Some Ideas for Reading at Home (Ideas compiled and created by: Jessica Craig-Huynh) (August 2020)
We are all continuously developing our language and literacy skills, so here are some ideas we hope will help with making reading and learning at home even more interesting, meaningful, and fun.
1. Make a fun, cozy reading area (or multiple reading areas)-- do this as a family.
2. Have DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time every day-- do this is as a family-- everyone should stop what they are doing and read for at least 20 minutes (either independently reading or someone reading to or with the others).
3. Reading time each day at bedtime for at least 20 minutes.
4. Reading To, With, and By (children should be read to by others; they should read with someone; and they should also spend time reading by themselves).
5. Ask other family members to read to children via Facetime, Zoom, etc,.
6. Use all reading resources to access a variety of texts that are age-appropriate, according to reading level, high interest, etc. (Ask for help from school community, if you are not able to access enough reading materials).
7. Set goals as a family and keep track with a cool visual (e.g. a reading rainbow where you put a colored star for each text read).
8. Create activity passports or daily checklists to keep track of reading time as an essential daily element. Make it fun and make sure reading time happens each day, possibly before screen time is granted, if necessary).
9. Have conversations about what you read. Focus on comprehension. Ask questions, make connections, think out loud about what you visualize, synthesize, etc., draw pictures and discuss them, etc. etc.
10. Use a lot of rich and varied language as you discuss the texts and choose texts with rich and varied language as well. Do this for any language that is used by families in the home and also in English. Reading in one’s first language is very, very important.
11. Do fun activities with the text--act it out; write something about it (e.g. a poem, a song, etc.); draw pictures about it; create a craft about it; make a movie or review; pretend you are reporting some news on t.v.; etc.
12. Create a family memory book of some favorite things you read about or learned in various texts.
13. Create a game or have a fun contest within your family to practice retelling and discussing what you learned or read about.
14. For students in the early stages of reading, teach them to read and talk about the pictures to make meaning. As they learn about letters and sounds, develop their phonemic awareness, and focus on meaning, ask questions like: Does it sound right? Does it look right? Does it make sense? Encourage them to get their mouths ready for the first sound in the word and to read carefully through the words.
15. Practice fun language and reading games (practice rhyming words, sight words and initial sounds; make sentences on paper or cardstock and cut them up so students can make the sentence again or create new ones).
16. Encourage all students to think about what makes sense, what looks right, and what sounds right when they read.
17. Encourage students to read enough text that can be covered with their hand and then ask them to retell to themselves or to someone else what they just read. If they cannot remember it or if they don’t understand, encourage them to reread to make sure they understand and remember. Emphasize the importance of rereading for comprehension, learning, and enjoyment.
18. Set reading goals and have celebrations along the way!!!
19. Emphasize that reading and learning are also wonderful adventures that can create wonderful new experiences and memories!!
20. Incorporate language and literacy into movement activities-- make a family obstacle course or have a scavenger hunt. Create reading and language tasks that can be done within those. (e.g. read a poem or short text after doing 20 jumping jacks, then run in place for 30 seconds and stop and tell about it... or something like that :) )
21.Read, read, read!!!
There are so many more ideas!!! Let’s all share them with each other. We hope this helps with your family reading journey!!
