1. Homemade Stories
Start small with personal stories about topics important to your child.
- You do not need to go out and buy a bunch of books to practice reading with your child. Keep a notebook where you can neatly write down short stories you create with your child about topics he/she cares about. Start by writing only one sentence per line. Only write on one side of the page. Let your child draw a picture on the opposite side.
Homemade stories connect reading and writing to your child’s lived experiences and personal interests.
2. Pyramid Reading
- As you can see from the example, pyramid reading builds a complete sentence as you move down the page. This gives the child an opportunity to practice pacing and expression.
3. Watch and Read
Little Fox is one of many great resources on YouTube that provides fun animated stories that appeal to kids in grades K-4. Have your child watch the video first then replay it on mute. Let your child read the story, pausing the video when necessary.
4. Echo/Repeated Reading
Echo reading is when the adult reads first and then the child reads the exact same text.
5. You Go, I Go: Taking Turns
There are many ways to take turns while reading. Perhaps your child reads one sentence and then you read the next sentence. As your child builds stamina, it is easy to bump up the challenge. One sentence become two, two sentences become a full paragraph, a full paragraph becomes a full page, a full page become an entire chapter and so on.
- Some kids like to underline the sentences they are responsible for reading.
- Take turns reading one paragraph at a time.
