We know you want your little one to have the best start. The best thing you can do for your child is to provide a home filled with love and laughter. Spend as much time as you can with your child. Add lots of great children’s books and read and snuggle with him as much as possible. Enjoy exploring her world and showing her things. Appreciate each day with him, don’t be in a hurry to see him grow, but enjoy what each stage brings. These young years are God’s gift for your benefit — to make “your” memories!
And some of the best memories for us as parents are those special, quiet moments when our child cuddles in our lap, listening intently to a story they’ve heard at least 25 times already. This is an extraordinary experience for our children. It’s your special time with mom or dad, when everything else is pushed aside. It’s a time to cuddle up, talk together, and discover new things about the world around you. And although we don’t say it, our actions show our children that they deserve our attention and that we enjoy their company. We hope that one day you will love reading as much as we do.
In my first article in this series, Teaching Your Child to Read, I wrote about the importance of reading aloud to our children. Reading to children increases their knowledge of the world, their vocabulary, and their interest in reading. By being read repeatedly, children learn that reading is enjoyable, that pictures provide clues to the story, that stories have a beginning and an end. By listening, observing, and asking questions, they expand their vocabulary and increase their understanding. Repeated reading aloud not only helps children learn to read, but also has an impact on school success. Lifelong enjoyment of reading is directly related to daily reading.
In this article I have summarized some basic reading aloud “techniques”. Suggestions are broken down by age level. I hope they are useful tools to transmit the wonderful gift of reading to enjoy.
Birth-Age 2
· Reading aloud is an intimate time you and your child have together. Snuggle up and share books that can be held easily while your child is on your lap. Read aloud often.
· Look for books with large, bright, colorful pictures, exciting sounds, and rhyming patterns in the text (ie, Mother Goose rhymes). To reinforce the rhyme, sing or recite the stories throughout the day.
When your child is a baby, choose books that help him learn the names of all the objects around him. He points to the objects in the pictures and calls them by his name.
Choose sturdy board books and place them anywhere your child is, like the highchair, car seat, stroller, and toy room.
· As your child learns to turn the pages, don’t worry because it often seems like the only way he’s interested in interacting with a book. Promote an early appreciation of books by showing how to handle them carefully.
ages 2-4
· Keep books handy everywhere (in your bag, in the car, a small box in most rooms in the house) and integrate them with toys so children are just as likely to pick up a book as some blocks. or a stuffed animal.
· Establish a special routine time and a comfortable place to read. Some suggestions are at bedtime, while dinner is in the oven, or while a younger sibling is sleeping.
Show your child that reading happens anytime, anywhere. Read everything around you, such as store signs, street signs, and magazine covers. Create shopping lists and to-do lists and read them aloud.
Read the same books over and over again. Let your child participate in reading the story by lifting the flaps, turning the pages, pointing to the pictures, and repeating the words or phrases that he remembers.
Always choose a few books to read aloud that are a bit above your current vocabulary to introduce new words and concepts and build listening skills.
ages 5-7
· Choose books with patterns, rhymes, and repetitive phrases. Emphasize the rhythmic pattern as you read aloud and encourage your child to “fill in the blank” by pausing before reaching the end of the rhyming line or repeated phrase.
Try reading a familiar book by covering up the words and telling a story from the pictures alone. This shows your child how to use illustrations to tell a story.
· Sit so your child can see the text as you read aloud. Help your child recognize that the words he reads follow the words on the page by underlining the words with your finger as he reads. You can also ask your child to find individual words based on their beginning sounds. These types of “direct learning” activities are best suited when your child has heard the story often.
· Set aside time for assisted reading as your child begins to learn to read. You read a page to him and then he reads the next page to you.
Choose a variety of books that include fairy tales; folk tales from different countries; non-fiction books about animals; fictional stories touching on early scientific concepts such as the seasons, weather, and animal habits; characters who learn lessons about friendship and feelings and look at the world through the eyes of a child.
· Your child will often want to reread the book on her own after you’ve read it several times. Encourage him to read it silently instead of asking him to read it to you; in this way, you are encouraging silent reading for pleasure. Pick up a silent reading book for yourself and snuggle up next to it for a few moments of “shared silent reading.”
ages 7-9
· Continue to read aloud to your child even if he has already learned to read on his own. Children learn a lot about the flow of language, their vocabulary grows, and they have many opportunities to hear what a good read sounds like.
Good options at this age are chapter books, sports stories, riddles and jokes, puns, and poetry. Encourage your child’s interest by reading aloud books from the same series or by the same poet.
Subscribe to a children’s magazine that focuses on particular topics like Sports Illustrated for Kids, Ranger Rick, or Time for Kids. Visit the library to read aloud reference books about things your child can discover in the real world, like bugs, flowers, and snakes.
Read aloud the description of various entries in a recipe book and choose a recipe to make together. Choose a particular craft from a craft book and read aloud as you follow the directions together.
· Chapter books (slightly longer children’s stories divided into chapters and with fewer illustrations) are a wonderful way to encourage longer attention spans, increased vocabulary, and a more vivid imagination. Share these books during read-aloud sessions now. When your child is a little older, he or she will probably go back to reading these same books to read alone.
ages 10-12
· At this age, children begin to develop an appreciation for mysteries, informational books, tall tales, adventures with real heroes, biographies, and interactive adventure stories to choose from. They often participate in active sports and develop best friends. Try to select books from these categories so your child has access to a wide range of age-appropriate topics and various literary styles.
· Visit the library and make time to read books between sports practices, homework and social activities in which your child participates. Engage older children by reading the beginning of the book aloud. Just when the tension builds in the story, drop it, and often children will want to finish the book by reading it themselves.
If you plan to read an entire book aloud to a child this age, choose a book with a reading level a few years higher than your child’s current level. This will build your vocabulary and improve your listening skills.
· Find interesting news snippets to read aloud from the newspaper or news magazines. Introduce your child to current events, important social and political figures, new geographic regions, and different cultural practices and beliefs.
