Writing (Writing reinforces reading skill development.)
1. Encourage early writing attempts such as scribbling and drawing.
2. Have the child help prepare the family shopping list, even if the words are not spelled correctly. The child could also look at advertising circulars and magazine ads, as well as product labels and coupons to match the picture with the item and to see how to spell the name of the product. This activity will help with vocabulary development, organizational skills and connecting writing to their daily lives.
3. Ask the child to tell stories or describe a family picture. This may include naming the people in the picture or identifying what the event was (e. g., birthday celebration, a festival or special holiday, family reunion, birth of a new sibling, family trip, pet or favorite toy). Help the child select a title for the picture. Paste the picture on a large sheet of paper. Write the caption (title) under the picture. Record or write the story that the child tells in sentences. This will help the child with the skill of finding the main idea when reading as well as with writing and oral language development.
4. When you return from a family vacation trip, have the child to draw and/or write about his favorite part of the trip and to explain why it was his favorite part. This will help with paragraph development by supplying supporting details which will, in turn, help with the reading comprehension skill of identifying supporting details in a paragraph or passage.
Reading
Reading to Your Child
Reading to your child is one of the best things that a parent can do to lay a firm foundation for the child’s literacy development even before a child is ready for school. It has the following benefits:
1. It exposes a child to the language of stories (e. g., Once upon a time . . .)
2. It increases a child’s vocabulary by exposing him to new words.
3. It ignites the child’s imagination.
4. It helps create a love of books and an interest in reading.
5. It helps to foster early reading development as a child does “pretend reading”.
Once a child begins formal schooling and is learning to read, the parent can support the child’s literacy learning by listening to his child read and talking about the story after the reading. For the primary grades, have the child to retell the story in his own words. His retelling should include where the story took place (setting), who the characters were, what they were trying to accomplish (plot), and how they finally resolved the problem. If the child has difficulty or if some of the elements are missing, prompt him by asking such questions as: What was the story about? Who was in the story? Where did the story take place? What happened in the story? Have the child read the part aloud that answers specific questions.
Following these suggestions will help your child to be able to focus on the key ideas and details that make up the structure of stories and thus will improve his comprehension when reading literature. To model expressive reading and to help improve his oral reading, take turns reading pages aloud from the story. Taking on the voices of different characters will help the story come alive, as well as acting it out. It is also useful to have the child to reread the story after the shared reading to improve fluency and comprehension.