10 Tips for Reading to Children

Now that the summer holidays are over, and the children have returned to school and kindy, there is the possibility of having some kind of order to your lives!! (We can live in hope ?) An important part of the routine in a day is reading to and with your child. Reading to and with your child daily is not only a wonderful bonding time, but also enhances their reading development. Here are 10 tips for reading to children that I found on a bookmark recently…

1. Read aloud every day. 10 minutes of reading aloud every day makes an important difference to your child’s language and literacy development.
2. Make reading fun. Read stories with enthusiasm! Change voices for different characters and alter the volume of your voice to build excitement.
3. Talk, play and tell stories to your children. Tell your child stories every day about your day, their family, exciting things you’ve seen or done. Reading, storytelling, talking and play helps your child listen and develop social and language skills.
4. Read anywhere. Read in a variety of places to your child. Read outdoors, in the park, at the beach and on the bus. Just like adults, children enjoy reading in different contexts and times of day.
5. Read anything. Storybooks and picture books stimulate imaginations and foster a love of literature. But read recipes, newspapers, brochures, maps and other texts to support your child’s literacy levels in all aspects of their life.
6. Listen to and praise your child reading aloud. Listen to your child read. Consistent reading aloud improves children’s reading and confidence. Wait patiently and let your child work out more difficult words. Praise them when they succeed and for their reading effort.
7. Ask questions. Encourage your child to ask questions about what they are reading before, during and after reading. Ask them what happens next, why something stated is important, and discuss their feelings about events and opinions in the texts.
8. Discuss the language in the texts. Move your finger under the words from left to right as you are reading. Encourage your child to do the same when they are reading. Stop now and again and discuss a particular work. Ask what it means and what other words are like it.
9. Don’t forget the pictures! Focus on, celebrate and explore the visuals that go along with the text. These can be illustrations, maps, photographs or graphics and they often help your child understand the book or text being read.
10. Be seen reading! Model reading to your child. Let them see you reading for entertainment and information. Ask them to join in when reading from the newspaper, measuring something from a recipe or viewing a text message.

The Challenge is a literacy engagement strategy that requires students to read 12 age-appropriate books in a year. Students who complete the challenge receive an annual award. It is open to all students from Reception to year 12 in South Australian government and non-government schools as well as home education students.

As the students progress through the challenge, they receive the following awards.

• First year – Certificate
• Second year – Bronze medal
• Third year – Silver medal
• Fourth year – Gold medal
• Fifth year – Champion medal
• Sixth year – Legend medal
• Seventh year – Hall of Fame medal
• Eighth year onwards – Hall of Fame Reader for Life award reflecting the number of years participated

Homegroup teachers are overseeing the completion of the Premier’s Reading Challenge for their class. For further information please contact your child’s teacher or come and see me in the library.

Pegi Williams Book Club