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Suggestions for Parents
 

 

 

  • Make sure that your child is keeping up with reading assignments from school. I assign independent reading or book club reading almost every night for the entire school year.

 

 

  • Encourage your child to read every day for pleasure even in addition to what is assigned for school.

 

  • Discuss books – ask your child what he or she is reading and ask open-ended questions about the text. It would be even better if you could read the book along with your child!

 

  • Visit the library and bookstores regularly – get recommendations from our school librarians– they are an amazing resource! I am also available for suggestions.

 

  • Provide access to a variety of reading materials:  newspapers, magazines, ‘how to’ books, poetry, short stories, picture books, etc.

 

  • If you watch the news on television, discuss the news with your children; compare the television or radio news to an article in the newspaper.

 

  • When you watch a movie, talk about the characters, the setting, or about the sequence of events. Ask how the movie compares with a book and discuss an alternative you or your child might have written for the movie.

 

  • Let your children see you reading for pleasure. Share some vocabulary or great phrases, a character, or even part of the story line with them. See if there are any connections between what you’re reading.

 

  • Let your children see you write for pleasure. Send family letters, thank you cards and postcards to relatives or friends.

 

  • Make a family book that is a collection of stories: favorites retold generation after generation or stories of family events or traditions.

 

  • When you go on a trip, keep a family journal, writing down impressions and events, keeping postcards or illustrations, noting unusual names for places, or recording strange stories from different places.

 

  • Use whatever the children have watched on television to connect to books. Help your children find books that give more information about something that has interested them on television.

 

 

 

The information above was adapted from the National Council of Teachers of English's Parent's Guide to Literacy for the 21st Century.

 

 

For even more suggestions try:

 

Tips for Parents from the National Council of Teachers of English


Getting Boys to Read a website maintained by literacy expert and teacher-librarian Mike McQueen