For the next twelve weeks I'll be posting excerpts from Judy Freeman's
12 Tried-And-True Ways to Get Your Kiddos Reading (from ReadKIDDORead). This is an EXCELLENT article in teaching methods to get children not only READING, but EXCITED about reading! In the world of technology...IPads, Nooks, Kindles, Playstations, Wiis, Kinects, IPods, Smart Phones...we must find a way to compete...To make READING as enjoyable and rewarding as all of these "gadgets". We have our work cut out for us. The answer? Incorporate reading into technology...find reading apps, iBooks, etc...but...never underestimate the power of a good old-fashioned book. To get started with a good reading routine with your child, try this baker's dozen of easy, tried-and-true ways to ease reluctant readers into good books.
Remember...One method a week will be posted here at The Need 2 Read. Try it for a week...and see what works for YOUR sweetie!
1. Read Aloud Something EVERY Day
If you have time to watch TV or surf the Internet, you can make time to read with your kids. You only have a limited window of read-aloud years, so rearrange your schedule to carve out reading time every day. There's always time for a story, a chapter, or at least a poem, a joke or a tongue twister. And start early - in utero isn't too soon. What new parents soon discover is that reading aloud is just plain fun.
"Always read with expression," my mother told me when I was a child, learning to read with those good-time kids, Dick and Jane. (And I did, even becoming a librarian when I grew up, where I read aloud with expression on a daily basis.) Lucky for kids today, children's books are far more attractive and engaging these days. Kids pattern themselves on you, their reading role models. Listen for the voices in the stories you read aloud. Do you need to read aloud like actors Meryl streep or Lawrence Olivier? Yes, of course you do. Ham it up and have fun. If you read in a monotone, so will your kids. They need to hear the characters; voices in their heads to have true comprehension of the books they read. And there's nothing they love more than to snuggle in close and listen to you read aloud to them.
As your children start to read independently, share the joy and have them read to you, too. Make your own recordings of stories so your child can follow each book and listen to you over and over. Read aloud on car trips, at the doctor's office, and before bed, of course. What's my favorite read-aloud picture book, a tour de force of great voices? "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" by the great Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.
Author: Judy Freeman
Written For: www.readkiddoread.com
