Literacy is an ongoing problem in West Michigan and 13 on your side is doing what we can to help, with 13 Reads Week.
Julie Ray is a reading specialist with Muskegon Public Schools and has some tips for parents to enhance what happens in the classroom at home.
Read to and with your child
- 20 min/day (research)
- Human connection/enjoyable
- Make it fun, engaging
- Find a comfortable spot
- Increases motivation
- During dinner, in the car, doctor's office
- Let them see you read
- Think aloud
Talk with your child about their stories
- Increases comprehension/understanding
- Oral language development
- Shows that reading is more than just figuring out words
- Ask questions: 5 Ws, characters, events, favorite part, make predictions, What did you learn? Always ask why?
- Make connections
Retell the story together
- Increases comprehension/understanding
- Use illustrations to help retell, connect pictures to text
- Use puppets/props - make it fun?
- Sequence the retell - reinforce that stories have a beginning, middle and end
Read familiar books over and over
- Increases engagement/motivation
- Become more confident, feel like a real reader, fun
- Learn something new each time
- Fluency
- Praise them for all attempts
Practice fluency
- Smooth, accurate, expressive
- Leads to better comprehension
- Listen to a fluent reader by Echo reading (I read, you read) and Choral reading (read together)
Attend family literacy events
- Become familiar with school programs, tools and techniques for helping at home
- Parent toolkits
Use resources
- Local library/bookstore (provides variety, more books)
- Online: MeL.org, World Book Online, Storyline Online
