READY, SET, READ: Inspiring Young Children to Have Fun Reading

Understanding and Nurturing Reading Skills for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Children

Reading is an adventure that begins early in a child’s life and should extend beyond the classroom. Children exhibit certain reading behaviors at a young age. By understanding and nurturing these behaviors, parents can make reading fun and inspire their children to develop a lifelong friendship with books.

For pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children, this is their first introduction to reading. They are just beginning to understand that print holds meaning and use illustrations to give meaning to stories and words. Younger children enjoy listening to stories read aloud, and by engaging children in the world of reading, parents can help their children become more proficient readers. Sylvan Learning recommends that parents spend at least one hour per week – 10 to 15 minutes a day – performing some type of a reading activity with children.

To help parents nurture their children’s reading behaviors, the experts at Sylvan Learning, the leading provider of tutoring to students of all ages, grades and skill levels, offer these tips and ideas for reading at home with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students:

• Make cookies together. Read the recipe aloud to your child.
• Read directions to your child when completing a project.
• Subscribe to a magazine for your child (Ladybug, Your Big Backyard, Zoobooks, etc.) to learn about topics of interest to him.
• Pick a storybook character (Arthur, Strega Nona, etc.) and pretend that character is coming for dinner. Help your child plan activities that character would like.
• Help your child relate read-aloud stories to events in her life.
• Read stories aloud and act them out.
• Engage your entire family with “Drop Everything And Read” time each day.

The Internet can also provide many opportunities for children of all ages who are looking for new things to read. Book Adventure is a free, Sylvan-created, interactive, reading, motivation program that can be found online at www.BookAdventure.com. Parents can help children choose books from more than 7,500 titles, take short comprehension quizzes and redeem accumulated points for small prizes. Book Adventure also offers teacher and parent resources and tips to help children develop a lifelong love of reading.