Ten Ways to Help Your Child Become a Reading Success

Encouraging children to read helps transform reading from a basic skill to a learned behavior and an intellectual habit. The more children read, the more they'll enjoy it, and the better readers they're likely to become. Here are some tips on ways to grow your child's interest in the wonderful world of reading,

v     Read with your child. You can't start too early. You can't read too much. Reading to young children nurtures an interest in language, words and communication. For older children, reading together can be fun and interesting. Consider reading one book together every month aloud. Take turns reading pages, chapters or major sections of the book. As this activity becomes a routine, it will not only help develop your child's reading skills, but will also create a basis for ongoing dialogue and discussion.

v     Read together regularly. It is recommended that parents spend an average of an hour a week—or 10 to 15 minutes a day—reading with young readers. It establishes reading as a regular, daily habit.

v     Encourage your child to build his or her own library. From stamps to comic books to autographs to baseball cards and stuffed animals, children have always been natural collectors. By encouraging book collecting and the creation of a personal library, you introduce your child to a world of resources. Help your child start his or her own library by including a visit to a local bookstore in your weekly or monthly shopping outings.

v     Search for reading activities on the Internet. There are an abundance of great websites that provide reading lists for children. Visit Book Adventure, a free, interactive, motivational reading program. Students choose their own books from more than 7,000 titles, take short comprehension quizzes and redeem their accumulated points for small prizes. Book Adventure also offers teacher and parent resources and tips to help children develop a lifelong love of reading. Other great resources are Tumblebooks, Myon, and the MAP reading skills websites provided by our teachers at Discovery School.

v     Get a riddle book! Children enjoy riddles and jokes that rely on wordplay. Laughing together at clever jokes and riddles can make a Saturday trip to soccer or hockey practice more enjoyable and memorable.

v     Create a vocabulary game. Compile a word list, or ask your children's teacher for a word list, and make a daily or weekly vocabulary game on index cards. Whether your child is just learning how to read or is preparing for high school exams, seeing, saying and learning new words is important. There are many electronic grames that children can enjoy that will build their vocabulary. And the good old fashion Scrabble and Boggle are great fun games you can enjoy as a family.

v     Make a book. Encourage your children to write original stories and illustrate them with their own drawings. It's a great way to increase comfort and familiarity with words.

v     Learn new words on the road. Use every new experience to introduce new words to your child. Every journey, trip or vacation, regardless of the distance, introduces new ideas and objectives to your child and can increase his or her vocabulary.

Adapted from http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/reading_success_tips.cfm