Tips for Reading Books at Home
1st grade
1. Talk about the parts of the book: the front cover, the back cover, the title page, and the spine.
2. Talk about the title of the book. Can they point to it? Ask them to use their imagination to predict the story... Even if it is a little silly!
3. Look through the pictures of the book without reading the words. Point to the characters.
4. Predict and infer about what the story will be about by looking at the pictures. This is a great first step that is not intimidating.
5. Have the child read/sound out while moving their finger under the words. Look for beginning and ending sounds. Look for blends and rules that have been learned in phonics. The aha moment that comes is so awesome.
6. After your child has read the story, read the story again simultaneously with your child. It takes about three times of reading the same story for the child to decode all of the words and begin to comprehend what the story is about.
Comprehension: This is a great read! What is reading comprehension and why is it important? (oxfordowl.co.uk)
7. Take turns- you read a line/page, they read a line/page.
8. When your child can read it independently, have him read it to everyone he can. Students LOVE to go read to their loved ones, friends, and even pets!
**As your child becomes more fluent, you will be able to skip some of the beginning steps.
Reading can be CHALLENGING! In my professional opinion, I believe that reading is not a natural process and has to be taught carefully and practiced routinely. This is another great article that explains more about the process that is reading. Why Reading Is Not a Natural Process (ascd.org)