Reading at Home
Suggestions for Reading Together
The most important thing a parent can do while reading with his or her child is to have fun. The more enjoyable the experience, the more likely you and your child will do it more often. This list captures some ways you can read with your child to help build his or her confidence and enjoyment of reading at home.
Read to Your Child
Reading a good story with lots of expression helps build reading skills and motivation. Seeing you read and get excited about a story lets your child know you enjoy reading. Listening to you read gives your child the chance to hear fluent reading sounds. Talking about the book together builds comprehension skills and is just plain fun!
Choral reading
Hold the book together and ask the child to read along with you. Begin reading in a voice that is slightly louder and faster than your child's. As your child becomes more comfortable with reading the text, lower your voice and slow down your reading speed. If your child slows down, increase your volume and speed again.
Echo reading
Read aloud a line of text. Ask your child to read the same line. Continue taking turns reading and rereading the same lines. When your child begins to read with more expression and fluency, suggest that he or she read aloud on his or her own.
Paired Reading
Paired reading is a technique that allows you to vary the amount of support you provide your child while reading aloud together. Explain to your child that sometimes you will read aloud together – duet reading – and sometimes he or she will read alone – solo reading. Agree on two signals your child can use to switch back and forth from solo to duet reading. When your child gives you the duet signal, you will begin reading together. When your child feels ready for solo reading, he or she will give the solo signal and you will stop reading.
Repeat Read
When your child reads the same story or book more than once, he or she is building sight word recognition and practicing reading with good expression and phrasing. Some fun ways to practice repeat reads are with poems, riddles, jokes, tall tales, or songs.
The most important thing a parent can do while reading with his or her child is to have fun. The more enjoyable the experience, the more likely you and your child will do it more often. This list captures some ways you can read with your child to help build his or her confidence and enjoyment of reading at home.
Read to Your Child
Reading a good story with lots of expression helps build reading skills and motivation. Seeing you read and get excited about a story lets your child know you enjoy reading. Listening to you read gives your child the chance to hear fluent reading sounds. Talking about the book together builds comprehension skills and is just plain fun!
Choral reading
Hold the book together and ask the child to read along with you. Begin reading in a voice that is slightly louder and faster than your child's. As your child becomes more comfortable with reading the text, lower your voice and slow down your reading speed. If your child slows down, increase your volume and speed again.
Echo reading
Read aloud a line of text. Ask your child to read the same line. Continue taking turns reading and rereading the same lines. When your child begins to read with more expression and fluency, suggest that he or she read aloud on his or her own.
Paired Reading
Paired reading is a technique that allows you to vary the amount of support you provide your child while reading aloud together. Explain to your child that sometimes you will read aloud together – duet reading – and sometimes he or she will read alone – solo reading. Agree on two signals your child can use to switch back and forth from solo to duet reading. When your child gives you the duet signal, you will begin reading together. When your child feels ready for solo reading, he or she will give the solo signal and you will stop reading.
Repeat Read
When your child reads the same story or book more than once, he or she is building sight word recognition and practicing reading with good expression and phrasing. Some fun ways to practice repeat reads are with poems, riddles, jokes, tall tales, or songs.