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THIS ISSUE: 20
Ways for Parents to Encourage Reading Dear
Arizona Promising Practices Subscriber, Welcome
to another online addition of the Arizona Promising Practices forum.
For those new to this service, you will receive periodic updates
focusing on: (1)
Recommended National Education websites; and (2) One
promising practice article in condensed form. We welcome your
recommendations for improvement to this forum or suggestions on
future topics (these will be wide ranging so if nothing in this
update interests you, hold on for future editions!) The
Arizona Promising Practices Forum and website, www.azpromisingpractices.com
is a FREE resource of the Arizona Department of Education. In
this issue of the Promising Practices Forum we have bee asked to
provide tips for parents
to assist children in reading. Brought to you by Reading is
Fundamental, these 20 tips can be shared by educators to parents at
anytime to help boost student interest in reading. National
Website of Importance: If
you are looking for a job in education in the great state of
Arizona, help is on the way! The Great Arizona Teach In is right
around the corner; point your web browser to www.teachinaz.com
for all the details! Promising Practice Research and Tips 20
Ways for Parents to Encourage Reading The
following are some ways to turn a young reader's reluctance into
enthusiasm: 1. Scout for things your children might like to read.
Use their interests and hobbies as starting points. 2. Leave all sorts of reading materials including
books, magazines, and colorful catalogs in conspicuous places around
your home. 3. Notice what attracts your children's attention,
even if they only look at the pictures. Then build on that
interest; read a short selection aloud, or simply bring home more
information on the same subject. 4. Let your children see you reading for pleasure in
your spare time. 5. Take your children to the library regularly.
Explore the children's section together. Ask a librarian to
suggest books and magazines your children might enjoy. 6. Present reading as an activity with a purpose; a
way to gather useful information for, say, making paper airplanes,
identifying a doll or stamp in your child's collection, or planning
a family trip. 7. Encourage older children to read to their younger
brothers and sisters. Older children enjoy showing off their
skills to an admiring audience. 8. Play games that are reading-related. Check
your closet for spelling games played with letter tiles or dice, or
board games that require players to read spaces, cards, and
directions. 9. Perhaps over dinner, while you're running errands,
or in another informal setting, share your reactions to things you
read, and encourage your children to do likewise. 10. Set aside a regular time for reading in your
family, independent of schoolwork, the 20 minutes before lights out,
just after dinner, or whatever fits into your household schedule.
As little as 10 minutes of free reading a day can help improve your
child's skills and habits. 11. Read aloud to your child, especially a child who is
discouraged by his or her own poor reading skills. The
pleasure of listening to you read, rather than struggling alone, may
restore your child's initial enthusiasm for books and reading. 12. Encourage your child to read aloud to you an
exciting passage in a book, an interesting tidbit in the newspaper,
or a joke in a joke book. When children read aloud, don't feel
they have to get every word right. Even good readers skip or
mispronounce words now and then. 13. On gift-giving occasions, give books and magazines
based on your child's current interests. 14. Set aside a special place for children to keep
their own books. 15. Introduce the bookmark. Remind your youngster
that you don't have to finish a book in one sitting; you can stop
after a few pages, or a chapter, and pick up where you left off at
another time. Don't try to persuade your child to finish a
book he or she doesn't like. Recommend putting the book aside
and trying another. 16. Treat your children to an evening of laughter and
entertainment featuring books! Many children (parents, too)
regard reading as a serious activity. A joke book, a story
told in riddles, or a funny passage read aloud can reveal another
side of reading. 17. Extend your child's positive reading experiences.
For example, if your youngster enjoyed a book about dinosaurs,
follow up with a visit to a natural history museum. 18. Offer other special incentives to encourage your
child's reading. Allow your youngster to stay up an extra 15
minutes to finish a chapter; promise to take your child to see a
movie after he or she has finished the book on which it was based;
relieve your child of a regular chore to free up time for reading. 19. Limit your children's TV viewing in an effort to
make time for other activities, such as reading. But never use
TV as a reward for reading, or a punishment for not reading. 20. Not all reading takes place between the covers of a
book. What about menus, road signs, food labels, and sheet
music? Take advantage of countless spur-of-the-moment
opportunities for reading during the course of your family's busy
day. http://www.rif.org/parents/tips/tip.mspx?View=3
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