While surfing the net, I discovered this great article helping people to read from Literacy News. It was so informative that I wanted to share it with you. I am passionate about getting kids to read books because children's books should make reading fun!
Why Reading Aloud To Your Child Is Important
Okay, so your child loves to watch television, play video games, surf on the Internet, and listen to music. And there’s nothing wrong with those activities, as long as they’re used in moderation. Most parents would also love to see their kids participate in more constructive activities—like reading children’s books—but the trick is to get your little ones to actually sit down and crack open a book a few times per week.
One way to start is by sitting down and reading aloud to your children. By reading aloud to your kids, you’re showing them how to enjoy children’s books, the English language, the wonders of a good story, and hopefully, you’re instilling a love of reading and learning. Many kids associate books with the drudgeries of school and homework, but you want to show them how a well-written children’s book can be an exciting adventure, a real pleasure, as their imagination takes them to places they’ve never been to visit with people and characters they’ve never met.
According to a recent US government study, there’s a direct relationship with reading aloud to your children and childhood literacy rates. Reading children’s books and other materials to your children is not only a great educational head start for pre-school, but also a wonderful social activity, and a chance to spend quality time with your kids.
Reading to children is shown to have a positive effect on children’s literacy outcomes, the government report concludes. Through experience with books, children gain important exposure to written language. They begin making connections between the spoken word and the printed word. Policymakers contend that it is important to read to your child.
Regrettably, few children today seem to read for pleasure. In one study, only 7 out of 10 9-year-olds said that they enjoy reading as a pastime, compared with 78% five years ago, while for 11-year-olds, the proportion has declined from 77% to 65%. Children said they preferred watching television to going to the library or reading. But the biggest changes in attitudes were among boys. In Year 6, only 55% of boys said they enjoyed stories compared with 70% in 1998.
So getting your children—especially males—to read, and enjoy reading, is a real challenge these days. And again, one way to tackle that challenge is to read to your children aloud. One technique is to make reading a children’s book a game, an interactive adventure that you can both enjoy. After all, this is another way to spend some quality time with your kids, which is what they want anyway.
Another way to use children’s books and literature to teach is through the so-called “Charlotte Mason” method. In this method of teaching, the child “tells back,” in his or her own words, a short book or poem, or a chapter of a longer book. The child is forced to focus on the story and understand its meaning. This type of verbal narration is especially effective in younger children who may not have the writing skills necessary to put their thoughts down on paper."
I wanted to add here that forcing someone to focus is pretty strong wording in my opinion. Perhaps a gentle nudge to really listen to the story line is quite fun in that you get to repeat back what you think the author said. Besides, it's truly a good thing to be together for story time!
The article goes on to say,
For further reading on encouraging young ones to read, visit:
http://ladyd-books.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-raise-reader.html
These books are provided for review by various Publishing Groups.
All the best,
~ LadyD Books
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Why Reading Aloud To Your Child Is Important
Okay, so your child loves to watch television, play video games, surf on the Internet, and listen to music. And there’s nothing wrong with those activities, as long as they’re used in moderation. Most parents would also love to see their kids participate in more constructive activities—like reading children’s books—but the trick is to get your little ones to actually sit down and crack open a book a few times per week.
One way to start is by sitting down and reading aloud to your children. By reading aloud to your kids, you’re showing them how to enjoy children’s books, the English language, the wonders of a good story, and hopefully, you’re instilling a love of reading and learning. Many kids associate books with the drudgeries of school and homework, but you want to show them how a well-written children’s book can be an exciting adventure, a real pleasure, as their imagination takes them to places they’ve never been to visit with people and characters they’ve never met.
According to a recent US government study, there’s a direct relationship with reading aloud to your children and childhood literacy rates. Reading children’s books and other materials to your children is not only a great educational head start for pre-school, but also a wonderful social activity, and a chance to spend quality time with your kids.
Reading to children is shown to have a positive effect on children’s literacy outcomes, the government report concludes. Through experience with books, children gain important exposure to written language. They begin making connections between the spoken word and the printed word. Policymakers contend that it is important to read to your child.
Regrettably, few children today seem to read for pleasure. In one study, only 7 out of 10 9-year-olds said that they enjoy reading as a pastime, compared with 78% five years ago, while for 11-year-olds, the proportion has declined from 77% to 65%. Children said they preferred watching television to going to the library or reading. But the biggest changes in attitudes were among boys. In Year 6, only 55% of boys said they enjoyed stories compared with 70% in 1998.
So getting your children—especially males—to read, and enjoy reading, is a real challenge these days. And again, one way to tackle that challenge is to read to your children aloud. One technique is to make reading a children’s book a game, an interactive adventure that you can both enjoy. After all, this is another way to spend some quality time with your kids, which is what they want anyway.
Another way to use children’s books and literature to teach is through the so-called “Charlotte Mason” method. In this method of teaching, the child “tells back,” in his or her own words, a short book or poem, or a chapter of a longer book. The child is forced to focus on the story and understand its meaning. This type of verbal narration is especially effective in younger children who may not have the writing skills necessary to put their thoughts down on paper."
I wanted to add here that forcing someone to focus is pretty strong wording in my opinion. Perhaps a gentle nudge to really listen to the story line is quite fun in that you get to repeat back what you think the author said. Besides, it's truly a good thing to be together for story time!
The article goes on to say,
http://www.literacynews.com/2009/10/why-reading-aloud-to-your-child-is-important
"The goal is to get your child to open a book for fun, on their own, without prodding from you or their teachers in school. I can remember my own excitement and fascination when I discovered the Lord Of The Rings trilogy as young teenager, and how many hours of entertainment and enjoyment I culled from the pages of that classic fantasy series."
For further reading on encouraging young ones to read, visit:
http://ladyd-books.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-raise-reader.html
These books are provided for review by various Publishing Groups.
All the best,
~ LadyD Books
We should mention that reading aloud is not only 1. good for kids' literacy, but that it also 2. brings family members together around reading, and 3. is great fun for both adults and kids of all ages!
ReplyDeleteIt's a little strange to hear reading aloud justified by being "good for you" in some way, as if we needed some excuse to choke down this magic literacy pill. If it needs to be justified, then you're missing something!
But perhaps family literacy is in such a sad state that we need to be reminded of how rich & wonderful reading aloud can be...