Making children hungry for reading

Don’t worry about teaching your child to read. Your bigger task is far simpler: Teach your child to want to read.

Learning to sound out words is only one part of learning to read. Background knowledge and motivation are equally important. By reading aloud, you’re building background knowledge and fostering a love of the written word. A former colleague of mine calls this being “lap read.” Think of your lap as the earliest classroom.

Reading to your child is important for a lot of reasons. It tells your child about a world where there are sharks, mountains, skyscrapers under construction, and ancient ruins. You might not afford a family trip to Paris, but you can both visit Madeline there from a cozy corner of the couch.

Through stories read aloud, you pour into your child’s ears the words he or she will someday be asked to read and understand in school. Yes, your child will learn new vocabulary in school, but the words he knows before entering school will determine how much he understands what the teacher says. Having rich background knowledge contributes to school success.

Reading aloud also improves a child’s attitude about reading. Children will do over and over whatever brings them pleasure. Every time you read to your child, you teach her to associate books with pleasure. From the day you bring your new baby home, read to her regularly. Whether it occurs when she is in your lap, at mealtime, or in the bathtub, kids who begin reading early are those who were read to regularly.

I highly recommend the book, The Read-Aloud Handbook, by Jim Trelease. Trelease says children who achieve early classroom success consistently come from homes with four factors in common.

1. Parents who read to the child regularly.
2. A wide variety of printed material — books, magazines, newspapers, even comics — are available in the home.
3. Paper and pencil are readily available.
4. People in the child’s home stimulate the child’s interest in reading and writing by answering endless questions, praising the child’s writing and reading efforts, taking the child to the library, buying books, writing stories the child dictates, and displaying the child’s efforts prominently.

Reading to your young child will help prepare him for school. Students who enjoy reading will read more. Students who read the most also read the best, achieve the most and stay in school the longest.