National Council of Teachers of English

Read Together: Parents and Educators Working Together for Literacy

2000

Developing Young Readers

Learning to read doesn’t happen magically. Parents and teachers play important roles in developing young readers. Supporting a child is best accomplished when parents and teachers share common methods and basic understandings about the reading process. This brochure describes ways you can help your child as a reader. As you work together, celebrate your child’s efforts and successes–just as you did when your child learned to walk and talk.

Three Ways to Read Aloud

  1. Child reads to parent.
    Your child gains confidence in reading ability. Emphasize your child’s positive achievements. Have your child reread the same material to develop more confident reading ability.
  2. Parent reads to child. Read aloud to your child to build positive attitudes toward books, to develop an understanding of written language, and to enjoy the sound of spoken language. You may choose books above your child’s reading ability. Be sure the books will interest your child. You may even let your child choose the books.
  3. Child and parent read together. Take turns reading paragraphs or pages in a challenging or long book. Always be positive and lighthearted. Have fun sharing the reading material and your time together! Discontinue the reading if the reading experience becomes tense.

While you read the book . . .

Encourage your child to spontaneously comment on events and characters in the story. Explore comments or connections that might not yet make sense; all learners’ responses are purposeful and show their attempts to make the reading meaningful.

Discuss the predictions, opinions, thoughts, ideas, connections, and questions you and your child may have. We know that readers understand books differently, depending on their experiences. Differing ideas add value to conversations about stories.

These are natural and meaningful ways to know if your child is understanding the story.

How Can I Help My Child Learn to Read?

Research findings in early literacy have shown that the most important factors enabling children to become readers are:

Most importantly, daily support from parents and adults significantly increases success in reading.

What Should I Do When My Child Gets Stuck?

Emergent Readers

Child is learning about print and is becoming aware that print tells a story or gives information. Child uses pictures to retell what is in a book.

Few children learn to love books by themselves. Someone has to lure them into the wonderful world of the written word; someone has to show them the way.

–Orville Prescott, A Father Reads to His Children

Early Readers

Child begins to use knowledge of letter/sound relationships and is developing a sight vocabulary of high frequency words (a, and, the, etc.). Child uses print and pictures to read a story and begins to point to actual words being read.

You may have tangible wealth untold: Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold, richer than I you can never be-I had a Mother who read to me.

–“The Reading Mother,” by Strickland Gillilan, from Best Loved Poems of the People

Fluent Readers

Child is able to read independently and reads fluently for meaning. Sentence structure is varied and child need not rely on repetition or patterned sentences.

Great Read-Alouds

Infants, toddlers, and beginning readers will have a wonderful time listening to these favorite stories read to them by parents.

Signs of Reading Development

Sponsored by the Reading Commission

 

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