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K-2 Resources: If You Build It, They Will Read!

Building a Home Environment That Fosters a Love for Reading

To foster your child’s love of reading, it is important to make reading a part of your everyday routine. Access to all types of print materials—magazines, books, newspapers—is a great way to do just that!

Spaces, Places and Supplies

Creating a home environment that encourages literacy and learning benefits your child in many ways.

High Interest Reading Inventory

We will read about things we are interested in, right? So here is your opportunity to find out what really interests your child. Take a few minutes to fill out the Reading Inventory so that you can choose print information that will truly interest your student. Don’t forget that you can always visit your local library to borrow some exceptional books

Age-Appropriate Ideas for Reading Aloud to Your Child

Reading aloud to your child is the MOST important thing you can do for building successful readers!  Reading aloud benefits students of all ages, even your high schoolers. How you read aloud will depend on how old your child is.

I Do!

Reading aloud to your children is vital. Do it every day! And make this a habit of the whole family. This is an activity that reaps many rewards for the early learner and continues through his K-12 education. Read the newspaper, the advertisement, the plumbing manual, a Facebook comment or your favorite section of a book you are reading. Reading aloud models good reading and allows children to develop comprehension skills, even though the text would be too difficult to read independently. And always ask questions after you read. Do you agree? Why is that important? What should we do about this information? Take a look at the resources below that may spark your imagination regarding reading aloud.

We Do!

Reading with your child at appropriate times is equally important. Perhaps you can read a word, sentence or paragraph, and he can re-read it. Or you can take turns reading sections of a story, always modeling good inflection and honoring pauses at punctuation marks. An all-time favorite strategy includes reading those stories that have repeated refrains: “Trip trap trip trap, who’s that crossing over my bridge?” Check out these resources to learn more.

You Do!

Obviously, we want children to read all by themselves and for as long as possible. It is important to read books and stories that are on their independent reading level, and check with the teacher if you aren’t sure what that is. Reading without stumbling or pausing is a good gauge that the book is on their level. Allow lots of time to read and don’t jump in too quickly to supply an unknown word. There are many tricks and tips that help develop independent reading skills.

What Can We Read?

Read everything! We want to read library books, textbooks, articles and passages that come from school. But don’t forget to use your rich environment at home to dig into interesting reading material. Use cookbooks and how-to manuals, brochures and pamphlets, political or religious advertisements or online blogs that address a specific topic (sidewalks in your neighborhood, for example). There is no end to all the ways we use texts in our world so take advantage of these resources to encourage reading in the real world.

Reading Activities for Your Everyday Routines

These activities will help you encourage reading during your everyday routines. We use reading while we cook, shop and travel or indulge our favorite pastimes. So why not turn those activities into opportunities to READ? Here are some great activities to use in making reading a part of each day.

Squeeze a Reading Opportunity Into Your Regular Routine

Here are some easy ways you can squeeze reading into your daily routines:       

Practice Makes Perfect

To become a better reader.read, read, read! It is suggested that if you build a daily routine of reading at home, at least 20 minutes per day, the result will be a strong reader. There are many interesting and exciting ways to make reading part of your everyday life.

20 Minutes Add Up!

Good readers are good readers because they read a lot. Take a look at the JT20 book chart and other resources to appreciate the impact of reading each day.              

Choosing Appropriate Books

Need some help choosing appropriate books? Take a look at these resources for guidance in selecting books to borrow or to add to your at-home library. Remember that many books can be accessed online. Many libraries routinely give away gently used books.