Rolling Readers Space Coast, Inc.
| Reading Resources Check out some of our favorite sites. readkiddoread.com Reading Rockets Reading Is Fundamental PBS Kids Ride the Reading Wave |
| GAMES AND ACTIVITIES TO HELP YOUR YOUNG READER The Shell Game: Phonemic awareness is the ability to understand the relationship among letters within words and the sounds they represent. Not comprehending this can cause great frustration for struggling readers. With this fun reading activity, helping your reader can be a day at the beach! Hit the sand and collect lots of seashells! Large cockle shells work nicely. Once you have cleaned them up, write letters on them with colored markers. Use one color for consonants, another for vowels, another for word beginnings, another for word endings and another for middle groupings such as oo and au. Use two and three letter word segments. Spend time with your child putting words together. Because letter groupings are separate, it will be easier for your child to put the right sounds with the right letter combinations. This activity provides great stimulation for hands on learners. Three Strikes, You Win! XXX This game was presented in the "Families Build Better Readers" seminar and uses flash cards with words your child needs to work on. Write words on index cards that your child needs help with. Make sure you do not do too many at once or your child will be overwhelmed. It should only take a few minutes to go through the whole stack. Praise, praise, praise your child when a word is read successfully! Hold the cards up for your child to read. If your child struggles with a word, help sound it out, then move the card to the back of the stack. If your child reads the word, but has difficulty and takes more than 3 seconds, compliment his or her efforts then place the card in the back of the stack. When your child reads a word correctly with ease, place an X on the back of the card and place it in the back of the stack. Once they have earned three Xs for that card, remove the card from the stack and make sure to tell your child what a great job they did of learning the word. I Spy and Spell This spelling game is a twist on the old favorite. Play I spy as usual but...once your child guesses what you are “spying”, have them spell the word. CAR Read and Seek This Hide and Seek game is more like searching for buried treasure. Hide objects around the house, then, write a few sentences describing the object and instructions that will lead your child to the hiding spot of the object. This activity is not only great for reading practice, it is a terrific cognitive exercise. |
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| I'm somewhat round. I have chocolate chips inside of me. I like being in rooms that smell delicious. |
| oprah link on reading to children Children of the Code International Reading Association Scholastic Books |
Other Ideas to Help Develop Reading Skills In Your Home Does your family have favorite board games? Have your child read the instructions as well as the cards that are part of the game. Along with brushing up on reading skills, it will provide good family bonding time. Check out these spelling specific games; Spill and Spell, Scrabble and Scrabble Jr. LIMIT TELEVISION AND VIDEO GAMES. This is a big one. The more children talk, the more brain growth they experience. In an article from USA Today by Liz Szabo, it was revealed that more time in front of the television means fewer words are spoken by both parent and child. The June 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine noted that for every hour spent in front of the television, a parent spoke 770 fewer words to children ages 2 months to 4 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies under 2 should not be exposed to any television. Talk, Talk, Talk with your children. As stated above, the more children talk, the more brain growth they experience. The more you talk the more language they will be exposed to. If children hear words first, it will be easier for them to read and understand them when they see the words in print. Use descriptive words to build up your child’s vocabulary,- “Bats are nocturnal mammals with furry brown bodies and leathery ears.” “As snails travel from destination to destination their slimy bodies leave behind a silvery trail.” Eat dinner as a family. Studies show that children who sit down to dinner with the family are better readers than those who don’t. Let the conversing begin! “What did you do today at school?” Don’t worry if you get the traditional, “Nothing,” or “I don’t remember.” Even if you do most of the talking, your kids will be taking in vocabulary. Try this game….pick an adjective such as small, fast, large or nice. Ask each person to come up with a synonym for the chosen word. When you run out of synonyms for that word, move on to the next one. |
| Tips For Daily Reading Read 20 minutes a day to give reading skills a good daily workout. Have reading materials around the home. Studies show that children in homes where a variety of reading materials are present, such as newspapers, magazines and books. Let your children see you reading and enjoying it. Children mimic what they see. Choose reading materials on subjects that your child will enjoy. It doesn't have to be a book. If your child loves to fish, cut out the newspaper article about "the big catch." What is your child's favorite cereal? Have him/her read the box. Does your child have a favorite TV show or movie? From Star Wars and Harry Potter to Zack and Cody and Sponge Bob, they all have corresponding books your child will enjoy reading. Busy Schedule? Have your child read to you in the car while your are driving or in the kitchen while you are cooking or doing other activities around the house. Just make sure they know you are really listening. Have an extremely active child? Is it hard to get your child to sit still and read? Have them read while rocking in a rocking chair or swinging on a porch swing or hammock. Release the hounds! Do you have a dog that will sit and listen? Have your child read to your dog. Reading to Dogs programs around the country have proven that children who read to dogs make great advancements in their reading skills. While reading to stuffed animals has not shown the same level of success as reading to real ones, studies have shown that they too can help readers to improve just by being there. Have a third or fourth grade struggling reader? Go back to basics. Choose level readers involving their favorite characters or topics, beginning with level one. Spend a few weeks at level one, then a few weeks at level two and so on. This will create a solid foundation, while building confidence,comprehension and fluency. No matter what your child's favorite character or subject is, you can find level books about them. Shadow and echo reading. To shadow read, you read a page , then your child reads a page. Beginners and strugglers will not feel overwhelmed by having to read the entire book by themselves. To echo read, your read a page, then your child reads that same page. This will help them learn new words more easily. They will imitate the inflection in your voice and develop a better comprehension of what they are reading. |
| Educational Product Resources The Dinosaur Store The Education Station Lakeshore Learning The Learning Store RR Word Highlighting Bookmarks |
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