Why? Because good readers make better learners. While society is becoming more and more image oriented, the majority of what your child learns will be through reading. Textbooks, internet, summer reading assignments. If reading is fun and already a habit, the learning comes more naturally. (And they always have a source of entertainment for a long car ride!)
Teachers love it when kids come into their classrooms who already love to read, know how to handle books, and understand the basics of how our crazy language works.
So this thread of posts will be a progressive list of ideas to get your child from Goodnight Moon to "I can write serendipitous!" (Well, at least "cat".)
Step One: Setting the Stage: Create an environment in your home that leads your child to be a reader.
Talk, talk talk. Your kids will learn most of their vocabulary in the first five years of life. Oral language is directly related to written language. The more variety of words and sentences your child hears and speaks, the faster they will pick up and understand new words and ideas on paper. So talk about everything. When they're babies, give a play by play on what you are doing. When they're older, talk with them. Ask questions, play word games, discuss the things they like to do. Just talk!
Model, model, model. Let your child see you reading. Not all of you are big book readers, but let your kids see you reading something. If they see you doing it, they'll want to do it to.
Read to your child all the time. When they are babies, it doesn't matter what you read to them. As a new mom, I would lay next to my newborn and read out loud to them whatever I was reading at the time. (That this was the only time I had to read my own books!) As they get older, read nursery rhymes, board books, ABC books, anything that holds their interest!
Don't be afraid to read books that are "above" their developmental level. If they like the pictures, make up your own story. Maggie's favorite books right now are the Berenstein bear books. They are targeted to kids about 5 and up, but she loves them. Does she understand the stories? Sometimes. What's more important is that she loves reading them and can recite the whole book to herself. As she gets older we'll worry about relating them more to her own life.
Relate things you've seen to books you've recently read. "Look! There's a little puppy, just like in the book we've read." "Let's draw a giraffe with a long neck like in your animal book."
Teach your child how to take care of books. Toddlers can be taught how to be "gentle" and "soft" with books. Show them how to hold them in their laps and turn the pages. Will they still tear a few? Sure, but that comes with the territory. Just put that signed copy of Mere Christianity somewhere up high for a while.
The Next Installment: Letter/Sound Recognition
Reading Makes Your Child Smarter
ReplyDeleteReading is known to have numerous benefits. It increases your world knowledge, enhances your vocabulary, and works to improve your reading comprehension abilities.
But did you know that reading can actually make you smarter?
In fact, reading not only can make a child smarter, the very act of reading can even help to compensate for modest levels of cognitive ability in children by building their vocabulary and general knowledge! This is a finding reported by researchers Cunningham and Stanovich in a report titled "What Reading Does For the Mind".
The simple fact here is that reading can make your child smarter, and that learning to read early on is directly linked to later success in life.
1) Did you know that your child's vocabulary at 3 years old predicts his or her grade one reading success? [1]
2) Did you know that vocabulary and reading ability in first grade strongly predicts grade 11 outcomes? [2]
3) Did you know that your child's reading skill in grade 3 directly influences high school graduation? Studies have found that children who cannot read proficiently by grade 3 are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than proficient readers! [3]
>> Give your child the best possible head start. Teach your child to read today. Click here to learn how.
But how do you teach a young child to read, and isn't that the job of the school and teachers?
You can't be more wrong...
With the right tools, knowledge, and techniques, teaching young children to read can be a simple and effective process. I'd like to introduce you to a fantastic reading program called Children Learning Reading, a super effective method for teaching children to read - even children as young as just 2 or 3 years old.
The creators of this program have used it to teach their four children to read before age 3, and by reading, I mean real, phonetic reading.
I can understand if you find that hard to believe... In fact, I had a difficult time believing it myself as well... that is, until I saw the videos they posted documenting the reading progress of the their children - not to mention all the videos other parents have sent in showcasing their children's reading progress after using the Children Learning Program. After learning more about their methods and techniques, it became clear how it's possible to teach young children to read effectively.
It is truly within your ability to teach your child to read in a relatively short period of time spending just 10 to 15 minutes each day.
>> Click here now to watch the videos and start teaching your child to read.
1. Vocabulary Development and Instruction: A Prerequisite for School Learning
Andrew Biemiller, University of Toronto
2. Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later.
Cunningham AE, Stanovich KE.
3. Double Jeopardy How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation
Donald J. Hernandez, Hunter College and the Graduate Center,
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