Ways to Help Your Child Read at Home
Reading is a very personal activity and you may find that one,
some or all of the strategies below are successful.
Remember that reading, like anything else we master,
take practice and perseverance.
When Reading Fiction:
Before You Begin...
1. Find a comfortable spot (but not too comfortable!) that is free from distractions.
2. Help your child set a goal.
3. Build excitement for reading
During Reading...
1. After every few sentences / paragraphs (based on individual), ask him/her to take a break and explain what was read. If a solid answer is given, move on. If not, he/she should reread that passage again.
2. Every time your child can relate to something he/she is reading about, or if a memory is triggered, he/she should be encouraged to make those connections out loud.
3. If the predictions your child has made were found to be correct or not, have fun with the result, like it's a game. Then, come up with a new prediction.
4. Do you hear that your child is trying really hard to identify unknown words?
5. Use your senses to bring reading to life.
After Reading...
1. Ask your child to summarize what he/she has read using the SWBT strategy.
SWBT: (somebody, wanted, but/so, then)
(A summary of a scene from The Witches, by Roald Dahl)
Roald wanted to escape from the witches inside the ballroom. He couldn't believe they wanted to get rid of all the children in England. But he grew even more worried when his mice, William and Mary, ran by the Grand High Witches' shoes. Then, when she kicked the mice, she realized there was a boy in the hotel with them. The witches decided to worry about the boy later because they had to get on with their meeting. They had to keep discussing their recipe for "Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse Maker."
1. Find a comfortable spot (but not too comfortable!) that is free from distractions.
2. Help your child set a goal.
- read for 15 minutes (set a timer)
- read one chapter
3. Build excitement for reading
- make predictions about what you think will happen
- look at the pictures
- guess why the title of the book has been chosen
- make connections (this reminds me of...)
During Reading...
1. After every few sentences / paragraphs (based on individual), ask him/her to take a break and explain what was read. If a solid answer is given, move on. If not, he/she should reread that passage again.
2. Every time your child can relate to something he/she is reading about, or if a memory is triggered, he/she should be encouraged to make those connections out loud.
3. If the predictions your child has made were found to be correct or not, have fun with the result, like it's a game. Then, come up with a new prediction.
4. Do you hear that your child is trying really hard to identify unknown words?
- encourage every effort
- be patient and allow your child to try it on his/her own first
- assist with 'chunking'. This means sounding out a word one syllable at a time. (swimming - swim / ing. chunking - chun / king)
- look for words within words. (parent - pa / rent.)
- point out prefixes and suffixes and discuss meanings. (preview, pre = before, look before (you read). jumped, ed = past tense, the jump already happened.)
5. Use your senses to bring reading to life.
- see (make a movie in your mind)
- hear (hear the crunch of fall leaves as the characters walk over them)
- smell (smell the cinnamon in the warm apple pie cooling on the windowsill)
- touch (let your foot recoil in disgust when a character steps on a gooey slug)
- taste (allow the dirt from the dusty road to get in your teeth, or let the whipped cream soften the sharp sweetness of your hot chocolate)
After Reading...
1. Ask your child to summarize what he/she has read using the SWBT strategy.
SWBT: (somebody, wanted, but/so, then)
(A summary of a scene from The Witches, by Roald Dahl)
Roald wanted to escape from the witches inside the ballroom. He couldn't believe they wanted to get rid of all the children in England. But he grew even more worried when his mice, William and Mary, ran by the Grand High Witches' shoes. Then, when she kicked the mice, she realized there was a boy in the hotel with them. The witches decided to worry about the boy later because they had to get on with their meeting. They had to keep discussing their recipe for "Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse Maker."
2. Ask your child to retell what he/she has read answering the 5 W's and 1 H.
5 W's and 1 H: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How (How do you know this?)
(A retelling of a scene from Shiloh Season, by Phyllis Naylor)
(Who) Marty and David (what) pretended they were detectives as they snuck over to Judd's (When) in the middle of the night. (Why) They decided to spy on Judd at night time because they were pretending he was a ware-wolf and they wanted to see if it was true. (How) I know this because on p. 46, David says "We'll wait until everyone's asleep and then sneak over to Judd's. It's a full moon so we'll get our answer for sure."
5 W's and 1 H: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How (How do you know this?)
(A retelling of a scene from Shiloh Season, by Phyllis Naylor)
(Who) Marty and David (what) pretended they were detectives as they snuck over to Judd's (When) in the middle of the night. (Why) They decided to spy on Judd at night time because they were pretending he was a ware-wolf and they wanted to see if it was true. (How) I know this because on p. 46, David says "We'll wait until everyone's asleep and then sneak over to Judd's. It's a full moon so we'll get our answer for sure."
When Reading Non Fiction:
Before Reading...
1. Find a comfortable spot (but not too comfortable!) that is free from distractions.
2. Help your child set a goal.
3. Build excitement & prepare for reading
1. Find a comfortable spot (but not too comfortable!) that is free from distractions.
2. Help your child set a goal.
- read 2 sections
- read one chapter
3. Build excitement & prepare for reading
- look at the pictures
- make connections (this reminds me of our vacation to... / tv show about ...)
- read the questions at the end of the lesson / chapter so he/she knows what to think about & look out for while reading.
- use the text features to gain an overview of the topics.
Text features are like big blinking signs screaming,
"Look at me! Look at me!"
During Reading...
1. After every few sentences / paragraphs (based on individual), ask him/her to take a break and explain what was read. If a solid answer is given, move on. If not, he/she should reread that passage again.
2. Every time your child can relate to something he/she is reading about, or if a memory is triggered, he/she should be encouraged to make those connections out loud.
3. Do you hear that your child is trying really hard to identify unknown words?
4. If he/she comes across the answer to a question at the end of the section, stop and write it down before moving on.
After Reading...
1. Ask your child to retell what he/she has read answering the 5 W's and 1 H.
2. Re-read the questions at the end of the lesson / chapter to refresh your memory.
3. Use the text features to help guide you to finding the answer.
4. Take a relaxed view to finding the answers. See it like a scavenger hunt in which you are guaranteed to win because the answer is always there!
1. After every few sentences / paragraphs (based on individual), ask him/her to take a break and explain what was read. If a solid answer is given, move on. If not, he/she should reread that passage again.
2. Every time your child can relate to something he/she is reading about, or if a memory is triggered, he/she should be encouraged to make those connections out loud.
3. Do you hear that your child is trying really hard to identify unknown words?
- encourage every effort
- be patient and allow your child to try it on his/her own first
- assist with 'chunking'. This means sounding out a word one syllable at a time. (swimming - swim / ing. chunking - chun / king)
- look for words within words. (parent - pa / rent.)
- point out prefixes and suffixes and discuss meanings. (preview, pre = before, look before (you read). jumped, ed = past tense, the jump already happened.)
4. If he/she comes across the answer to a question at the end of the section, stop and write it down before moving on.
After Reading...
1. Ask your child to retell what he/she has read answering the 5 W's and 1 H.
- 5 W's and 1 H: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How (How = What page is the answer on?)
2. Re-read the questions at the end of the lesson / chapter to refresh your memory.
3. Use the text features to help guide you to finding the answer.
4. Take a relaxed view to finding the answers. See it like a scavenger hunt in which you are guaranteed to win because the answer is always there!