How To Help Your Child With Reading By Rhonda Hacker Reading Specialist

Tips for parents of Kindergarteners *Talk to your child. (Have them explain something they did at school). *Say silly tongue twisters. (Read rhyming books.) *Read it and experience it. (Make connections.) *Use your child’s name. (Point out the link between letters in their name and sounds.) *Play with puppets. (Play language games with puppets.) *Trace and say letters. (Use multi-sensory strategies.) *Write it down. (Help them understand letter/sound relationships.) *Play sound games. (Practice blending/segmenting sounds in words.) *Read it again and again. (Be a model of fluent reading.) *Talk about letters and sounds. (Turn this into a game.)

Tips for parents of First Graders *Don’t leave home without it. (Take books everywhere you go!) *Once is not enough. (Re-reading builds fluency.) *Dig deeper into the story. (Ask your child questions about the story.) *Take control of the television. (It’s difficult for reading to compete with TV and video games.) *Be patient. (Give your child time to problem-solve on the word for themselves.) *Pick books that are at the right level. (Help your child feel successful.) *Play word games. (Change out letter sounds to make new words.) *I read to you, you read to me. (Take turns reading aloud at bedtime.) *Gently correct your young reader. (Prompt them to self-correct.) *Talk, talk, talk! (Have them discuss favorite books.) *Write, write, write! (Have your child experiment with letter/sound relationships.)

Tips for parents of Second Graders *Tell family tales. (Tell funny stories about when you were young. This is verbal rehearsal for writing.) *Create a writing toolbox. (Have your child do purposeful writing, such as, shopping lists and thank you notes.) *Be your child’s #1 fan. (Be an enthusiastic listener.) *One more time with feeling. (Once your child has problem-solved on an unknown word, have him or her re-read to check for meaning.) *Invite an author to class. (Volunteer to help in your child’s class.) *Create a book together. (Ask your child to write sentences on each page and add illustrations.) *Do storytelling on the go. (Take turns adding to a story as you ride in the car.) *Point out the relationship between words. (Teach students ways that words connect.) *Use a writing checklist. (Edit sentences by using C.U.P.S.) *Quick, quick. (Practice sight words until they become automatic.)

Reading at Home Purpose To build fluency, comprehension, word-solving and a love for reading in a supportive, loving environment using text at an independent-level. Guidelines *Sit next to your child while she/he reads so you can see the words and illustrations. *Expect it to be on the easy side. *Make it your child’s responsibility to return it to school every single day.

Parents, please make a point to…Support &Complement Word-Solving When an error is made WAIT to give your child a chance to work on it independently. When you are certain they are going to keep going, stop them by saying something like, “Try that again,” or “Make it match.” *You used the first letter & checked the picture! *You tried more than one strategy on your own! *Nice job trying a different vowel sound! *Super work making your eyes go through the beginning, middle and end of that word. *Lovely job sticking with it to work on problem-solving!

Comprehension Ask questions that invite recall AND thinking, such as, “Why do you think…happened?” or “What do you think…means?” Urge re-reading to build comprehension as needed. *You are self-monitoring & working on it when it does not make sense! *Your expression is showing that you understand what you’re reading. *Wonderful job stopping to think about the text instead of reading to just get to the next page! *You remember the details beautifully!

Fluency Model expressive reading & have your child echo read. Encourage just-right pacing (not too fast, not too slow). Demonstrate how to attend to the punctuation (pausing at the end of sentences , adding expression based on the punctuation mark). *You sounded just like the character would sound! *I could hear you take a break after the punctuation marks! *You are reading in phrases, not word-by-word! *Your speed is just right! Not too fast or too slow!