Cultivate Your Child To Read

Dear Daddies and Mummies,

Crazymama W would like to share this article that I found in the Little TigerPress website.

Helping your child learn to read
Your child is learning from the day it is born and, as a parent, you can make a huge difference in teaching your child good language skills that will help them to make sense of their world.

SHARE
Even very young children can get a sense of enjoyment out of sharing the experience of reading a book with their parents. Children learn to talk before they learn to read, so reading a book together is a great way of talking to your baby about lots of different things. Baby will find the experience enjoyable and learn how books work at a very early age. Best of all, sharing a book together is a fantastic way of being close to your child.

TIPS for SHARING books with your child:

• Pick a peaceful place to read the book so that you and your child don’t get distracted.
• Let your child hold the book and turn the pages with you – they will soon understand that you read a book from the front to the back.
• Talk about the pictures in the book and point out images that your child knows. For example, if there is a picture of a car, ask your child questions like “What colour car do we have?” and “Where do we like to drive in the car?”

LISTEN
Children learn to talk by listening to the people around them. By frequently reading and talking to your child, you will encourage them to respond and join in with their own opinions. Listening and offering praise to your child is a great way of boosting their confidence in their reading skills.

TIPS for LISTENING to your child read:

• Make sure you give your child plenty of time to answer when you ask them a question.
• Teaching your child rhymes and poems is a great way for them to practise familiar language sounds.
• Use books to encourage your child to talk about their feelings and fears about new situations and experiences.
• Let your child make up stories about the characters in the book or ask them what they think will happen next.

TEACH
Even though your child will be taught to read at school, learning to read needs more practice than they will be able to get during the school day. Parents play an incredibly important role in helping their child improve their vocabulary and reading skills, and it’s never too early to start. A recent study showed that children who read to their parents improved their reading more than those who were getting extra support from a teacher in school.

TIPS for TEACHING your child to read:

• Practise the letter-sound relationships your child will learn at school.
• Sing the alphabet while pointing to each letter on an alphabet chart.
• Encourage your child to read all sorts of different reading material – newspapers, magazines, the internet, as well as books.

ENJOY
The most important thing to remember is that reading should be fun! If your child sees reading a book as a chore, they are unlikely to get much out of the exercise. There are lots of games you can play to make reading with your child a pleasurable experience that you will both enjoy.

TIPS for ENJOYING reading with your child:

• Sing along to nursery rhymes and use funny voices and sounds. As your child gets more familiar with the rhymes they will begin to join in.
• Novelty books with pop-ups, flaps and textured finishes can be a great way to get your child interested in books.
• Encourage your child to act out their favourite stories and, as they get older, write their own.
• Make a collage of the alphabet by cutting up old papers or magazines. For example, if your child loves animals, try making an animal alphabet – a is for antelope, b is for bird, etc.