Tips for
Parents to Encourage Reading at Home
- Read aloud to your child. Set aside a regular time for reading
with your family. Take turns
reading the book: you read a page, have your child read a page.
- Make a time and a place for reading in your home.
- Encourage talking about reading and
books with your family.
- Set a good example – read in front of
your children – MODEL
- Keep books, magazines, and newspapers in
your home to give your child constant exposure to reading material.
- Keep a “library” or bookcase of books in
your child’s room to teach him or her that books are an important part of
your home.
- Start sharing books when your child is
born – and don’t forget to keep reading to your children into their teens.
- Take advantage of “waiting” time to
share books: on trips, at the doctor’s office, in line at the grocery
store, etc.
- Give books as presents.
- Go on a “field trip” to the local
library or bookstore. Encourage
your child to get his or her own library card.
- Rent audio books from the library for
long car trips.
- Encourage older children to read to
younger brothers and sisters.
- Play games that are reading and writing related:
Scrabble, Boggle, etc.
- Offer special incentives to encourage
your child to read: allow them to stay up 15 minutes extra to finish the
chapter, take them to see a movie after he or she has finished the book on
which it was based.
- Limit television watching – plan a “No
TV Night”. Think of other
activities that can be done as a family without turning on the television.
- “Read Around
the House” - cereal boxes, recipes, and television guides are a few
examples of print materials that you can help your child read.
- “Read Around Town” – Involve your child
in reading street signs, restaurant and store signs
- Write your own reading material for your
child to read: notes in lunchboxes, lists of chores to be done, etc.
Tips For Parents to Encourage Writing at Home
- Coach – don’t write for your child. Question, listen, and talk about their
writing together.
- Always look first for what is done well
in the writing and offer lots of praise.
Children need lots of encouragement to be successful.
- When working with your student writer,
focus on ideas and content first.
Save editing until all the ideas are clear, complete and focused.
- Listen attentively as your children read
their writing to you. Be eager to
hear more and enthusiastic about their efforts.
- Encourage even the youngest writers to
“read” their writing aloud whether it is scribbles, drawings, or strings
of letters. Talk together about the
story.
- Read aloud to your child. Discuss good examples of writing which
might include newspaper or magazine articles, poetry, descriptions from
travel brochures, etc.
- Share your own writing with you
child. Ask for feedback on your
piece. Model what writers do.
- READ, READ, READ! Better readers always make better
writers.
- Provide writing materials of all kinds,
colors, textures, and sizes.
- Encourage letter writing to relatives,
sports figures, celebrities, businesses, etc.
- Encourage writing and addressing of
greeting cards, invitations and thank-you notes.
- Have your child help writing grocery
lists, to-do lists and phone messages.
- Work with your child to keep a writer’s
notebook, a place to record observations, quotes, favorite words, and
future writing ideas.
- Encourage your child to keep a journal
and/or diary.
Lists complied from
information by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, The International
Reading Association and