The Reading bug

Reading with your child

Based on the book: The Reading Bug . . . And how you can help your child to catch it

Author: Paul Jennings    Publisher: Viking Penguin, 2003

Parents are the best reading teachers in the world. Parental involvement is key to a child learning to read, to use language - and to their whole early years education. In his book Paul Jennings gives simple strategies to show how parents can use books to enrich their children's lives - it's not just about learning to read, it's about learning to love reading.

Some guidelines for reading at home:

• Make reading an enjoyable experience. Encourage success!
• Allow your child to use the visual clues in the story.
• Encourage making connections to their personal lives and listen actively to the connections that are made.
• The best way to grow as a reader is to allow readers to read, read, read.
• The best way to grow as a writer is to write, write, write.

READING IS THINKING!

“If children aren’t reading for meaning they aren’t reading at all. 
Reading is NOT pronouncing words.”  ~ Paul Jennings

Strategies:

• Glance through the book first and explain any difficult words.

Then, while reading, if your child comes to a word he or she doesn’t know, try these strategies:

• Ignore the mistake. (if the meaning is not lost, i.e.: crab vs. crustacean)
• Tell the word as soon as the child hesitates (to eliminate frustration).
• Suggest the child look at the picture for a clue (to set them up for success!).
• Suggest the child skip the word and read on for more information.

When your child reads and you notice a mistake, remember to ask them:

• Does it look right?
• Does it sound right?
• Does it make sense?

After reading, you can use one of these to help start a discussion.  You do not need to talk about all of these things for everything your child reads!  Choose one or two different questions each time.

Summarize - A brief retelling of the story

• Explain to me what you just read.
• What was the story about and what was your favourite part?
• Tell me something you learned from what you just read.

Sequence- Recall the order in which things happened

• What happened first, next, and last in the story?
• Tell me four important parts in the story in the order that they happened.
• Retell the story in your own words.

Make Connections - Does what I read remind me of anything?

• Does this story remind you of another story you have read or heard?
• Did any events in this story remind you of something you have done or might do?
• Has anything that happened in the story happened to someone you know?

Predict - What do you think will happen in the story?

• What do you think will happen next?
• What do you think the character will choose to do?
• How do you think the story will end?
• Predict what the characters will do in another story about them.

“Any strategy that leads to suffering is the
wrong strategy.” ~ Paul Jennings