My daughter is three. As a preschooler, she loves to “read” and loves for us to read to her. She received a Leapfrog Tag system
But, she can also take a regular book and either tell us the story from memory or a lot of times she’ll just make up her own story with the pictures. I’ve heard these are all good things for learning to read. So, I take it we’re on the right track.
Now, how do we take it to another level?
Well, I’m no teacher, so I don’t magically have the answer. Luckily for me, though, there are plenty of resources out there for parents like you and me to learn more about how to help our kids learn to read and develop their language skills.
5 Reading Resources for Parents
- Scholastic Parents: Books & Reading – Provides information by age bracket, a newsletter, and articles.
- PBS Parents Reading & Language – Also provides information by age, articles, and some quick tips. There’s also the PBS shop
that has products for parents.
- Reading Rockets: For Families – This site has articles and information with tips on reading with your kid, as well as for recognizing when there might be issues in reading (for older kids obviously). They also have a facebook page if you want to connect with them.
- Literactive – You can get more than just information on this site. They provide activities and worksheets that you can use with your child.
- U.S. DOE Free Publications – I’ve linked to the Top 10 publications from the Department of Education with the first 4 listed being information on how parents can help their kids get ready or learn to read. They’re divided by age level.
These are great for all parents, but also good for those home-schooling parents out there. And, there’s so many more sites out there!
If you want, you can browse all the sites I’ve bookmarked on delicious and tagged with reading.
What methods have you found work for helping your child learn to read?
I’m a former teacher so this might be cheating. But, I’m gonna give the ideas that I used suggest to parents and things that I actually do myself.
1. Fill your house with print. Newspapers, magazines, children’s books, adult books. Anything with words that your child can be exposed to even before he or she can read.
2. Interact with the print and encourage your child to do the same. You are a wonderful literacy role model for your child. Let him or her see you reading for pleasure and share some of what you are reading. Also, encourage your child to look at a book or magazine instead of watch TV.
3. Read to your child. Even grown ups like to be read to, so regardless of your child’s age be sure to carve out sometime that you can share a story in which you do the reading.
4. Take your child to the library. When I was teaching 8th grade in Oakland, CA you’d have been amazed to learn how many kids had not been to the library. Kids need to know that the library is not only a resource, but a place to have fun and be entertained. One good way to get toddlers and preschoolers into the library is through free story times many facilities offer. Even the smallest baby can benefit b/c it helps develop a habit for the future. A lot of moms of young preschoolers gripe about how misbehaved their child is at the library. If you start them at 6 months they will be accustomed to the culture and expectations of the library.
5. Share a variety of experiences with your child. Go to plays, visit museums, enjoy long walks. All of these activities expose your child to environmental print; words they will quickly recognize if seen in a future story. Also, this variety of experiences helps your child develop various other key elements important for learning to read, like inference, drawing conclusions, and making predictions.
Sorry to hijack your post, I guess I got a little carried away:)
@parenting BY dummies, Thank you so much for all the great tips! Those are really useful. I definitely need to take her to the library more often, but it gets really hard when I’m at work during the week. 🙂