How to Read to My Child!

Reading is generally considered a solitary activity, and it makes sense: one book, one reader, right? But reading can and should be an activity shared by the whole family! 

Studies show that shared reading outside of school can help accelerate not only your child’s linguistic development but also their socio-emotional development: it can help them to be more confident and empathetic.

Reading aloud also exposes your child to more linguistically and cognitively complex language and concepts that they don’t encounter in daily life - it gives them the opportunity to learn deeper and more broadly than they might otherwise. On the converse side, children with parents who don’t read to them can miss out on more than 1 million extra words before they even reach kindergarten. So the benefits of reading to your child are clear, but did you also know that it can help boost your own wellbeing as well? 

So what are you waiting for? Keep reading for some top tips on how to read to your child!

 

 

Reading to children: Dialogic reading

Try dialogic reading: ask your child questions, explore the vocabulary, and try to relate the story to the child’s daily experiences. This helps them to develop sequencing and comprehension skills, checks for understanding, and overall engages in critical thinking. In short, have conversations about what you’re reading!

For younger children, picture books are a fantastic opportunity to introduce new ideas and vocabulary to your child. Use the pictures as a jumping board: for example: ‘Wow look at the tiger! She has lots of stripes! What colours are her stripes? What other animals have stripes? What about animals with polkadots? Can tigers be pets? No?!’

 

 

Pro tip: you don’t always have to follow what’s written on the pages of picture books. Use the pictures as a guide for your own creativity!

For older children, try questions like:

• What do you think will happen next?

• Why do you think they said/did that?

• How do you think they felt when X happened?

• What would you do if you were in their position?

You don’t have to beat a dead horse though: sometimes it can be nice just to relax, go with the flow, and let the story carry you both away. There will always be time for questions later!

Check out the articles here and here for strategies and more information on dialogic reading.

Practice makes perfect

It’s never too early to start reading with your child: the benefits of reading to your child can begin as soon as they’re born and even before. It’s also never too late: just because your child can read on their own doesn’t mean they wouldn’t enjoy sharing a story with their favourite adult(s). As with everything in life, practice makes perfect when it comes to family reading time:

 

 

• Make reading together with your child a daily habit: choose a time that you’ll read every single day. The easiest time to do this is bedtime, but any time can work! Ensure this becomes a routine: daily reading gives children a sense of stability and consistency, giving them the predictability that helps them thrive.

• Some children will be happy with this new routine, but others might be less enthusiastic. The key is practice: once your child learns to expect reading time, they’ll push back against it less and eventually relax into enjoying it and the time they spend with you.

• Don’t stress if your child wants to repeat the same book over and over again! Re-reading books helps children develop the ability to predict story elements, and they learn through repetition. More importantly, it also creates a positive bond between the child and the reading experience more generally. Eventually your child will grow out of their current obsession and move on to a new book, but for now, it’s okay if they want to read Dog Man or Captain Underpants six more times!

Cosiness counts

Get comfortable and get cosy! Use this time to let your bodies wind down while your brains adventure to new shores. Curl up on the sofa or create a blanket fort - this is prime cuddle time with your little one. It’s helpful when our environment reflects our mental space, so make the time and place for reading together:

 

 

• Create a physical space in your home for reading: this can be a single shelf where you keep all your child’s reading materials, a bedside table, or it can be an entire ‘cozy corner’ with comfy seating, warm lighting and lots of stuffed teddies. Make it a space both you and your child like to be in.

• There’s reading as ‘homework’ and there’s reading for fun. Make sure your daily cozy reading time stays just that: cozy reading time. Create a separate (but equally important) time and place for homework reading time.

But what do I read?

• Check out our Early Years and Elementary Staff’s list of recommended reading!

• Follow your child’s interests and let them choose the books that they want to read. At the same time, they don’t always make perfect choices, especially when it comes to their reading level. A helpful strategy can be to switch off: ‘‘You choose one, I choose one’.

• Reading should be fun for both of you. Children can sniff disinterest from a mile away, so try to choose books that both of you will enjoy. Try reading on your own as well: children who have families that read are more likely to read themselves.

• Don’t be afraid to stretch your child’s knowledge with new vocabulary (that’s the point!), but be ready to listen and choose another book if your child feels overwhelmed or disengaged. You don’t have to finish every book you start.

• Read in whatever language you’re comfortable in. Supporting students’ home languages is just as important as their English language development and can help to develop the cognitive links they have between languages and boost their overall academic success.

Where to find books and other resources

Our PYP library has a collection of more than 13,000 books available for your child to check out. These are primarily English-language books, but we also have books in Italian, Chinese, Arabic, French, and Spanish, alongside a few other languages too. Depending on your child’s age, they can take out 1-3 books at a time for up to two weeks. Beyond this, there are a variety of options:

 

 

• Come visit us in person! Parents and families can check out an additional 5 books at a time for 2 weeks each. Ideally book an appointment by emailing kmentzelopoulos@romeinternationalschool.it, but you can also drop by before/after school and check if I’m available.

• Visit your local public library: alongside their enormous Italian collection, Le Biblioteche di Roma have more than 100,000 English-language resources as well as resources in other languages. You can use the advanced search in their online catalogue to filter for language.

• Visit a brick-and-mortar bookstore: Caroline at The Little Reader is always happy to welcome RIS families, and there are also other bookstores around Rome that sell English-language books, including Feltrinelli and Termini’s Borri Books.

• For English-language books, many US-based public libraries offer non-resident online library services (including ebook and audiobook loans) at very affordable rates. For a non-exhaustive list, see this blog post. Most resources are in English or Spanish, but check your preferred library around the world to see if they offer similar services!

Supporting resources

At RIS, we use a number of different classroom tools to help your child learn to read, but there are also resources available online and around the city that can help.

 

 

• In school we use Lalilo, a research-based phonics programme, as well as levelled readers from the Oxford Reading Tree scheme. The Oxford Reading Tree scheme also offers advice on reading alongside a free eBook library for parents to access that can help support your child’s literacy development. These can be helpful for the ‘homework’ side of reading with your child.

• For solo reading time: students who struggle with reading texts might benefit from listening to audiobooks alongside reading the physical copy. Some popular audiobook suppliers include libro.fm, Audible, and also public library systems through apps such as Libby and Overdrive. You can also use this trick in-person, by giving your child a copy of the book to follow along with while you read aloud.

• Check out other online resources that outline tips for reading with your child, such as the BBC’s Eight tips to support your child's reading at home and the UK BookTrust’s Reading Tips. 

• Last but not least, ask your child’s local librarian and/or teachers for advice! We’re always here and happy to help.

  Ms. Katarina Mentzelopoulos, PYP Librarian