How to Read a Book With Your Child

Hey everyone! My name is Janessa Ferrell. I'm a literacy specialist, and I love reading books with beginning readers. It’s very motivating for them, and it can be an excellent way to quickly expand their skills. I’d like to share a few tips on how you can help your reader while reading with them.

Preparation

Text & Location

Find something that appeals to their interest and sense of humor. I love using funny fiction and science texts when I’m tutoring, because they appeal to most young kids and there’s a lot of material to use in discussions. The book should be slightly above their instructional reading level, but make sure that it’s not too challenging. For more information on finding their instructional level, look here -.

Next, find a quiet spot to sit where you won’t be distracted.  Don’t face windows, and obviously turn off your devices. Sit side by side with your child so that you can share one text. I prefer sharing a text because it connects you in the experience of reading and keeps you focused on the reading.

Pre-Reading

Before you start to read, spend a few minutes browsing the text features of the book. This helps activate their knowledge about the topic, which will help them understand what they read better. Instead of sharing your own thoughts, ask questions about what they notice on the cover. What do they predict the book might be about? Read the table of contents and talk about more predictions that you have about the book. Does this remind them of anything? Encourage them to talk about any connections they make to the book.

Reading Together

Finger Pointing

Most early readers find it helpful to point at the words as they read. When they read in partners or small groups, it’s easy for them to get distracted and drift from the words so I always encourage finger pointing for reading aloud. Personally, I even still finger point all the time when I’m reading with students so that I don’t lose track! There are lots of tools that you could use instead of a finger - I’ve used all sorts of things;  end of a pencil, finger laser-pointer, highlighting bookmark.

Variety & Reading Aloud

For beginning readers, I recommend that they read out loud as often as possible. However, don’t have them read aloud by themselves the entire time. This can get really boring for them and will become exhausting. It’s important for them to see your model of excellent reading so that they can imitate your expression, phrasing, and pace. Here’s some ideas that you can use to mix up the reading:

• Choral Reading: Read it together, at the same time like a choir. Read quieter when it’s easier words and louder on the more difficult words.
• Taking Turns: You read one sentence, they read the next. Don’t make the reading chunks too large before switches or the child will be tempted to zone out and jump back in on the next paragraph.
• Child Only: When the child reads, you listen.

Teaching

Helping With: Unknown Words

Other than just listening to them reading and modeling excellent reading for the student, there are several other important things that you can do to help your beginning reader. The first thing is stopping them when they incorrectly read a word.

It’s important that THEY learn skills to decode words instead of just memorizing them, so please resist the urge to tell them the word right away.

Instead, when they read an incorrect word just make a subtle noise like “Hmm?” or say “Hold on, let’s try that one again” and point to the word. If they try and still can’t get it, ask them to tell you what strategies they already know for figuring out unknown words. If they’re unsure, direct them to look for smaller chunks within the word that they recognize and break the word into pieces. When I have my teaching tools handy, I like to write the word out on a whiteboard nearby and separate the word into smaller parts to teach students how to sound out these words. Another strategy is to say the entire sentence leaving a blank for the unknown word. Then, say the sentence and only the first sound of the unknown word. After practicing some of these strategies, feel free to give the word to them. You don’t need to turn every unknown word into a mini-lesson, but it’s important that beginning readers don’t depend on other people to figure out unknown words.

Helping With: Comprehension

There are many things that experienced readers do to help them understand the text. Many of them are so natural that we don’t even think about them anymore. However, beginning readers need guidance to develop strategies that help them understand what they read. Reading is thinking. It doesn’t matter if a student can figure out all the words if they don’t understand what they read. Here’s a few things that you can do as you read with beginning readers.

• Ask Questions: Engage students in discussions by asking questions about the characters and content in the text. Look at the pictures and text features like charts, diagrams, etc. Make your questions real and try to ask questions that can’t be answered in one word.
• Make Connections & Predictions: Tell the student what the text reminds you of, such as a trip or movie you saw. Don’t talk too much though - their attention span is short. You’re only talking to show them how to make connections for themselves. Listen to their connections. Make guesses about what will happen next in the story, based on the picture clues and text that you’ve read.
• Clarify Vocabulary Words: Give kid-friendly definitions for any words that you think may be unfamiliar. Act things out, use sound effects, and draw pictures. Don’t use big words!
• Summarize: After reading a page, ask your reader to tell you about what you just read. Let them look at the words and go back to the text to review if they want. If they don’t remember what they read, go back and reread it. Remind your reader that re-reading is a terrific strategy to help you understand what you read.

Keep it Light and Fun

If you could implement only one thing from this post, make it this one.

Remember that any reading practice is going to involve some struggle as your beginning reader learns new words. If your reader gets frustrated, help them relax by making a joke or distracting their attention for a minute. Stand up and read if they get antsy. Lay down on your bellies to read if they’re interested in that. Grab a cozy blanket if it’s chilly.

Your attitude will be contagious. If you are interested and engaged in the story, so will your reader. If you don’t get stressed out over mistakes, they probably won’t either.  Check in with your reader to see how they’re doing after 20 minutes. If they’re tired and need a break, stop your reading and pick it up again another time. Remember that motivated readers will achieve higher success than frustrated readers. Your job is to show them that reading is fun and that you’re there to help them succeed.

Wrapping Up

You don’t need to implement all of these strategies all at once to be successful. Pick a couple that you feel like are lacking, or could be beneficial with your child, and start there. Simplicity and consistency are key. And don’t forget to keep it light and fun -always!