Raising Readers
How to Raise a Reader
Young children can begin to learn about the complex process of deriving meaning from print long before they can decode or even recognize letters. When young children see other people reading, and when others read to them or involve them in other activities related to reading, they become familiar with print and some of its uses. For example, when they see people who are important to them reading a recipe to bake a cake, reading a newspaper to find out what movies are on TV, or reading letters from distant relatives in Vietnam, young children experience reading as a meaningful activity and part of everyday life. Source: Zero to Three.
Reading aloud to children has been called the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading. Reading aloud, with children participating actively, helps children learn new words, learn more about the world, learn about written language, and see the connection between words that are spoken and words that are written. Source: Literacy Information and Communication System.
If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of
brain food! Source: America Reads.
Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week and the child's hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories. Source: America Reads.
A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment. Source: America Reads.
Many pediatricians believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not a fully healthy child. Reading aloud to young children is so critical that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at regular check-ups. Source: America Reads.
Early Reading
As parents talk, sing, and read to children, the children's brain cells are literally turned on (Shore, 1997). Existing links among brain cells are strengthened and new cells and links are formed. That is why infants' and toddlers' health and nutrition, along with good functioning of the senses, are so important. (Klass, 1998)
Given what we know about brain development, it is clear that parents should not leave to schools alone the important tasks of language and literacy development. We must do more to enable and encourage parents to talk with their children and invest 30 minutes daily for reading. When parents are unable, grandparents, neighbors, babysitters, siblings, and other adults should step in to serve as the child's designated reader for the day. It is an experience that children will remember for a lifetime, and one that will form the foundation for all later learning.
Source: Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader - July 1999. Raising Readers: The Tremendous Potential of Families
Reading aloud with children is probably the single most important activity for building early literacy skills and understanding in preschool age children (Wells, 1985; Bus & van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Bus et al.; 1997; Whitehurst et al., 1994).
Source: The Family Storyteller
Action Steps for Parents
There are a number of steps that parents can take to help prepare their young children to become readers and to support the reading habit once they are in school. These include:
- Feed your child a diet of rich language experiences throughout the day. Talk with your infants and young children frequently in short, simple sentences. Tell stories, sing songs, recite nursery rhymes or poems, and describe the world around them to expose them to words. Name things. Make connections. Encourage your child's efforts to talk with you.
- Try to read aloud to your children for 30 minutes daily beginning when they are infants. Ask caring adults to be your children's daily reader when you are unavailable.
- Have your child's eyesight and hearing tested early and annually. If you suspect your child may have a disability, seek help. Evaluations and assessments are available at no cost to parents. Call the early childhood specialist in your school system or call the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities at (800) 695-0285 (Voice/TTY).
- Seek out child care providers who spend time talking with and reading to your child, who make trips to the library, and who designate a special reading area for children.
- Ask your child's teacher for an assessment of your child's reading level, an explanation of the approach the teacher is taking to develop reading and literacy skills, and ways in which you can bolster your child's literacy skills at home.
- Limit the amount and kind of television your children watch. Seek out educational television or videos from the library that you can watch and discuss with your children.
- Set up a special place for reading and writing in your home. A well-lit reading corner filled with lots of good books can become a child's favorite place. This said, keep books throughout the house and in the car. Read to your baby when lying on the floor, on the couch -- whenever he or she is ready to share a book. Keep writing materials such as non-toxic crayons, washable markers, paints and brushes, and different kinds of paper in a place where children can reach them.
- Visit the public library often to spark your child's interest in books. Help your children obtain their own library cards and pick out their own books. Talk to a librarian, teacher, school reading specialist, or bookstore owner for guidance about what books are appropriate for children at different ages and reading levels.
- You are your child's greatest role model. Demonstrate your own love of reading by spending quiet time in which your child observes you reading to yourself. Show your child how reading and writing help you get things done every day - cooking, shopping, driving, or taking the bus.
- If your own reading skills are limited, consider joining a family literacy program. Ask a librarian for picture books that you can share with your child by talking about the pictures. Tell family stories or favorite folktales to your children.
- Consider giving books or magazines to children as presents or as a recognition of special achievements. Special occasions, such as birthdays or holidays, can be the perfect opportunity to give a child a new book.
- Connect your children with their grandparents and great-grandparents. Encourage them to read books together, talk about growing up, tell stories, and sing songs from their generation.
- Ask about free readings and other programs at bookstores in your community.
Source: Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader - July 1999. Raising Readers:
The Tremendous Potential of Families
Teens and Tweens
The literacy demands placed on young people today include more reading and writing tasks than at any other time in human history. And so today, more than ever before, we must acknowledge that the ongoing literacy development of adolescents is just as important, and requires just as much attention, as that of beginning readers. This is true for students achieving at or above grade level, as well as for striving readers. source: International Reading Association.
Middle and high school students build on the literacy strategies they learned in the early grades to make sense of abstract, complex subjects far removed from their personal experiences. Guidance is needed so that reading and writing develop along with adolescents' ever increasing oral language, thinking ability, and knowledge of the world. (p.8)
Parents play an important role. They help adolescents extend and consolidate their literacy by engaging them in discussions about what they read, responding sincerely to the ideas they write, and making printed materials available. Parents become partners with educators in supporting their adolescents' growth. (p. 13)
Teens and Tweens Need -
- A wide variety of reading material that appeals to their interests
- Instruction that builds their skills and desire to read increasingly complex materials
- Assessment that reveals their strengths as well as their needs
- Expert teachers across the curriculum
- Reading specialists to assist those learners who experience difficulty
- Teachers who understand the complexities among individual adolescent readers
- Homes and communities that support their learning
source: Adolescent literacy: A position statement for the Commission on Adolescent Literacy of the International Reading Association, by David W. Moore, Thomas W. Bean, Deanna Birdyshaw, James A. Rycik
How to Raise a Reader
Young children can begin to learn about the complex process of deriving meaning from print long before they can decode or even recognize letters. When young children see other people reading, and when others read to them or involve them in other activities related to reading, they become familiar with print and some of its uses. For example, when they see people who are important to them reading a recipe to bake a cake, reading a newspaper to find out what movies are on TV, or reading letters from distant relatives in Vietnam, young children experience reading as a meaningful activity and part of everyday life. Source: Zero to Three.
Reading aloud to children has been called the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading. Reading aloud, with children participating actively, helps children learn new words, learn more about the world, learn about written language, and see the connection between words that are spoken and words that are written. Source: Literacy Information and Communication System.
If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of
brain food! Source: America Reads.
Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week and the child's hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories. Source: America Reads.
A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment. Source: America Reads.
Many pediatricians believe that a child who has never held a book or listened to a story is not a fully healthy child. Reading aloud to young children is so critical that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors prescribe reading activities along with other advice given to parents at regular check-ups. Source: America Reads.
Early Reading
As parents talk, sing, and read to children, the children's brain cells are literally turned on (Shore, 1997). Existing links among brain cells are strengthened and new cells and links are formed. That is why infants' and toddlers' health and nutrition, along with good functioning of the senses, are so important. (Klass, 1998)
Given what we know about brain development, it is clear that parents should not leave to schools alone the important tasks of language and literacy development. We must do more to enable and encourage parents to talk with their children and invest 30 minutes daily for reading. When parents are unable, grandparents, neighbors, babysitters, siblings, and other adults should step in to serve as the child's designated reader for the day. It is an experience that children will remember for a lifetime, and one that will form the foundation for all later learning.
Source: Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader - July 1999. Raising Readers: The Tremendous Potential of Families
Reading aloud with children is probably the single most important activity for building early literacy skills and understanding in preschool age children (Wells, 1985; Bus & van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Bus et al.; 1997; Whitehurst et al., 1994).
Source: The Family Storyteller
Action Steps for Parents
There are a number of steps that parents can take to help prepare their young children to become readers and to support the reading habit once they are in school. These include:
- Feed your child a diet of rich language experiences throughout the day. Talk with your infants and young children frequently in short, simple sentences. Tell stories, sing songs, recite nursery rhymes or poems, and describe the world around them to expose them to words. Name things. Make connections. Encourage your child's efforts to talk with you.
- Try to read aloud to your children for 30 minutes daily beginning when they are infants. Ask caring adults to be your children's daily reader when you are unavailable.
- Have your child's eyesight and hearing tested early and annually. If you suspect your child may have a disability, seek help. Evaluations and assessments are available at no cost to parents. Call the early childhood specialist in your school system or call the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities at (800) 695-0285 (Voice/TTY).
- Seek out child care providers who spend time talking with and reading to your child, who make trips to the library, and who designate a special reading area for children.
- Ask your child's teacher for an assessment of your child's reading level, an explanation of the approach the teacher is taking to develop reading and literacy skills, and ways in which you can bolster your child's literacy skills at home.
- Limit the amount and kind of television your children watch. Seek out educational television or videos from the library that you can watch and discuss with your children.
- Set up a special place for reading and writing in your home. A well-lit reading corner filled with lots of good books can become a child's favorite place. This said, keep books throughout the house and in the car. Read to your baby when lying on the floor, on the couch -- whenever he or she is ready to share a book. Keep writing materials such as non-toxic crayons, washable markers, paints and brushes, and different kinds of paper in a place where children can reach them.
- Visit the public library often to spark your child's interest in books. Help your children obtain their own library cards and pick out their own books. Talk to a librarian, teacher, school reading specialist, or bookstore owner for guidance about what books are appropriate for children at different ages and reading levels.
- You are your child's greatest role model. Demonstrate your own love of reading by spending quiet time in which your child observes you reading to yourself. Show your child how reading and writing help you get things done every day - cooking, shopping, driving, or taking the bus.
- If your own reading skills are limited, consider joining a family literacy program. Ask a librarian for picture books that you can share with your child by talking about the pictures. Tell family stories or favorite folktales to your children.
- Consider giving books or magazines to children as presents or as a recognition of special achievements. Special occasions, such as birthdays or holidays, can be the perfect opportunity to give a child a new book.
- Connect your children with their grandparents and great-grandparents. Encourage them to read books together, talk about growing up, tell stories, and sing songs from their generation.
- Ask about free readings and other programs at bookstores in your community.
Source: Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader - July 1999. Raising Readers:
The Tremendous Potential of Families
Teens and Tweens
The literacy demands placed on young people today include more reading and writing tasks than at any other time in human history. And so today, more than ever before, we must acknowledge that the ongoing literacy development of adolescents is just as important, and requires just as much attention, as that of beginning readers. This is true for students achieving at or above grade level, as well as for striving readers. source: International Reading Association.
Middle and high school students build on the literacy strategies they learned in the early grades to make sense of abstract, complex subjects far removed from their personal experiences. Guidance is needed so that reading and writing develop along with adolescents' ever increasing oral language, thinking ability, and knowledge of the world. (p.8)
Parents play an important role. They help adolescents extend and consolidate their literacy by engaging them in discussions about what they read, responding sincerely to the ideas they write, and making printed materials available. Parents become partners with educators in supporting their adolescents' growth. (p. 13)
Teens and Tweens Need -
- A wide variety of reading material that appeals to their interests
- Instruction that builds their skills and desire to read increasingly complex materials
- Assessment that reveals their strengths as well as their needs
- Expert teachers across the curriculum
- Reading specialists to assist those learners who experience difficulty
- Teachers who understand the complexities among individual adolescent readers
- Homes and communities that support their learning
source: Adolescent literacy: A position statement for the Commission on Adolescent Literacy of the International Reading Association, by David W. Moore, Thomas W. Bean, Deanna Birdyshaw, James A. Rycik
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