Many children going into third grade are developing readers. This means that they recognize many words by sight and that they can sound out many words that they do not know.
Children who are developing readers
- are becoming better at reading silently instead of out loud.
- seem to realize that they have made a mistake and try to correct it.
- are beginning to read chapter books that cannot be finished in one setting.
- are starting to read aloud with expression.
Now how can you as a parent help?
- First don’t worry if your child does not read as well as you think they should. Just as children learned to walk and talk at their own time, children become fluent readers at their own time too!
- Read to your child every day. This shows them that reading can be fun and is something they want to get better at.
- Talk about the books that you read together. Share the parts that you liked best.
- Listen to your child read aloud. When you hear a mistake, ask them if that makes sense. If they do not know a word, help them sound it out or look for a smaller word inside the bigger word.
- Before your child reads a book, have them do a picture walk through. This means that they go through the book and just look at the pictures. They can then make predictions as to what the story might be about. When they read, ask them to see if their predictions were right. (It is okay to make wrong predictions.)
- Encourage your child read to a younger brother or sister.
Do you have any ideas that you have used to help your child be a better reader? If so, please leave a comment.