Reading Tips

One of the most common questions teachers receive is about reading. Generally parents ask for quick tips they can use to help teach their child how to read.

Cultivate an interest in reading:

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• Get to know your child.
• Apply reading to your daily life.
• Choose an enjoyable topic.
• Follow an entire series.
• Use e-readers and technology.
• Have books around your home.
• Tell them you love reading.

Use environmental print:

Environmental print can be products, restaurants, billboards, advertising. It is simply printed items in the environment. Such visual cues help children to recognize words. Children feel successful in reading by recognizing these words.

• Point out individual letters in the print and the sounds they make.
• Teach the M in McDonald is the same as M in mommy – make correlations between the letters.
• Create a game with similar starting prints such as Taco Bell, Toys R Us, Trix, etc.
• Sort environmental print by type (for instance: food and street signs)
• Cut out environmental print to use as flash cards.

How to apply reading to your daily life:

• Turn off the television.
• Use video games creatively.
• Read together daily ~especially at bedtime.
• Create shopping trips.
• Schedule reading times.
• Point out written words.
• Write notes to each other.
• Mail letters.
• Use environmental print.

Teaching tips:

• Point to the words as you read.
• Always have something to read with you.
• Re-read favorite books.
• Play word games.
• Encourage children to predict what comes next in the book.
• Be patient.
• Exaggerate sounds as you read.
• Make connections between sounds and written letters.
• Point out print.

By Tracy Atkinson

Tracy Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education and a master’s in higher education. Her passion is researching, studying and investigating the attributes related to self-directed learners. She has published several titles, including The Art of Learning Journals, Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Lemosa: The Annals of the Hidden, Book Two, Rachel’s 8 and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners.