Our much appreciated volunteer -
Nana reading to and with an eager student
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Our much appreciated volunteer - Nana reading to and with an eager student |
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Why Read Aloud to Your Child ? |
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| The single most important activity for building eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children, according to the Commission on Reading. We need to read to children long before they learn to read and long after they learn to read. | |
| BUT WHY? |
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| Some of the things that reading aloud does: | |
| It builds vocabulary. According to Jim Trelease, in his Read Aloud Handbook, we have to hear and say a word before we can read or write it. If a child never heard the word gigantic, then he can't say it. If he has neither heard nor said the word, he will have difficulty reading or writing it. | |
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One of the most important things that reading aloud does is develop a desire to be a reader. |
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Children want to
take on the behavior that brings them pleasure and helps them learn about
their world - that of reading. If this has never been a pleasant and
frequent part of their lives, they likely are not going to have the desire
to be a reader. Most children learn how to read but some
choose not to read if the process of learning to read has been
difficult.
 Does your child get excited when he or she receives a book as a gift? "What you make a child love and desire is more important than what you make them learn," according to Jim Trelease. The desire to read must be planted by parents and teachers. Like any behavior, the more you read, the better you get at it, and the better you get at reading, the more you like it, and the more you like it, the more you choose to do it. |
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Our goal is to create lifetime readers, not just schooltime readers. |
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| Daily exposure to
reading material develops your child's understanding of how print works.
(e.g., We read from left to right and top to bottom on a page.)
Children learn book language, like "Once upon a time". They are
exposed to better and richer language than is found on TV or in the
neighborhood. When adults or positive people in their lives read to children the child sees and hears a positive reading role model. |
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Tips on Building Literacy at Home |
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Have books wherever
the kids are - car, kitchen, bedroom,... Listen to and read with books on tape. Encourage reading lots of things: cereal boxes, road signs, newspapers, maps, grocery lists, the list is endless. Encourage writing, as it builds letter-sound knowledge and supports reading development. Enjoy rhyming books, nursery rhymes, and songs, as they build your child's ability to hear and manipulate sound patterns (phonemic awareness) - this really helps their reading and writing later. Puppet plays or acting out a story develops comprehension skills, fluency, and expression. Use some vocabulary from the read aloud books
to build your child's speaking vocabulary - have fun with this - use some of
the fun words or language from the story. Play letter and word games at home and in the car. Keep a variety of materials handy, such as: sidewalk chalk, crayons, pencils, paper, old magazines, and magnetic letters (not just for refrigerator doors, they stick nicely to cookie sheets and cookie tins). Most of all, keep a variety of library books on hand for your child to read alone or with someone or to just look at and enjoy.
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Much of the information shared here is based on
The Read Aloud Handbook, by author, Jim Trelease. I encourage you
to go to his web site for more information on reading aloud to your child,
booklists, his favorite educational links, and much more.
trelease-on-reading.com
The American Library Association (ALA) has a
site called Great Web sites for kids. Information is by age level and topic.
The site offers book reviews
and book title suggestions.
Great Web sites for kids
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