareness are important pre-reading skills, related to the ability to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in spoken language — including rhymes, syllables, and the smallest units of sound (phonemes). Children with strong phonological awareness skills are ready to connect the sounds to the letters that represent them and become readers.
TIP#1
Tap out the sounds in words as a fun car activity. For example, tap out the sounds in ‘read’ /r/ /ee/ /d/.
TIP#2
Help your child separate the sounds in words, listen for beginning or ending sounds.
TIP#3
Play “I Spy” with sounds. “I spy something red that starts with /s/.”
TIP#4
Connect the sounds. For example, say, “Start with /p/ and add /ig/. What do word do you hear if you put them together?”
TIP#5
Sing songs and say silly tongue twisters. These help your child become sensitive to the sounds in words.
TIP#6
While at the grocery store, have your child tell you the syllables in different food names. Have them hold up a finger for each word part. Eggplant = egg-plant, two syllables. Pineapple = pine-ap-ple, three syllables.
Tips to Build Word Reading Skills
The goal of phonics instruction is to help children learn the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language — and that there is an organized, logical, and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds. A child with strong word-reading skills uses this knowledge of sound-letter correspondence to read familiar and unfamiliar words and begins to read with ease.
TIP#1
Discourage guessing or skipping words. Help your child sound out the word. Point to the part of the word they missed and say the sound.
TIP#2
Talk about letters and sounds. Point to the spelling and explain the sound it represents. For example, in ‘throw’ ow spells the long o sound.
TIP#3
Explain tricky words instead of memorizing through lists or flashcards. For example, in the word ‘said,’ ai spells /e/ and rhymes with bed. This is not normally how we spell the /e/ sound.
TIP#4
Use a pencil or finger to point to the words while you or they are reading.
TIP#5
For beginning readers, have them read decodable books to you. These books include their learned skills and will not be too frustrating.
TIP#6
Have your child help write and read the grocery list.
TIP#7
Practice the alphabet by pointing out letters wherever you see them.
TIP#8
Build reading accuracy. When your child has made errors in reading, help them read the words correctly and have them reread the whole sentence accurately.
TIP#9
Practice patience. Beginning readers may read slowly. Give your child time to decode the words, and avoid jumping in too quickly.
TIP#10
Words are everywhere! When you’re out for a walk or shopping together, point out some simple signage, such as a STOP sign or a store sign that says “Pet Shop.” Ask your child if they can sound out the words.
TIP#11
Be your child’s best advocate. Keep informed about your child’s progress in reading and ask your child’s teacher about ways you can help.
Language skills
Pa skillS
Word reading skills
Motivation & Enjoyment
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Your child will be reading on their own before you know it. Start with our tips and see how far a lot of practice and a little patience can take them.
