Hi.
my name is Anne Glass.
I'm a reading and learning specialist at a private school in New York City and I work
with Kindergarteners through 3rd graders on Reading, Word Study, and Writing Skills.
In addition to be a reading specialist and learning specialist, I'm also a parent and
today I'm going to talk to you about topics in reading.
Reading with your child is an important time that should occur, almost every single day
if possible.
For younger children, the best books to read are picture books that you can, start and
finish within ten or fifteen minutes, that have, great illustrations that support the
narrative structure of the story.
For older children you might be interested in more of a chapter book format, I find that
my children love, Beverly Cleary, we've been reading the Ramona and Beezus series at home
and they absolutely love it.
The great thing about reading aloud to your children is that you can access literature
that is of interest to your child, but might be beyond an independent reading level.
In other words, your child will be ready to hear stories like Treasure Island, way before
he can actually read them to himself.
So when doing so, read to your child with an animated voice, acting out the characters
voices and then also start modeling for him, some of the comprehension skills, that he'll
be responsible for in school and going forward in life.
Such as stop and reflect, and say " oh this book really reminds me of that other book
we read" or " I wonder what that character is going to do and " this is a real predicament,
I wonder how he'll solve this problem".
You can generate predictions together about what might happen in the story, and really
start talking about the characters and making connections from that text, to your personal
life, to the world around you, and also to test that you have shared together prior to
that.
Reading together is also a wonderful opportunity to spend some time together and bonding.
It's usually more calm time then other periods during the day and that emotional components
of learning is always what provides the best reinforcement for a love of reading.