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20 Ways for Parents to Encourage Reading

· Ask yourself, “What might my child like to read?” Use interests and hobbies as a starting point.

· Leave a variety of reading materials including books and magazines around your home.

· Notices what attracts your child’s attention. Bring home more information on the same subject.

· Let your child see you reading for pleasure.

· Take your child to the library regularly.

· Present reading as an activity with a purpose.

· Encourage older children to read to their younger brothers and sisters.

· Play games that are reading related.

· Share your reactions to the things you read, and encourage your children to do the same.

· Set aside a regular time for reading in your family. As little a 10 minutes of reading a day can help improve your child’s skills and habits.

· Read aloud to your child.

· Encourage your child to read aloud to you an exciting passage in a book, an interesting fact from the newspaper, or a joke in a joke book.

· Give books and magazines on gift-giving occasions.

· Set aside a special place for children to keep their own books.

· Introduce the bookmark.

· Treat your children to an evening of laughter and entertainment featuring books!

· Extend your child’s positive reading experience.

· Offer special incentives to encourage your child’s reading.

· Limit your children’s TV viewing in an effort to make time for other activities, such as reading.

· Take advantage of the many opportunities for reading during the course of your family’s busy day.

How you can help your child choose books that they can read:

Try the "Five Finger" Test:

1. Open up the book you have chosen.
2. Begin to read somewhere in the middle of the page.
3. Each time you come to a word that you do not know, hold one finger up.
4. If you have no fingers held up when you finish the page, the book may be too easy for you.
5. If you have less than five fingers held up, but more than one or two fingers, the book might be just right for you.
6. If you have all five fingers held up before you get to the end of the paragraph or page, the book is probably too hard for you. Think about choosing another book.

Many teachers are using the acronym IPICK when teaching their students how to choose books that are a good fit. Here are the steps you and your child should use when choosing a good fit book.

I PICK

I look the book over

Purpose: My purpose for reading this book is_______. They might want to do research for a report they are working on, or find a new author to love, or get lost in an entertaining story.

Interest: I am interested in this book. They might love mysteries, fantasy, dinosaurs, or funny books. They may be motivated to learn about an animal because they are trying to persuade a parent for a pet.

Comprehension: I understand what I am reading. They should read a section of the book to see if they comprehend the text.

Know the words: I know almost every word. They know almost all of the words (99% accuracy).

Ask Questions Throughout the Reading Process

Readers who are actively involved in reading ask themselves questions before, during, and after reading a selection. This not only increases their comprehension of what is being read, but it fully engages them in the reading process. As readers, when we are fully engaged in the reading process, we are more likely to remember important details and information. Asking questions is a great way for readers to monitor their comprehension of the text. Your child will learn that successful readers generate their own questions and that not all questions generated will be answered.

Learning to ask questions throughout the reading process is an important reading strategy because it teaches a reader to think aloud. It helps readers review important points in the text, evaluate the quality of the text, make connections, and refine predictions.

Model this questioning process by reading to your child and stopping during the reading to question what is going on in the text. Use questions such as:

• “What does this mean?”
• “Is this important?”
• “How do you think this story might end?”
• “What does this word mean?”

Some other possible questions include: (Higher level thinking skills are accessed as the numbers progress.)

1. Recall:
   1. Who is …..?
   2. How did …..?
   3. How many ….. ?
   4. Where did …..?
   5. What did …..?
   6. What is …..?
   7. When did …..?
   8. Which is …..? ?

2. Cause/Effect:
   1. What do you think will happen next?
   2. What caused ………………………………………….?
   3. What are the effects of ………………….?
   4. Why did …………………………………………………..?
   5. Why do you think ………………………………..?
   6. What would have happened if ………?
   7. How did _______ affect _______....?
   8. If _______, then _______ …………………..?

3. Similarities:
   1. How are _____ and _____ alike?
   2. How was _____ the same as _____?
   3. What is the same about _____ and _____?
   4. Compare _____ and _____.
   5. _____ and _____ are alike in what ways?
   6. _____ is to _____ as _____ is to _____ (analogy).

4. Differences:
   1. What are the differences between) _____ and _____?
   2. How is _____ different from _____?

5. Ideas to Examples:
   1. What are some examples pf _____?
   2. Find some examples of _____.
   3. Give an example of _____.
   4. Name some _____.

6. Examples to Ideas:
   1. What kind of person was _____?
   2. What is the main idea of _____?
   3. _____ is an example of _____.
   4. _____, _____, and _____ are all _____.
   5. What word best describes _____?

7. Evaluation:
   1. Do you think it was (good, bad, right, wrong) for _____?
   2. Who do you think _____?
   3. What do you think _____?
   4. If you had your choice, would you choose _____ or _____?
   5. Should _____?
   6. Do you agree with _____? Why?
   7. Would you rather _____?
   8. Do you like _____?

Sources include:

· Allison Behne ©2009 www.thedailycafe.com

· Ideas and strategies are taken from: The CAFÉ Book, written by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser

· Questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Developed by Linda G. Barton

These activities are intended to be done orally and for short periods of time (5-7 min.) repeatedly, during everyday life. Examples: at the store, in the car, in the bath tub, waiting for appointments, waiting in line, etc.

RHYMING ACTIVITIES:

To Parents: Our English language spelling system is based (mostly) on rhyming patterns: phonetics. It is important that children learn to recognize and produce rhymes before they can effectively use formal reading instruction.

1. Parent reads a nursery rhyme, song, poem, or jingle aloud.
Child identifies the rhyming words that he/she heard.

2. Rhyme Hunt
Parent thinks of a one syllable word; for example, "you."
Parent chants, "Let's make a rhyme for "you."
Child answers: "stew"

Sample word list:
book-cook
tree-flea
try-fly
two-blue
tea-bee
pot-hot
wall-call
play-day
cat-fat

3. What Does Not Belong?
Parent gives the child three words. Two of the words rhyme. Child finds the word that does not belong (does not rhyme).

Example:
Parent: "rat, men, hat"
Child: "men"

Sample Word List
hit-sit-fat
hen-Tom-pen
man-can-bell
hill-mop-top

WORD PLAY

1. Blending and Segmenting Words (putting together words and taking them apart). Be sure to say the sounds -- not the names of the letters.

Initial sounds:
Parent says, "Start with 'l', add 'unch.' What's the word?"
Child: "lunch"

Parent: "Start with 's' and add 'andwich.' What's the word?"
Child: "sandwich"

Final sounds:
Parent: "Start with 'superma', add an 'n' sound. What's the word?"
Child: "Superman"

Parent: "Start with 'stam,' add a 'p' sound. What's the word?"
Child: "stamp"

Continue the above activities with any familiar words.

2. Middle Sounds:
Parent says three words with same middle vowel sound.
Parent: "teeth, cheek, deep. What sound do you hear in the middle?"
Child: "ee"

Continue activity with different vowel sounds.
Sample word list:
sack-mack-tack
heat-seam-meal
hop-mom-pot
dock-lot-Tom
sank-tank-thank
comb-poke-wrote
hen-yell-pet
hill-tick-sip

3. Whole Word (from part to whole)
Parent gives the child a one-syllable word to blend, one sound (not letter) at a time.

Parent: "b...i...g" What's the word?"
Child: "big"

Parent: "s...t...o...p" What's the word?"
Child: "stop"

Helpful Hint: A great time to accomplish these activities is in your car. You can read street signs and other print that you may come across.

4. Whole Word (from whole to part)
Parent says entire word: "big"
Child says each individual sound: "b...i...g"

Sample word list (any words will work)
nest
sand
mop
when (remember, the "h" is silent -- so your child won't hear it.)
top
game
rug

5. Change the Name Game

Parent: "Say 'man'"
Child: "man"

Parent: "Say it again, but this time say 't' instead of 'm'."
Child: "tan"

Parent uses word families to continue playing the game substituting beginning sounds to make new words.

7 Keys to Comprehension

The following is an excerpt from Susan Zimmermann and Chryse Hutchins’ book 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get It

Sounding out or decoding words is part of the reading puzzle but falls short of real reading. If children don’t understand what they read, they’re not really reading.

Good readers use the following 7 Keys to unlock meaning:

1. Create mental images: Good readers create a wide range of visual, auditory, and other sensory images as they read.
2. Use background knowledge: Good readers use their relevant prior knowledge before, during, and after reading to enhance their understanding of what they’re reading.
3. Ask questions: Good readers generate questions before, during, and after reading to clarify meaning, make predictions, and focus their attention on what’s important.
4. Make inferences: Good readers use their prior knowledge and information from what they read to make predictions, seek answers to questions, draw conclusions, and create interpretations that deepen their understanding of the text.
5. Determine the most important ideas or themes: Good readers identify key ideas or themes as they read, and they can distinguish between important and unimportant information.
6. Synthesize information: Good readers track their thinking as it evolves during reading, to get the overall meaning.
7. Use “fix-up” strategies: Good readers are aware of when they understand and when they don’t. If they have trouble understanding specific words, phrases, or longer passages, they use a wide range of problem-solving strategies including skipping ahead, rereading, asking questions, using the dictionary, and reading the passage aloud.

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