We spend much of our first grade day reading, but reading to and with your child at home is just as important! I hope this page will offer you support as we work together to build strong, passionate readers!
1. Take a "picture walk." Flip through the book and talk to your child about what she thinks it might be about. "What do you notice?"
2. Monitor your child as he reads. Help him improve independent reading using the Helping Hand Strategies:
"Look at the picture"
"Think about the story"
"Go back and read again"
"Get your mouth ready" (to make the first sound)
"Make a guess and check it"
Too often we want to supply the unknown word to the child. It is so important that you let him try to figure out the word on his own!
3. Praise the reader for: using pictures, noticing mistakes, fixing mistakes, reading smoothly with expression, using letter sounds, rereading.
4. Ask your child questions about the story, such as: characters, setting, sequence of the story, problems and solutions that the characters faced. See more below under Comprehension.
5. Your child's reading should become fluent. To develop fluency, it is helpful to have your child read the book several times.
6. Make reading together enjoyable!
As adults, we do not read simply to decode words, but instead to make meaning of the story, to gain information and to relate the text to our lives. We read to understand. We need to teach our kids that this is the real goal of reading!
You can help your child with comprehension by asking the following questions.
Who was in the story?
Was there a problem? How was it solved?
Where did the story take place?
What were the most important things that happened?
Do you remember what happened at the beginning? The end?
What did you think of the story? (By the way, it is okay to dislike a book! Encourage your child to be honest. Adults don't like every book they read either! If your child dislikes it, talk about why and what might be a better book for him/her.)
Can you retell the story to me in your own words?
Does this remind you of another book you have read?
Make your own "connection" to the book as an example for your child to follow.
When I saw this picture, it made me think about.......
When I read these words, it reminded me of that time..........
Make sure your child sees YOU reading and gaining information from books, magazines and newspapers!