Reading at Home

How YOU can help with reading at home each night:

ª Listen to your child read AND read to your child.

ª When your child comes to a word that he/she doesn’t know,

the following prompts promote independent reading behavior:

ª Give your child a wait time of 5 to 10 seconds. See what your child attempts to do to make sense of the word.

To give help, say…

ª “What would make sense?”

ª “Use the picture to help you figure out what the word could be.”

ª “Go back to the beginning of the sentence. Read the sentence again and say the first sound.” “Get a running start on the word.”

ª “Go back to the beginning, skip over the word and read on to the end of the sentence.” “Now what do you think the word is?”

ª “What do you know about that word?”

ª “Sound it out.” “Look for any chunks you know in that word.”

When a choice is made, ask…

ª “Why don’t you go back to the beginning and try it again?”

ª “Does that sound right?” “Does that look right?”

ª “Does that make sense?”

Be POSITIVE! Here are just a few ways to say, “Very Good!"

1. “Good for you!”
2. “Superb!”
3.“You did that very well!”
4. “You’ve got it made!”
5. “Terrific!”
6. “Couldn’t have done it better myself!”
7. “Marvelous!”
8. “You’re doing fine!”
9. “You’re really improving!”
10. “You’re right back on track now!”
11. “Now you’ve figured it out!”
12. “Outstanding!”
13. “That’s coming along nicely!”
14. “I knew you could do it!”
15. “You remembered!”
16. “You figured that out fast!”
17. “I think you’ve got it now!”
18. “Tremendous!”
19. “You certainly did well today!”
20. “Perfect!”
21. “Nice going!”
22. “You’ve got your brain in gear today!”
23. “Now you’ve got the hang of it!”
24. “WOW!”
25. “You’re getting better every day!”
26. “You make it look easy!”
27. “That’s much better!”
28. “You did a lot of work today!”
29. “Keep it up!”
30. “Exactly right!”
31. “You’re doing beautifully!”
32. “Way to go!”
33. “You out did yourself today!”
34. “I’m very proud of you!”

When you read with your child... Discuss the title and cover of the book. Make predictions about what is going to happen in the story. Take a picture walk…look carefully at the pictures and discuss them before reading. Help children use pictures to comprehend or decode unfamiliar words. Encourage children to make connections to other stories and their own lives. Ask higher level questions, such as: Why did that happen? What would you do? What would happen next? What would happen if…? What does that remind you of?

When your child reads to you... Make sure they point to the words as they read. (advanced readers should drop this skill as they begin to reader longer texts with fluency) Ask them questions, like: Show me a word. Show me a letter. Show me a space. What’s this word? How many words are on this page? How many letters are in this word? Where does this sentence start? Where does it end?