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Past Principal
Points
Developing Good Readers
We
are now almost at the end of our Read-A-Thon, but still not too late to get
involved if you haven’t been thus far. One of the things that we have noticed
this year is that some of the students who are our weakest readers are doing the
least in the Read-A-Thon. This is unfortunate, not so much in terms of raising
money, but in terms of developing good readers. The school’s fundraising needs
are always met because of the Parents’ Code commitment, so it is not necessary
to raise any money at all through the Read-A-Thon specifically.
However, the truly great benefit of the Read-A-Thon is in the improvement that
comes to our students’ reading skills.
One
of the things which has been clearly confirmed time and time again through
education research is that children who read become better readers.
I want to encourage every family to use the Read-A-Thon as an opportunity to
help their children improve in their reading. There are many ways that parents
can do this:
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Set aside
some time every day that is quiet and designated just for reading
for the whole family.
Have everyone curl up in the living room on couches or the floor and just read
with no distractions.
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For children
in Kindergarten or Grade 1, use this time to read aloud to them. (Remember,
these pages count towards the Read-A-Thon just as much as if they had read
themselves.)
As you read, it can be fun to leave out a word at the end of a sentence and
see if your child can fill it in.
Sometimes I will deliberately read a word wrong to see if my 5 year old can
pick it out. E.g. “Igloos are made from snow and ice cream” which promptly
elicits the response, “No, Dad, it’s snow and ICE.”
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If your Grade
One child is able to read some on their own, have them read books aloud to
you.
Dr. Seuss books are great.
They are funny and have rhyming which helps the young reader to think about
what would make sense in the context.
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Have older siblings read to the younger children at least one story book every
day.
This helps both children at the same time. The older child who is reading
aloud becomes more fluent and expressive, and the younger child is getting the
benefit of hearing the story.
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For children
in Grade Two to Four or Five it can be fun to take turns reading aloud to one
another,
each taking a turn at reading a page.
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Read a story to the whole family around the supper table, a chapter a night.
Every age group enjoys a good story. Ask questions about what you are reading?
“Why do you suppose he did that? What do you think will happen next? What
would you have done? What should they have done? Who knows what ______ means?”
(for a difficult vocabulary word) If you don’t know of a good book that would
work for your family, just ask one of your children’s teachers for ideas.
(Some of our favorites have been from the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, and
stories from The Book of Virtues.)
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If you have
to go out for evening,
use books with tapes,
so children can look at the pictures and/or read along. You can even tape a
story yourself, and your child can go to sleep listening to you read to them.
You will no doubt come up with other strategies. There is no one right way.
The
children whose parents invest the time at home in reading with them reap the
greatest rewards later on as so much of school success is based on the ability
to read well.
While we work very hard at school to teach reading and encourage reading, no
teacher can compete with the motivating power of a parent who believes in its
value.
Brian Hazeltine, B.Ed., M.A.
Principal, Airdrie Koinonia Christian School
Last modified:
2004-02-09
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