Helping your Child Develop Strong Reading Skills
A parent's guide to reading aloud
Understanding what you read, which is identified as 'Reading with Meaning', is a skill that requires diligent practice. There are plenty of ways to help your child with reading comprehension at home, but the most powerful method is to read aloud and talk about what you have read. In our classrooms, we read picture books aloud to our students in every grade level - Kindergarten through 6th grade! Building receptive language and allowing children to listen to a story while giving them strategies to think about the text is excellent instruction for each and every student.
Here are a list of suggestions to get you and your child started:
1. Choose some rich picture books with strong story lines and characters in order to spark big conversations about books.
Some suggested authors:
Here are a list of suggestions to get you and your child started:
1. Choose some rich picture books with strong story lines and characters in order to spark big conversations about books.
Some suggested authors:
Grades K-4
Kevin Henkes Vera B. Williams Judith Viorst Jannell Cannon Patricia Polacco Barbara Cooney |
Grades 5-6
Chris Van Allsburg Eve Bunting Allen Say David Wiesner Patricia Maclachlan |
2. As you read along with or to your child, you will want to pause along the way and discuss the books that you are reading. Here are some great guidelines for reading aloud, including some examples of questioning:
http://www.ed.psu.edu/americareads/resources/techniquesforreading.htm
3. Jim Trelease, author of the New York Times bestseller 'The Read Aloud Handbook', created a pamphlet for parents about reading aloud. You can download it here:
http://www.ed.psu.edu/americareads/resources/techniquesforreading.htm
3. Jim Trelease, author of the New York Times bestseller 'The Read Aloud Handbook', created a pamphlet for parents about reading aloud. You can download it here:
parent-questions.pdf | |
File Size: | 131 kb |
File Type: |
4. It is crucially important to ask questions before, during and after reading with your child. Here are some examples of questions to ask your child that will spark big conversations about books:
Questions to ask before reading
What do you think this book will be about?
What genre is this book? What do you know about this genre? How do these kinds of stories tend to go?
What do you expect will happen?
What do you know about this author? How do this author’s books tend to go? How will this book be like/different from other books you have read?
What clues does the title give me about the story?
Is this a real or imaginary story?
Why am I reading this? What is the purpose for reading?
What do I already know about___?
What predictions can I make?
Questions during reading
What is this story about so far?
What does the main character want?
Will she get it? If so, how? What is standing in his way?
What is the meaning of what I have read?
How is the character changing?
Why did the author end the paragraph (or chapter) in this way?
What was the author's purpose in writing this?
What do I understand from what I just read?
What is the main idea?
What picture is the author painting in my head?
Do I need to reread so that I understand?
Then reread the text, asking the following questions when you are finished:
Which of my predictions were right? What information from the text tells me that I am correct?
What were the main ideas?
What connections can I make to the text? How do I feel about it?
Questions after reading
Why do you think the author chose this particular setting?
Why do you think the author ended the story in this way?
Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from the point of view of _____?
Another way to challenge readers is to ask them open-ended question that require evidence from the text to answer. For example:
What does ___ think about ____? What is your evidence?
Which character in the story is most unlike/like [another character in the book, another character from another story, someone you know]? Explain your reasons, based on evidence from the story?
What is the author's opinion about __________? How do you know?
How is your opinion like/unlike the author’s?
Questions to ask before reading
What do you think this book will be about?
What genre is this book? What do you know about this genre? How do these kinds of stories tend to go?
What do you expect will happen?
What do you know about this author? How do this author’s books tend to go? How will this book be like/different from other books you have read?
What clues does the title give me about the story?
Is this a real or imaginary story?
Why am I reading this? What is the purpose for reading?
What do I already know about___?
What predictions can I make?
Questions during reading
What is this story about so far?
What does the main character want?
Will she get it? If so, how? What is standing in his way?
What is the meaning of what I have read?
How is the character changing?
Why did the author end the paragraph (or chapter) in this way?
What was the author's purpose in writing this?
What do I understand from what I just read?
What is the main idea?
What picture is the author painting in my head?
Do I need to reread so that I understand?
Then reread the text, asking the following questions when you are finished:
Which of my predictions were right? What information from the text tells me that I am correct?
What were the main ideas?
What connections can I make to the text? How do I feel about it?
Questions after reading
Why do you think the author chose this particular setting?
Why do you think the author ended the story in this way?
Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from the point of view of _____?
Another way to challenge readers is to ask them open-ended question that require evidence from the text to answer. For example:
What does ___ think about ____? What is your evidence?
Which character in the story is most unlike/like [another character in the book, another character from another story, someone you know]? Explain your reasons, based on evidence from the story?
What is the author's opinion about __________? How do you know?
How is your opinion like/unlike the author’s?