Learning Enhancement – Reading with Your Child

So, just how important is reading every night?

One of the single most important things we can do is to take some time out of our busy lives and read with our children. The research is quite clear on this one, parent involvement in reading has a positive effect on children’s reading acquisition. It’s obvious, we all knew that. What do we actually do when listening to children reading? Simply reading aloud to your children or just listening to them is great, but parent involvement in reading is even better. Here are some tips for getting involved the night time reading session:

Making Connections

Readers constantly make connections as they read; connections to their own lives, another book, or real world events. Discussing connections can lead to more interaction and interest in a text as well as deepen comprehension.

What does this book remind you of?
Have you experienced any of the events or situations in this book?
Can you understand how the character was feeling? Why?
What do you know about the book’s topic?
Does this book remind you of another book?

Visualizing

Readers create pictures in their minds as they read. You could have your children stop while reading aloud to describe the pictures in their minds. Try asking:

What do you picture as you read this paragraph?
When reading this story did you make pictures in your head?
How did these pictures help you understand the story better?

Questioning

When readers question the text before, during, and after they read, they attend more closely to the text, clarify meaning, make predictions. Some of the most interesting questions we have are not always answered in the story.

Before Reading

What do you think will happen?
Why do you suppose?

During Reading

What do you think?
What do you wonder?
What does this word mean?
How can I figure out using clues from the text?

After Reading

What would have happened if..
I wonder why the author…
I wonder where we could look to find out more about….

Inferring

More than simple prediction, inferring happens when readers can read between the lines. The ability to infer helps the reader get to the why of the story and draw conclusions. You can help your son use inference by asking