Reading to your kids every day is one of the best ways you can set them up for success in Kindergarten and beyond. So many different skills are learned while reading together and it is something you want to continue doing as your children get older. All reading you do together is great, but there are some things you can do while you read that can make it even better!
Thanks to My Cute Graphics for use of this cute book graphic!
How to Read Aloud to Your Child
1. Choose a book that will capture her attention.
Think about the topic, vocabulary, length, and illustrations and pick out a book that will be interesting to your child. You can do this together at the library or bookstore or you can get recommendations from the librarian. Being motivated to read and discuss books is a big factor in student reading success.
2. Look and the pictures and make a prediction.
Before you read page through the book with your child. Look at the illustrations, captions, etc and ask your child to use them as clues to predict what the story is going to be about. Then as you are reading have her change/update her prediction when you come across new information or clues in the text. Making predictions is a reading skill that aids in the comprehension and understanding of stories.
3. Start by reading the title, author, and illustrator on the front cover.
Don’t just flip to the first page and start reading. Show her the cover and read the title to her. Tell her who the author and illustrator are and explain what those terms mean. Get her familiar with the parts of the book and comfortable discussing reading terminology.
4. Read with expression.
This isn’t the time to worry about looking silly! Engage kids with funny voices, dramatic pauses, or whatever the plot calls for. Reading with expression not only makes the story come alive, it also teaches them about the conventions authors use to convey different messages and helps them remember and comprehend the book.
5. Stop while reading to discuss and ask questions.
While we read our brains are constantly processing, questioning, and assimilating the new information so we need to start teaching kids how to do that. Stopping to ask questions and make new predictions helps them to develop the comprehension skills they will use for the rest of their lives. Keep it simple at first and show them how to look back in the story or at the pictures to figure out the answer if they are unsure.
6. Make connections.
After you read a story have your child make a connection between the story and their life. It could be about a similar situation she was in, another book she has read, or something she has seen somewhere else in the world. This takes comprehension to a deeper level and helps to foster a love of reading. A fun way to make story connections and play with reading is to do a book activity about the story after reading it.
Thank you to My Cute Graphics for the use of this superhero kids graphic.
This post is part of our Get Ready for K Through PLAY! series where a group of bloggers share weekly ideas that you can do to help get your child ready for kindergarten. Check out the Kindergarten book and literacy readiness activities shared by the other hosts:
10 Early Readers for Beginning Readers from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Sensory Sight Word Games from Mess for Less
Blowing Down Sight Words from Toddler Approved
Help Your Child Learn to Read from Mama Smiles
from Rainy Day Mum
And catch up on my other Get Ready for K Through PLAY! posts: Math Activities for Kindergarten: Snack Time Practice, Teacher Says! Listening Game, Language Experience Stories post and 3 Independents Skills {You May Not Realize} Your Child Needs for Kindergarten.
Next week we’ll all be back sharing activities to develop the books, reading and literature skills needed for Kindergarten!
In the meantime be sure to follow our Get Ready for K Through PLAY! Pinterest Board for a huge collection of Kindergarten readiness activities!
Great article! I love #3 and #4. It’s so important to reflect that you enjoy reading. If you act like it’s drudgery, or try to “hurry” through a book, your kids will pick up on that. They need to know reading us fun.
Very true Franticmommy!!!! Thanks so much!
I love this post and couldn’t agree more that HOW parents read aloud makes a big difference. There has been so much research on the various ways that parents can read aloud to optimize comprehension, deep thinking, vocabulary development, etc — and focusing on meaning while reading, with questions such as the ones you mention (e.g., asking kids to make predictions, asking kids to make text-text/text-self, text-world connections), helps kids tremendously. One thing that I’d like to add is how important it is for parents to not only ask questions but also to think aloud themselves, to show kids that they are focusing on meaning and the kinds of thinking that good readers do. I have a lot more to say about this that I plan to blog about — I just wrote a quick brief post in my new blog aliposner(dot)wordpress(dot)com if you want to check it out. Thanks for your great post!
So true Ali!!!! Demonstrating what good readers do is so important!!!
Great post! Reading to kids and INVOLVING them in the reading is SO important. Having a mom that’s a preschool teacher I never realized until after that I began working with parents that not every parent knows how to read to their child in an engaging way! Great tips!!! Thanks for sharing on the KBN Back-to-School blog hop!
YES! It really is so true! There are so many things to learn as a parent and depending on your background this may all be new territory!
Hi, I would love to print this and share with my students’ parents during parent teacher conference. Is there a way to make this article in a printable version?
Thank you