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"How
do we improve vocabulary, spelling and writing? By
reading, reading, reading...The more a child meets words
and sees how they are used in sentences and paragraphs,
the greater the chances he will spell words correctly.
Conversely, the less you read, the fewer words you meet
and the less certain you are of spelling and
meaning."
— from The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
Is there a parent who hasn’t at one time or another
longed for a list of sure-fire suggestions for raising
successful, healthy and well-adjusted children? The
reality is that such a list doesn’t exist and much of
parenting is creative trial and error. However, there is
one thing that will help kids become better learners now
and throughout their lives. Want to know a tried and
true secret to school success? It’s reading!
Believe
it or not, something as simple as reading can make a
huge difference for children academically. But there’s
a catch. It has to happen on a regular basis and has to
be something children have learned to value and enjoy
rather than endure.
Students
today are being asked to tackle more and more learning,
with the goal of helping them find their place in an
increasingly complex world. Preparing students to meet
this challenge is what underlies the higher standards
that New York State is implementing at all grade levels.
And a key component of these higher standards is
literacy - i.e., the ability to read and write at very
sophisticated levels.
Reading
during the middle school years
The
middle school grades coincide with children’s greatest
physical, emotional and hormonal changes since infancy.
As a result, interest and even ability to focus on
academics can sometimes wane. Unfortunately, as
expectations increase, a hiatus from learning is not a
luxury that children can afford to indulge in their
middle school years.
Increasingly,
middle schoolers are being asked to take what they have
learned through reading and to analyze it in writing or
apply it to another learning task. These skills are
crucial not just in English class but also in science,
social studies and even math. At the end of eighth
grade, they all must take a series of state tests
designed to find out if they are ready to meet the
challenges of a high school curriculum, and these tests
rely very heavily on literacy skills.
What
families can do to encourage reading
Reading
is an activity that improves with practice. The New York
State Board of Regents recommends that all K-12 students
read at least 25 age-appropriate books per year. Here
are some suggestions to help your children enjoy meeting
this challenge:
-
Make
your home a good reading environment. In The
Read-Aloud Handbook, author Jim Trelease
encourages parents to make sure their children have
good lamps for reading in bed and an assortment of
reading materials. Subscribe to newspapers and
magazines. Buy your children books as gifts and
encourage them to use a portion of their own
spending money for books. Also, set aside time in
the evening for family reading (alone and together).
-
Share
your reading experiences with your children.
Adults who are readers tend to have children who
like reading. So it’s important for your children
to see you reading. It’s also good to talk with
them about what you are reading and why you are
enjoying it.
-
Help
your children find books they will enjoy.
Libraries, bookstores and the Internet are all
wonderful sources of what’s new in literature for
children in the middle grades. Generally, pre-teens
will choose books with characters a few years older
than themselves as a way to find out how others have
handled the awesome developmental tasks of
adolescence and to dispel some of their questions
and fears about growing up.
-
Read
to and with your children. Becoming a Nation
of Readers, the groundbreaking report by the
Center for the Study of Readers, states, "the
single most important activity for building the
knowledge required for eventual success in reading
is reading aloud to children." This applies not
only to very young children but also pre-teens. Jim
Trelease suggests trying different types of writing
— excerpts from magazine articles that interest
you both, a poem or verse that hits on a topic you
have been discussing, or a couple of jokes to
lighten a tense mood. Trelease also suggests
re-reading favorite picture books from your own
childhood or from your children’s younger years.
"When
we go back as adults to the books we enjoyed as
children, we often bring to those books a perspective
that was missing earlier and discover new
dimensions," says Trelease. And academics aside,
reading together can open much needed communication
between you and your pre-teens about their daily lives
and concerns.
Booklists
on the Web:
Books
for Families:
-
The
Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
-
Parents
Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don’t by Mary
Leonhardt
-
Read
To Me: Raising Kids Who Love To Read by Bernice
Cullinan
>
Back
For
permission to reprint this article, please contact the
Capital Region BOCES Communications Service at (518)
464-3960.
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