7 Things You Should be Doing as You're Reading Aloud to Your Child

One of the best ways your child can become a better reader is by hearing you read. As you read, your child notices the expression in your voice, how you are using pictures to help you better understand what you are reading, and how to read smoothly.  The article below shares seven things you should be doing as you are reading aloud to your children...which should be done at any age!

(from: http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/02/seven-things-you-should-be-doing-as-youre-reading-to-your-child/)
Reading daily with your child is critical to their development in many ways. There is no better way to increase vocabulary, teach literacy fundamentals, and expose your child to images and words to which they would otherwise not be exposed.
However, just saying the words on the page, while giving some benefits to your child, will not make the experience as productive as possible. By adding just a few small changes to your read-aloud time, you will be greatly increasing your child’s reading preparedness. Here are seven suggestions to make read-alouds the best learning experience possible every time you read together:
Read the Title, Author’s Name, and Illustrator’s Name-It’s important for children to become familiar with what these three things mean. Explain what author and illustrator mean. It’s also great for them to understand that every book is written and illustrated by real people.
Ask Your Child to Make Predictions-Read the title and look at the cover, then ask your child to tell you what they think might happen in the book. Most children will be quite uncomfortable with this in the beginning since they don’t know the answer, and they want to please you by saying only correct answers. Encourage them by saying that there is no wrong answer, but rather you just want them to take a guess. Ask them again in the middle of the book to make a prediction about how the story will end, and you could even make your own prediction and sometimes model that it’s okay to make an incorrect prediction.
Ask Your Child What Is Happening In the Pictures-It may not seem like pictures are as significant of a learning tool as the words, but when your child examines what is happening in a picture and explains it, it develops their inference skills. Just make sure not to do it with EVERY picture. Once or twice during a book will give them a chance to practice without completely interrupting the flow of the book.
Move Your Finger as You Read-By moving your finger underneath the words as you read, your child understands that you read left to right and top to bottom. It also helps children from a very young age to understand that the words you are saying are those written on the page, not just your own thoughts. However, this one takes a fine balance. Please don’t move your finger under every word on every page in every book. As a matter of fact, you should probably read most books without doing this at all. But every couple of days, use this trick on a page or two just so that your child will begin to take notice of some very important literacy fundamentals.
Ask Questions-Again, this involves a balancing act. Please don’t ask your child three questions per page. As a matter of fact, don’t even ask them one question per page. I think that asking a question every few pages is frequent enough to check your child’s understanding without breaking the flow of the story. You can ask basic recall questions, like “What did Mom say she needed at the store?” as well as reasoning questions like “How do you think Mom will get to the store?” and you can also throw in expansion questions like “What would you buy at the store to cook for dinner?”. The goal is to engage your child in the story, but beware that if you stop too often you will turn your child off to reading with you altogether because it will become a frustrating situation to them.
Reread the same books again…and again…(and again)-Most adults like to read a book once, and unless it’s a favorite, they will move on to another one. However, children like to read the same books over and over again. This helps them to make permanent in their mind the words and concepts that their brain is understanding. Regardless of the repetition, it is helping your child learn when you happily read and re-read books.
Really enjoy the book with your child-It really doesn’t matter if you follow each of these rules, AND establish a 1,000 book collection for your child, AND take them to the library twice a week. If you don’t take time to truly enjoy a book with your child, the likelihood of them enjoying it greatly decreases. Some of my children’s favorite books have been my favorite books, and I think it’s because my enthusiasm for the book shows. Enjoy the book and enjoy the time, because both are over much too soon.

How to Raise Readers in the Digital Age

As a parent and teacher, there are times that I worry that as technology spreads, children will read less than we, our parents, and grandparents did.  However, it turns out that there is no need to worry. According to an article from Scholastic Kids and Family Reading report, there are steps we can take to ensure that kids become lifelong readers.     

Embrace the e-Book
Half of children ages 9-17 say they would read more books for fun if they had greater access to e-books, according to the Scholastic report. E-books, in particular, are motivating boys and reluctant readers, who are reading e-books for fun in record numbers. E-books needn’t replace the printed book – 80 percent of kids who read e-books still read print books for fun. Having multiple options simply means more reading opportunities in many children’s lives.

Take your Reading with You

Tablets and e-readers make it easier than ever to take your reading along wherever you go – in the car and during other travel, in waiting rooms and local parks. And there are increasingly more great devices for reading e-books. The digital subscription service Bookboard provides access to a library of children’s books (audio and non) for the tablet, in a playful system that harnesses the natural interest kids have for technology and helps motivate them to read by rewarding them with books appropriate for their age, reading level and interests. Audio books, in particular, have proven a very effective tool for kids who have difficulty reading.

Use your Public Library

Libraries are still extremely popular, says a Pew Report on Library Services in the Digital Age. As many as 91 percent of people say that libraries are important to their communities and families. Libraries provide early literacy programming to support parents’ role as their children’s first teachers. They serve as community hubs and help bring families together. They invite hands-on experiential learning that prepares kids for reading and school. They provide access to technology and support digital learning in a way that may not be available to families at home. All this makes libraries a great place for readers and pre-readers alike to enjoy the array of services and foster a lifelong love of reading.

Look for “Readable” Moments

Books aren’t the only places kids learn to read. Reading opportunities are all around us. When you’re walking with your child, point out letters and read signs out loud. Make a game of this by searching for certain letters and words (or have children search while they’re in the car). When your baby or toddler is playing or when you’re performing chores at home, narrate what you or they are doing. “You’re building with blocks.” “I’m washing the dishes.” It might seem silly at first, but children initially learn the skills that lead to speaking and reading by listening to you.

In addition, kids often enjoy making lists. Even if the “words” consist of scribbles and lines, that’s the way they begin to read and write. Lists can be used to make menus for playing restaurant or receipts for playing store. Older children can help read recipes and make shopping lists and then help read the items in the store.

Set a Great Example

One of the most effective tools for encouraging kids to read is to be readers ourselves. Try to set aside time for your own reading where your children can see you (and read side-by-side with them when they’re older). Read a variety of media. Make a habit of reading to your kids as often as possible. Some of my family’s fondest memories involve bonding over childhood books. Bedtime is a natural time for winding down and cuddling through reading, but some kids enjoy bath time so much that that can be an ideal time to share a book. Young children treasure time with their parents and when you spend some of that time reading, they’ll associate it with your presence and physical closeness and the sound of your voice.

(from: http://www.slowfamilyonline.com/2013/08/how-to-raise-readers-in-the-digital-age/)

11 Ways to Help your Child Learn to Read

At Jefferson, your child receives reading instruction from their classroom teacher, from me, and should also continue to receive support from you.  This week, I'm going to share some tips on how you can help your child to continue to grow as a reader at home.
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1) Sand Paper Letters –Your child traces the letter with his finger and says the sound to emphasize the learning. You can create DIY Sand Paper Letters, buy wonderful letters and numbers from Etsy, buy authentic straight from a Montessori company or Amazon also supplies Montessori Sand Paper Letters.
2) Sand or Salt Tray – The child draws the letter or number in the sand with his finger or with the use of a small stick. You can DIY, buy authentic from a Montessori company or Amazon also supplies Montessori Sand Trays.
3) Tracing Paper – I made upper and lower case letters pages, then laminated them. Then, by placing tracing paper over the page, my son can practice his writing in his writing center.
4) Montessori Books – I recently read about these Montessori Letter books on How We Montessori and fell in love with them.
5) Emphasize Sounds – All day, every day, simply emphasize sounds when speaking and reading to your child. May seem a bit annoying at first but your child gets so much from this approach.
6) Sound Bag – We love our Sound Bags. It is fun to wander around the house seeking objects to place in our bag. We choose a letter and go from there collecting throughout the week.
7) Sound Box – I bought an artist box that has enough compartments for small objects. Each compartment is labeled with a letter. We switch up the objects as we discover more around the house and more that fir our box. You can create a larger box but this works for us now. Safari has mini replicas that work well and their small replicas even fit. Plus I have newly discovered Japanese erasers. They are mini sized and cover a wide variety of topics from school to shopping.
8) Sound of the Week Box – Each week we focus on a different letter sound. We have a box in which we collect various objects that satisfy that sound. I place a small sticker letter on the box and my son collects objects through the week. Interactive and involves movement as he seeks out new objects to include in the box.
9) First Readers – Our favorites first readers are Miss Rhonda’s Readers. Miss Rhonda is a Montessori teacher by day and amazing author by night. Please check out these Montessori First Reader books for your home and your classroom. Adorable illustrations and cute stories that your children will love to read on their own.
10) Create an Environment for Reading – Place baskets of books in various areas of your home including the living area, bedrooms (your bedroom and your children’s bedrooms) and even the kitchen. Besides a reading nook, children will find places you least expect it to curl up and read. We also have plenty of books in the car.

11) Apps – We love Montessorium’s First Letters and First Numbers apps. They provide a sensorial experience with a twist on your standard sand letters. When you trace the letter, the app make a scrapping sound and creates a line representing the line drawn. Montessorium’s Intro to Letters is by far one of the best Montessori apps that exists in cyberspace. The options include tracing lower and upper case letters, identifying letters, tracing double letters (th or oo, for example) and sounding out the letters and letter combinations. The app’s voice is realistic and reads/sounds to you but also gives the opportunity to record. Plain ol’ awesome.
(These ideas are from: http://www.oneperfectdayblog.net/2012/11/20/guest-post-11-ways-to-help-your-child-learn-to-read/)

Interactive reading and writing

This week has been filled with lots of fun, interactive reading and writing with all of the wonderful students I work with. 

Some of the second graders have been working on retelling story elements utilizing story maps:

The first graders have been working on looking at word parts and reading longer words such as compound words:

And the littlest kindergarten readers have been working on connecting to the text and  by sharing their connections in their journals:

 

 

I'm so proud of the progress they are making each and every day as they all become great readers and writers!