As a parent, reading books with your children is one of the most important things you can do.
Reading books with your children on a daily basis is one of the
most important things you can do. Parents can instill a love
of learning and significantly expand their child’s vocabulary
skills through daily book reading. A daily family reading
time of at least 20 minutes will benefit children of all ages.
Below are some suggestions for reading with children of
different ages.
- For an infant, choose a sturdy board book with brightly
colored pictures. Help your infant to turn the pages while
you read. Use a variety of different voices while
reading. For example, use a high voice when saying “High”
and a low voice when saying “Low “ while reading a book about
opposites. This will increase your child’s interest in
books and reading.
- For toddlers, provide many books with rhymes. Encourage
your child to choose the book he wants to read. She or he
may want to read a book several times in succession.
Encourage your child to help you read by filling in the
last word in a rhyme. For example, you say, “Hickory
Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the …..” and your child says, “
clock.”
- For elementary age children, you can take turns reading or
read in unison together. Share with your child what you are
thinking as you read. For example, you might say, “That boy
sounds very upset.” Encourage your child to also think
aloud as they are reading. Thinking aloud will help your
child understand and remember what is read.
- For teenagers, encourage your child to choose magazine or
newspaper articles as well as books to read. While reading,
encourage your child to make connections between what is being
read to his or her own life experiences, the community or world,
or other things that she or he has read. This will increase
your child’s engagement with and understanding of what the
reading material.
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