Tips for Reading with Children (Sylvan Dell)

General:

• Read with feeling and emotion

• pause in areas for children to guess what might come next

• Make it a routine – at bedtime, rest time or at different times of the day instead of TV

• Have books available – always! It doesn’t matter if they are your books or library books.

• Make library trips a regular event – when you go to the grocery store or on a particular day (or days) of the week.

• Go to story times at local library or bookstores.

• Be silly – relate meals or things you do to books you are reading. For example, put a little green food coloring in eggs and read “Green Eggs and Ham.”

• Going to the zoo? Read a book about going to the zoo before going. Ask the child(ren) what animals they remember from the book).

• After reading a book, go back and look at the illustrations. Often illustrators have things hidden in the art or tell a story within a story in the art.

• Older children? Have them read to younger children! Even if it is just a wordless book and they “tell” the story.

• Set an example! Be a reader yourself and let your child see you reading. Maybe even have quiet family read time together instead of all watching TV.

• With older children, read books together. Go back and read the classic together (Lord of the Rings, etc.), or novels that have a movie (Star Wars, Harry Potter), or you read the newest young adult novels with them.

Infants & toddlers

• Start when they are just born (or even while pregnant…) – select fun-to-read, rhythmic stories. They won’t understand the words, but, they’ll feel the rhythm. Dr. Seuss books are an example. It doesn’t even matter if you read your book or a magazine aloud while holding an infant!

• board books should be in the toy box

• have toddlers help turn page

• wordless books are great for toddlers and preschoolers to make up their own stories about what’s happening. Let them “read” to you.

Just learning to read:

• Start to follow words with finger so children begin to understand that the words say something, that we read from left to right, and how to turn pages.

• Books with repetitive phrases are good for children to chime in and repeat with you – they’ll begin to anticipate the phrase.

Starting to read

• Don’t give up nightly routine of reading – have child read one page, you read the next.

• As they become stronger readers, have them read to you but save longer, chapter books for you to read.

• Importance of reading chapter books at higher listening level.

• Importance of reading aloud – take turns.

• Use closed captioning when kids are watching TV and use subtitles on DVDs

Tips for Developing early math skills:

• Count – constantly. Ask “how many” or use numbers. For example: here is one ____ for you and one for mommy. That’s two _____.

• After reading a book, go back and count things in the illustrations. How many animals are there or how many times do you see the main character.

• Baking is a great math activity:

• count items that go into the recipe “two eggs”

• use the phrases of ½ or ¾ teaspoon or cup

• let the children measure items and put into the bowl (accept that there may be messes…)

• Sorting – have children sort items

• By types of toys

• By colors

• Have older children sort money (helps them learn coins)

• Sort Halloween candy by type

• Sort M&Ms by colors

General Parenting Tips for educating children

• Talk to your children constantly – even infants. 

• Explain what you are doing – as an example: I am changing your diapers

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