How to Choose a Book for your Child

If you’re buying books for your child take into consideration his/her age and preferences; overall young children like books that use word repetition and predictable texts, and of course they have plenty of colorful pictures. If your child is beginning to read, be sure to choose books that match their skill level. Look on the back of the book; you will see something like K (kindergarten) or 1 for first grade.  Children who are already reading enjoy choosing their own books. If your child has a favorite book, try to find other books by the same author; or books that match their interest: dinosaurs, spaceships, sports, etc. Expose your child to a variety of genres: folktales, biographies, mysteries, and non-fiction stories. Show interest on what your child reads, and share with your child what you are reading: a novel, a cooking book, the newspaper, THIS BLOG!

Raising a Successful Reader!

There’s no doubt that learning to read is the most important skill a person will need  in his/her life. Reading is involved in every part of our life. We need to be able to read for accomplishing from the simplest to the most complicated tasks.

However, a child success as a reader does not start on the first day of school. The basic skills he/she will need to become a reader must be developed early in life, with YOU at home. In fact, there are many things parents can do with their child that wouldn’t even require a special time and that could be incorporated within much of your daily routines.. For example, when you are driving or walking to the store, park, etc. you can just point to the print around you: street names, traffic  signals, store names, billboards, etc. You can point to a word, say the word, ask your child to say it to you, spell the word, etc; see if your child can find the word on other forms. Play word games with your child, such as “Silly Tongue  Twisters.” Reading Rockets offers the following “Tips for Parents.” I suggest you print this one page document and place it on the refrigerator as a reminder of how you can start Raising a Successful Reader!

Getting Ready for your Child's First Day of School

In just a few weeks your child will be starting school. You both are anxious and excited! What can you do to have him/her ready? Well there are many things that parents can do to get their children ready for that great adventure of starting formal schooling. To start, help your child to “have fun” with language: play with letters, words, and sounds. Talk, talk, talk, to your child. As the first day of school approaches encourage your child to talk about school, what is he/she going to learn, about making new friends, and other exciting things that would happen in school. Read, read, read, to your child. Take your child to the public library, bookstores, yards sales, and get books he/she seems interested in and read it to him/her. Read the books as often as your child want to hear them, and encourage him/her to “read” portions of it to you. Help your child make connections with the story. This is an excellent way to help your child to develop reading comprehension skills. Connect the reading to what happens in real life. If you’re reading a book about sea animals, for example, relate that to a trip to the beach. Teach him/her nursery rhymes, sing songs together. Use the newspaper, magazines, and other type of print to cut out letters, make an alphabet chart; write your child’s name and other family members’ names. Help to develop his/her fine motor skills by helping him/her to trace letters, cutting and pasting, coloring, etc.

Remember, you’re your child’s first and most important teacher: Have fun!

Avoiding Summer Loss

Summer is the time we're all looking for! It's the time we use to relax, recharge our energies and do all those things we postpone for the most part of the year. Yet one of the most dreary consequences in our children is learning loss. To avoid it, parents ought to plan activities that include plenty of opportunities for their children to be in contact with books. To start, take your children to your local library. Most libraries have summer reading programs which provide both intrinsic rewards and incentive programs to reading all summer long!

It's also important that you help your child to develop reading comprehension. Help your children by asking them to stop, review, clarify, make connections with previous readings and experiences, and reread if necessary. Also, have your child read books to you. Have them stop when they encounter difficult vocabulary, passages, and pronunciation of words.

Read a book together! Take turns reading with your child and modeling appropriate reading comprehension when it’s your turn to read! Make reading a daily routine. Twenty or thirty minutes would be enough. Read in front of your child. Reading is contagious. The more your child sees you read the more they will think it’s a good idea too!

Have grandparents, favorite aunts, uncles, close family friends, etc. to suggest your child would like to read. Go to a book store, garage sale, or look for books in the internet. Nowadays there are several digital libraries offer books/stories that could be read online. But most importantly: READ, the best way to become a better reader is to read.