March is National Reading
Month, and the Defer students and teachers have joined in the celebration! Guest readers will visit many classrooms in
March to share their favorite book. Classrooms
are silent each day as students curl up and read for sustained periods of time.
Reading together at home
is extremely important for all children.
You have the greatest influence on your child and you send a powerful
message about not only the importance of reading, but the pleasure of reading
when you read together. Try the
following suggestions to make reading with your child both a fun and a learning
experience.
1.
Make reading a
priority. Whether it’s 20 minutes every night before
bed or an hour every Sunday morning, it helps to set aside a specific time for
reading.
2.
Choose the right book using the “five-finger rule”. When selecting
a new book to read have your child open the book to any page in the middle and
read that page. Keep track of how many
words they don’t know. If the child gets
to five words before they finish the page, the book is too hard. If the child knows all of the words, the book
is probably easy and is a good one to build reading fluency. If they don’t know two or three words, the
book is likely to be at a good level for their reading to grow.
3.
Create the right atmosphere. Find a quiet
place for your child to read. Your home
is a busy place, but children need a ‘reading spot’ away from noise and
distractions.
4.
Make reading fun. There are lots of great a book
that are filled with humor and that’s always a ‘hook’ for children. Try ‘hamming it up’ a bit when reading at
home. Play around with funny voices or
acting out the scene you are reading.
5.
Keep reading aloud to your child. Don’t stop
reading aloud to your child once he/she learns to read on their own. When you
do the reading, you allow your child to enjoy books that are beyond their
independent reading level. Children
learn new vocabulary, and it is a great chance for you to model reading
smoothly and with expression.
6.
Introduce new books.
Sometimes one book will steal
your child’s heart and that is all they want to read. Remember, there are millions of books to
enjoy. Ask a librarian or your child’s teacher
for a recommendation. Check out children’s
literature web sites.
