If you've ever had one of your own children learn to read, you know what a milestone this can be! This little guy is in kindergarten. He's known the Blue Set of phonograms for a while, but is just learning the Green Set. With those tools in hand, he's beginning to be able to decode easy readers. But the real giant leap is when they begin to try their hand at reading all alone! He's working through an old favorite, The Boxcar Children.
To help encourage your kids to develop independence in reading, try these ideas:
- Set aside a quiet time each day. She may be too old for naps, but quiet no-TV time makes reading more likely.
- Set 2 bedtimes. Everyone's in bed by 8:00, but anyone who's reading can be up until 8:30!
- Set the stage. Stick-on lights, like the one in this photo, make even a bottom bunk a reading nook.
- Of course, read aloud to your kids, but make read-alouds from longer more complex chapter books. It's a great place to read the classics - especially the ones you missed as a kid! Bambi by Felix Salten is a terrific read aloud. Do they have to understand every word or really "get" the details? No, the idea is that they read for themselves what they can, but you read aloud to show them what's out there in the world of books!
- Take a page from New Zealand. I've never been there, but they're supposed to have one of the highest literacy rates in the world. And one reason that's credited is the Saturday morning reading time. It's tradition that Saturday mornings are spent in bed reading. Instead of hopping up to Saturday morning cartoons, kids find books placed on their pillows by, no doubt, tired moms and dads. So everyone is expected to sleep in a little extra and enjoy some quiet reading time. So if it's not a tradition, it should be! Try it at your house this weekend.
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