The fall and winter months are a great time to re-energize routines for home reading.   Children enjoy having frequent opportunities to talk about their reading with a parent; these discussions increase comprehension.   Here are some tips for dialoguing about reading with your child:

1.       Before reading, some questions that you can ask to spark discussion are:

“What do you think this will be about?” (Look at the title and pictures together.)

 “What do you know about this?”  (Give your ideas, too.)

 “What do you think will happen next?” (Use with chapter books.)

 “Where did we leave off last night?” (Summarize the story or information together.)

2.     During reading, talk about what is taking place and help clarify any confusion.  You might ask:

“How do you imagine that this character (place or event) looks?” (Visualizing helps children enjoy reading.   You can model the use of descriptive words for your child.)

          “How do you think this character is feeling?  Why? (Give your opinion, too.)

“What questions do you have about this? (Works well for fiction or non-fiction)

3.     After reading, talk about what you read together.  Discuss the solution to a problem, how a character changed, lessons learned, or information presented in non-fiction.  Evaluate what you liked or didn’t like.

If your child reads just

·                    20 minutes per day 4 times a week during the school year,

this is 53 hours of reading time!

·                    30 minutes per day 4 times a week during the school year,

this is 80 hours of reading time!

The more children read, the better readers they become.  Remember reading at home fosters success in school and in life!

                    -Marie Lapple, District Supervisor for Literacy