An essential key to encouraging any child to read is to make it fun! Fun is a very strong motivational tool and should be part of every child’s learning experience.
Environment, especially with very young children can be important to this process. Classrooms that offer an enriched literary environment that includes storytime and varied and accessible reading material as well as highlight the enjoyment and value in reading, go a long way towards getting a child off to a good start.
When students are surrounded by reading materials they like and encouraged to read by activities that excite young readers, they will be motivated to continue to learn. For those children who do not seem as eager as their peers, an early reading intervention program, such as those offered by Essential Skills, can help to identify difficulties at the early stages in the learning process. Most students, even those who are struggling will enjoy working with this engaging interactive software.
Here are some more tips to help enhance reading time:-
Make story time more engaging and relevant
- Explicitly discuss the elements of the text – author, plot, characters, setting and mood
- When possible, encourage kids to choose reading material that appeals to their tastes and interests. Essential Skills research based reading intervention programs offers a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction stories leveled for ability and age group.
- Use readers’ theater to bring old and new stories to life.
- Ensure that student reading material is both age and ability appropriate. Essential Skills High-Low Readers series can be used to support both high school and middle school reading intervention programs.
Make your classroom a reader friendly zone:-
- Supply a wide variety of fiction, non-fiction, and periodicals on a number of levels.
- Ask students about their interests and try to get material that reflects those subjects
- Create a reading area in your class where kids can feel comfortable to lose themselves in a story
- Try to ensure an uninterrupted time to read, ideally at the same time every day. Some schools will support this as a school-wide initiative.
- Organize an area with computers or tablets and headphones for students to listen to audiobooks or participate in online activities using research based reading intervention programs, such as those from Essential Skills.
Expand your reading experiences:-
- Take your class for walks around the school or neighborhood and point out examples of text.
- Have students bring favorite books from home to share with the class
- Incorporate songs, poems, read aloud, and silent reading.
- Do a read aloud novel study and celebrate learning by watching the movie version
- Include stimulating activities and engaging stories found in online research based reading intervention programs as part of your daily literacy
