This Valentine’s Day, Encourage A Love Of Reading

Ready, Set, Read!

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, and to help parents nurture their child’s reading abilities, Sylvan Learning is offering grade-specific tips for reading at home. With more than 900 centers located throughout North America, Sylvan Learning is the leading provider of tutoring services to children of all ages and skill levels.

“Children who read regularly at home do better in school and become enthusiastic life-long readers. By encouraging children to read at home, parents can help their children establish an enduring love of books, transforming reading from a basic skill to a pleasurable activity,” says Stefanie Hickman, Center Director of Sylvan Learning in Clinton.

Sylvan Learning recommends that parents spend at least one hour per week – 10 to 15 minutes a day – reading with their children.

“Reading is an adventure that begins early in a child’s life and should extend beyond the classroom,” [Insert name, title] continued. “Children exhibit certain reading behaviors at a young age and by understanding and nurturing these behaviors, parents can make reading fun and motivate their child to develop a lifelong friendship with books.”

Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten
• Make cookies together. Read the recipe aloud to your child.
• Read directions to your child when completing a project.
• Subscribe to a magazine (Ladybug, Your Big Backyard, Zoobooks, etc.) to learn about topics of interest to your child They will be excited to have their own reading materials.
• Pick a storybook character (Arthur, Strega Nona, etc.) and pretend that character is coming for dinner. Help your child plan activities that character would enjoy.
• Help your child relate read-aloud stories to events in her life.
• Read stories aloud and act them out.

Grades One through Three
• Subscribe to a magazine for your child (Spider, Ranger Rick, etc.) to learn about topics of interest to them. Make its arrival an event.
• After reading a nonfiction story, ask why your child thinks the author wrote the story.
• Help your child create charts and posters about topics of interest .
• Read picture books by the same author (Tomie DePaola, Bill Martin, Jr., etc.) and compare and contrast them: How are they the same? How are they different?
• After reading a book, discuss it with your child – identify the characters, setting and problems in the book.
• Help your child recognize how stories are similar to or different from their life.
• Encourage your child to read various types of texts - non-fiction, plays, stories, comics and/or magazines. Ask your child to explain which type they like best.
• Introduce your child to the library and plan special library visits together.

Grades Four through Eight
• Help your child with the latest experiment in their science book. Talk through each step and discuss what you’re going to do next.
• Pick a different country each week, and challenge your child to learn a bit more about that country by visiting the library or researching it online.
• Research and select books about your child’s interests – such as a sport or hobby.
• Make a trip to the library a weekly “date” with your child.
• Read the newspaper with your child. Elicit his opinion about current events.
• Encourage your child to read series books (Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, The Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie).
• Create a family book club where you and your child read the same book and discuss it.
• Help your child find a favorite author. Have them create alternate stories for the author’s repetitive characters.
• Read your child’s favorite books.

Grades Nine through Twelve
• Read various types of directions (recipes, technical instructions, experiments) and determine the usefulness of the instructions to the reader’s life.
• Purchase a set of reference books, software or CD-ROMs for home use.
• Read newspaper editorials with your child and discuss them.
• Quiz your child when he has a test. This not only reinforces his note-taking skills and study habits, but also helps reading comprehension.
• Encourage your child to talk about the latest book they are reading. Ask them to share their favorite scenes with the rest of the family.
• Read classic works (novels, plays, myths, etc.) and compare the plot, characters, setting to today’s world.
• Read books by the same author, comparing and contrasting styles across the various books.

Sylvan Learning offers a free reading incentive program for children in grades K-8 at www.bookadventure.com. It’s fun and it’s free. Tell Book Adventure what your favorite kinds of books are (science fiction, comedy, mystery, Westerns), whether you like easy or challenging books, and – you can create personalized book lists from more than 7,500 recommended titles, take quizzes on the books and earn prizes!

For more tips and a Valentine’s Day Reading List, Contact your local Sylvan center at 1-800-31-SUCCESS or visit us on the web at www.sylvanlearning.com

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