Strategies Parents Can Use at Home to Support Reading Acquisition

Phonemic Awareness

In the classrooms teachers are using songs, rhymes, poems, and chants; they are working with syllables, concentrating on beginning sounds of words, and playing word games.

At Home:

Sing the alphabet songs with child
Read stories that child chooses
Help their child clap the beats or syllables in words
Point out letters, especially letters in their child’s name
Sing songs that manipulate phonemes, such as the Name Game

Phonics

In classrooms teachers help students relate letters to sounds and decode words in stories, providing opportunities for children to spell words and write stories using letter/sound relationships, and practicing word families.

At Home:

Talk with the teacher about child’s phonics progress
Encourage children to point to words and say them out loud when writing
Listen to their child read
Help children sort words by long-and short- vowel sounds
Help children define larger words by breaking them into smaller chunks
Play spelling and word games like Scrabble and Hang Man

Fluency

In classrooms teachers help students improve their fluency by offering them opportunities to read aloud. Oral reading strategies include student/adult reading one-on-one, choral reading, tape-assisted reading, partner reading, and Readers’ Theatre.

At Home:

Read aloud often, encouraging the child to read aloud
Let child choose books to read and reread favorite books
Model reading for fun and pleasure
Act out a book or story
Read aloud a sentence and then invite their child to read the same sentence (echo reading)
Help child read new words and talk about the meaning
Talk with child when they go to the library about how to pick books of interest at an appropriate level

Vocabulary

In school vocabulary is developed indirectly when students engage daily in oral language, listen to adults read, and read extensively on their own. Teachers can promote vocabulary acquisition by using new words in conversations, teaching specific words before reading, and providing new and different experiences for children to research and talk about.

At Home:

Read aloud a variety of genres
Talk with child about daily events and about books they read together
Talk about how the illustrations and text in a book support each other
Use word lists provided by their child’s teacher in natural conversation
Search for new words in texts with their child and look them up in the dictionary
Help child learn new vocabulary based on hobbies or interests

Text comprehension

Since comprehension is the reason for reading children need practice reading and communicating what is read. Teachers support comprehension by using graphic and semantic organizers, asking and answering questions about the text, asking students to summarize important ideas in a text, and by helping students draw on prior knowledge about a subject.

At Home:

Ask child to predict what might happen next in a story
Ask who, what, where, when, and why questions about a book
Ask questions about the topic of a book before reading it
Ask child about books being read at school and be familiar with them in order to extend conversations
Ask child what the main idea or message of a book might be

Print concepts

Print concepts are a set of understandings about the conventions of literacy, such as directionality, use of blank spaces and letters, and multiple genres. To increase students’ print awareness, teachers create a print-rich classroom environment, help students track print while listening to a text or reading themselves, and encourage students to use different kinds of print in their schoolwork for a variety of purposes.

At Home:

Point out the title and author’s name to child while reading
Talk about where reading begins on the page and show how the words flow left to right
Play games to match lowercase and uppercase letters
Talk about how types of texts have similarities and differences
Expose child to many types of print
Make a book with child using large print and illustrations

Writing

Writing allows readers to think about and analyze what they have read. Teachers provide materials and activities for students to build the fine-motor muscles in their hands and fingers. The first focus is on helping them write their first and last names. Then children are encouraged to write their ideas down on paper and share their words with others. Children are guided to link phonemic awareness and letter knowledge to spell words independently.

At. Home:

Provide multiple writing materials and tools
Encourage child to write his or her name and the names of family members
Let child see you writing for various purposes
Ask child to say words out loud as she writes
Respond to the ideas child has written
Encourage child to write the way he or she talks, and then as them to read the writing aloud
Plan a time and place for child to write everyday

Taken from:

Darling, S. (2005). Strategies for engaging parents in home support of reading acquisition. The Reading Teacher: A Journal of the International Reading Association, 58, 476-479.