The Adventure of Reading

We have a reading time every day. Some days it's only me reading to the kids. When we do that, we're working on comprehension because I'll ask them questions like "how do you think (fill in the blank) feels?" or "where did (fill in the blank) go?" Other times each child gets a chance to read to me.

Gabi reads her chapter books, a chapter at a time. Sometimes she reads them on her own for silent reading and then tells me everything she can about the chapter. (I've read the book ahead of time so I can direct her with questions that make her stop and think). Other times, she reads the chapter aloud to me or her Dad. This allows us to make sure she's pronouncing her words correctily when she reads and gives us an opportunity to correct them and explain certain "exceptions to the rules" of which there are a lot.

Beth typically reads the easy readers, any level up through 4, by herself and to her brothers. When she reads with me (which is at least three times a week), she reads one page and I read another. She is also reading chapter books this way. We talk about what is happening as we go along. This has helped her to not get frustrated and to comprehend what she's reading.

Jeremy is in the "memorize" stage. This is a good stage, as it helps with visual recognition. Usually I read him a short book several times. I point to the words along the way. Then he usually takes the book from me and points to the words and says the "memorized" story back to me. Again, we talk about what is happening, how people feel, etc to help him learn to find these things as he reads.

Peter, well, we just read whatever he wants us too right now. He's not quite one, so the exposure is the most important part.

A couple of problems that we've found, which are normal, for early readers. The first is that they read far beyond their ability to comprehend. Thus all the work on comprehension. Second, finding books at their level but also appropriate for their age and interests is very difficult. We've been wandering around this for over a year now, but we've found with a parent reading side by side, that we can guide them through understanding concepts that are a little out of their familiar zone. Be careful, though, because if it's too far away from what they can imagine, then they won't get it. This happened with Gabi and the "Boxcar Children" series. When it happened, we gave it up and moved on to something else.

If your child is just starting to put letters together or learning the letter sounds, both Starfall and PBS (SuperWhy and Between the Lions) are good for interactive help on this.

Good Luck