06-26-2022
Help Your Child Become a Lifelong Reader
There are lots of ways parents can help their children become lifelong, active readers. Here are a few to try when you and your child read together:
- Wonder aloud about how the story might have turned out differently. If you're reading Little House on the Prairie, for example, you might ask, "What might have happened if Laura and her family had stayed in the big woods?" Ask how your child would write the ending.
- Talk about the characters' actions. If you're reading Charlotte's Web, you might ask, "Why do you think Charlotte decided to help Wilbur by writing words in her web?"
- Discuss the details the author uses. Why did the author use certain words or images? What was he or she trying to convey? Does your child think it worked?
- Invite your child to go on a "scavenger hunt" for five new or unusual vocabulary words. Studies show that kids who read a lot do better on college entrance tests than those who don't—and one of the main reasons is that they develop much larger vocabularies.
- Ask how the book is—or isn't—like your child's life. "Have you ever felt like that? Would you have done what this character did? How might you have handled this situation differently?"
Brought to you by:
Jackson County Schools
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