Tips on how to read to children

Video with hints on Make Reading to Young Children Fun with Kieran Moore

How to Read Aloud to Your Child

  1. You don't have to wait for your baby to get to a certain age to begin reading to him. Start now!
  2. Continue reading aloud to your child until he is at least 10 years old. Children continue to benefit from listening to others read long after they themselves have learned to read.
  3. For young children, books with rhyme, rhythm, and repetition are excellent. Be sure to read Mother Goose rhymes often.
  4. Be consistent about reading aloud to your child. Do it daily and, if possible, about the same time. Reading right before bedtime often works well.
  5. If you have several small children, you can read to them together. Picture books work well for this.
  6. Don't be surprised if your children want to hear a favorite book again and again. That's fine. As they get to really know the story well, have them fill in words for you.
  7. Try to choose books that are above your child's reading level but at the child's interest level.
  8. Some children love reading about the same characters. If that's what your child likes, choose several short books in a series or a longer novel. Reading a chapter a night works well.
  9. Vary the subject matter of what you read as well as the type. In addition to fiction, you might also read poetry, magazine articles, and non-fiction.
  10. Try to find books that match your child's interests. Get suggestions from the children's librarian at your school or public library. Check with a bookseller at your favorite bookstore.
  11. If your children are several years apart, as they get older you will need to read to them individually to ensure that each book you choose is at the appropriate reading and interest level for each of your children.
  12. As your child gets older and gains in reading ability, occasionally pick a book right at his reading level and take turns reading to one another.

www.childrensbooks.about.com

Mem Fox’s Ten Read Aloud Commandments

  1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud.
  2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read.
  3. Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and don’t be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot.
  4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself and great joy for the listeners.
  5. Read the stories that the kids love, over and over and over again, and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the same intonations on each page, each time.
  6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to them constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing any old song that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy together doing clapping games.
  7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are really short.
  8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters that start the child’s name and yours, remembering that it’s never work, it’s always a fabulous game.
  9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.
  10. Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

www.memfox.com