“It all begins under the crook of an arm in the comfort of a loved one’s lap” Maryanne Wolf
I love this quote from the book Proust and the Squid. Maryanne Wolf goes on to say that the amount of time spent reading together is a good predictor of the level of reading attained later on. There is a mountain of research to back her claim, and research also suggests that talking about the words you read can lead to a larger vocabulary. But research aside, reading together can be a time of calm, a moment to pause before a busy day starts or after a busy day is done. It can be any moment in fact as we read together, gain understanding and connect.
Here are my 5 favourite reasons to make it your mission to read aloud for 20 minutes a day
Improves long term reading success, there is a mountain of research to say reading to children helps them to develop positive reading habits and they are more likely to indulge in reading for pleasure later on. Even if your child struggles, it is a marvellous way to provide positive encouragement and your child will associate reading together with happy memories.
Reading aloud builds vocabulary and the discussions that reading together prompts aid comprehension development too. Reading a challenging book together exposes children to a wealth of new words, and this stretches their imaginations too.
Improves listening skills and provide positive modelling. We all learn through observation. As you read they hear what book language sounds like. You can model reading in different ways depending on the story, pausing at commas and raising your voice for the exclamation mark. You could even model what to do if you come across an unknown word- faking it can be a wonderful lesson!
Builds empathy and awareness- reading about a subject is the best way to help your children understand something without having them experience it. Through books, we can live a 1,000 lives and experience so much in the comfort of our own home.
A grand way to introduce an unknown author or genre. It’s tricky to get children to try anything unfamiliar. They need us to model this behaviour so they can take a risk when they are at the bookstore or library.
Reading together can be a time of connection
I discuss the benefits of reading aloud all the time with parents. Lots of parents tell me they don’t have the time, or they don’t know what to do. My child can read, why do I still need to read with them?
So I devised some reading activities to cultivate the positive habit of reading aloud together. Activities that go beyond just picking a book from the shelf, sitting down and reading.
Reading together is all about creating connections and a positive foundation that explicit literacy instruction can build on. Integrating reading into your family routine will cultivate positive reading habits that your children will draw on when in school.
This week the activity is all about thinking outside the box with family reading and trying on ideas to integrate the practice into your daily life.
Join us as we venture into the land of books
Every Wednesday for six weeks there will be a new adventure to engage and motivate you to read aloud together and get excited about books. If you are already a subscriber, go check your inbox for the newsletter! And if you need extra copies, I have already added them to our ever-growing free resource library.
Reading together will not explicitly teach your child to read, but it cultivates a positive habit around books. It gives your children the chance to hear what a fluent reader sounds like; it exposes them to the language of books not readily heard in spoken language. I for one rarely speak with lots of alliteration, similes or metaphor going on!
The list of adventures
Week 1 – Integrate reading throughout your day – in your home out and about – activity
Week 2 – Interactive storytelling – blog and activity
Week 3 – Go on a book hunt and discover new titles, adventures and authors – activity
Week 4 – All about characters – blog and activity
Week 5 – Comic book Adventures – blog and activity
Week 6 – Storytelling cootie catcher – activity