Reading Aloud: A Few Tips

Ready to get started? Grab a book and try these proven techniques from the National Education Association (2002-2015) to show your child that reading is valuable—and fun!

 

If you’re reading to infants and toddlers…

• Snuggle with your child with her favorite blanket or toys as you read.
• Emphasize rhythms and rhymes in stories. Give your toddler opportunities to repeat rhyming phrases.
• Read slowly enough so that your child has time to take in the story and look at the pictures.
• Look for books that are about things that interest your toddler. For example, does your child like cars, insects, or animals?
• Make reading a habit for bedtime, after lunch, or after naptime.
• Read stories again and again. Your toddler enjoys repetition, and it helps him become familiar with the way stories are organized.

If you’re reading to elementary-school-age children…

• Turn reading into something special. Take your kids to the library, help them get their own library card, and buy them books as gifts. Have a favorite place for books in your home or, even better, put books everywhere.
• Talk about the story with your child. Did he or she like it? Why or why not?
• Encourage your child to ask questions about the characters.
• Take turns reading the book.
• Read different types of books to expose your child to different types of writing. Some kids, especially boys, prefer nonfiction books.
• Get a subscription in his or her name to an age-appropriate magazine for your child.

 

Suggested Reading List

(birth to years)                                                                                             (second to third grades)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.                                                Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle                                                     Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss                                   Matilda by Roald Dahl

 

(kindergarten to first grade)                                                                  (fourth to fifth grades)

Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes                                             Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Just Another Ordinary Day by Rod Clement                                                 Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

No Jumping on the Bed by Tedd Arnold                                                          Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Gra

Medicine for the Mind

Don’t be surprised if the next time you visit your pediatrician, he or she writes you a prescription for reading. In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced a new policy: Doctors will advise parents to read aloud to their infants from birth. And they’ll provide free books, too (Dehnel, 2016).

In the past, the Academy, which represents 62,000 pediatricians nationwide, has made recommendations about how long mothers should breastfeed their infants and other child development issues; however, this is the first time they have officially aligned with an early literacy program (Rich, 2014). The Academy has partnered with Reach Out and Read (2014), a nonprofit organization that encourages families to read aloud together by incorporating books into pediatric care. Reach Out and Read has been in operation since 1989. Its first program was run at Boston Medical Center (formerly Boston City Hospital). By 2001, the Reach Out and Read model was operating in all 50 states; today, the program distributes 6.5 million books per year to 4.5 million children. According to Read Out and Read (2014), one in five of those children live in poverty.

Through Reach Out and Read’s program, children get a new, age-appropriate book to take home at every checkup from age 6 months through 5 years. That means, each child will start kindergarten with a home library of up to 10 books. The organization’s read-aloud message is clear: In families that read together more often, their children will enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills.

“’If we can get that first 1,000 days of life right, said Dr. Dipesh Navasaria, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and the medical director of the Wisconsin chapter of Reach Out and Read, ‘we’re really going to save a lot of trouble later on and have to do far less remediation’” (Rich, 2014).  That sounds like a remedy we all can agree on.

 

 

About reach out and read. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.reachoutandread.org/about-us.

Dehnel, Chris. (2016, February 20). Pediatrician believes reading is medicine for the mind.  McClatchy-Tribune Business News. Retrieved from ttp://elibrary.bigchalk.xaaa.orc.scoolaid.net.

Rich, Motoko. (2104, June 24). Pediatrics group to recommend reading aloud to children from birth. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/us/pediatrics-group-to-recommend-reading-aloud-to-children-from-birth.html.

 

Book Distribution Programs

Reach Out and Read National Center                                        Reading Rocket                
617-455-0600       www.reachoutandread.org                                       In Search of Free Books

Readingrocket.org

 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library                                            Reading is Fundamental

Imaginationlibrary.com                                                                             877-RIF-READ     http://www.rif.org

Reading Aloud:

The 30 Million Word Gap

Just over two decades ago, a landmark study told us that by age 3, children from lower-income families have heard roughly 30 million fewer words than children from more affluent, professional parents (Hart and Risley, 1995). Yes, 30 million words. Today, however, new research by Stanford University psychologists show that those socio-economic status differences emerge much earlier: By 18 months of age, toddlers from disadvantaged families are already several months behind their wealthier counterparts in terms of language processing skills and vocabulary development (Carey, 2013).

Why is this so important? Early vocabulary development gives those children who have heard more words a distinct advantage in school, especially when they are learning to read. Vocabulary development during the preschool years helps children become better readers later on.

According to Francie Alexander Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic Inc. (2016), the children’s book publisher, vocabulary is critical to reading success for the following three reasons:

1. Comprehension improves when you know what the words mean. Since comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, you cannot overestimate the importance of vocabulary development.
2. Words are the currency of communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication — listening, speaking, reading and writing.
3. How many times have you asked your students or your own children to “use your words”? When children and adolescents improve their vocabulary, their academic and social confidence and competence improve, too.

 

Alexander, Francie. Understanding Vocabulary. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/understanding-vocabulary.

Carey, Bjorn. (2013, September 25). Language gap between rich and poor children begins in infancy, Stanford psychologists find. Stanford report. Retrieved from http://news.standord.edu/news/2013/september/toddler-language-gap.

Hart, B., and Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

 

 

Read to your Kids

Reading is Still the Key to School Success

                             

Forget the flashcards. Nix the tutors, too. The single best thing you can do to boost your children’s future academic performance is this: READ to them. Every single day. Reading to children not only enhances vocabulary and other important communication skills but also helps them develop background knowledge on a plethora of topics.

Many parents seem to understand that reading is crucial to the development of pre-literacy skills in very young children. According to a report about the reading habits of young readers released by Scholastic in 2015, more than half of children ages 0–5 (54%) are read aloud to at home 5–7 days a week. This statistic declines, however, to only one in three for children ages 6–8 (34%) and to one in six for kids ages 9–11 (17%).

Reading is so crucial to the development of pre-literacy skills that parents are urged to read to their children from birth—and continue reading right through elementary school (Russ et al, 2007). That’s right, continue reading to your kids even if they can read books on their own.  According to the Scholastic study, four in 10 children, ages 6–11, who were read books aloud at home (40%) say they wished their parents had continued reading aloud to them.

The idea of reading aloud to children after the age of five or so may come as a surprise to some parents. But for kids, the read-aloud experience is a special bonding time with their moms and dads. And, according to the Scholastic study, reading aloud to children through elementary school seems to be connected to a love of reading in general for those kids: 41% of frequent readers, ages 6-10, were read aloud to at home whereas only 13% of infrequent readers were being read to. No matter what the age of your son or daughter, though, “the read-aloud can really lift the child” (Rich, 2015).

 

Kids and Family Reading Report. (2015). YouGov/Scholastic. http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/Scholastic-KidsAndFamilyReadingReport-5thEdition.pdf.

Rich, Motoko. (2015, January 8). Study finds reading to children of all ages grooms them to read more on their own. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/us/study-finds-reading-to-children-of-all-ages-grooms-them-to-read-more-on-their-own.

Russ S., Perez V., Garro N., Klass P., Kuo A.A., Gershun M., Halfon N.,  and Zuckerman, B. (2007). Reading across the nation: A chartbook. Boston, MA: Reach Out and Read National Center.

Photos: 6iee.com; quoteslike.com