Tips for Kindergarten Parents
New Ways to Help Your Child Become a GREAT independent reader!!!
Your child is becoming a skilled independent reader! And the guided reading book that your reader will bring home are designed to help them in this process. As part of our daily reading time, your child will participate in small groups and will receive individualized instruction to develop fluency, oral language, vocabulary, phonics, comprehension, and writing skills. In addition, your child will bring home enjoyable, level-appropriate stories and selections that will help him/her ensure success as an independent reader. Here are some suggestions for helping your child before, during, and after reading:
Before
- Look at the book cover with your chiild. Together, review the illustrations or photographs in the book. Ask your child to predict what the story or selection will be about.
-Discuss what you and your child might already know about the topic of the boook you are about to read.
-If your child is a beginning reader, echo-read the story or selection with your child by reading a line first and having your child read it after you. If your child is a more skilled reader, periodically stop and ask questions as they read to you.
During:
-If your child does not recognize a word right away, help him/her to focus on the familiar letters, spelling patterns, or secret stories in the word. Guide your child to think about other words that look like the unfamiliar word.
-Encourgage your child to use phonics and decoding skills to sound out any new, unfamiliar words. If necessary, provide the word if your child struggles.
-Encourage your child to read with expression and to enjoy reading! Model how to change your voice to match the text while reading.
After:
-Encourage your child to reread the story or selection to develop confidence. If the book is long, reread a few favorite sections or chapters. Perhaps your child could read the story or selection to other family members or friends.
-Discuss the story or selection with your child. Ask questions such as: What were your favorite parts? Who was your favorite character? Why? Where and when did the story take place? What interesting fact did you learn? Has anything like this ever happened to you? What does this story make you think about? Why do you think the author wrote the story?
-Have your child keep a journal of favorite stories and selections and interesting words in those books. Your child might also like to write about the stories read in their journals.
Most of all, HAVE FUN!!!!!!!! If you make reading a fun experience, then your child will be sure to have fun, too!
More Ideas
Although you may not have considered it, you are your child's first and most important teacher. Children begin to develop as readers and writers long before they ever come to school. You help your child learn to use print in all of its forms whenever you do the following: