Learning to read can be one of the most exciting milestones your child will reach during elementary school. Many children struggle to read fluently and can become frustrated and unwilling to keep trying. As a parent, you have the ability to work with your child to empower him to become a better reader. Incorporating a few fun activities into his reading practice, will help your child have fun learning to read and eventually enable him to read fluently.
Read to Child
According to Healthy Children, reading books out loud to your child is one of the best ways to teach her how to read fluently. As you read, follow the words using your finger so your child can connect sounds to letters. Engage your child in the story so she becomes enthusiastic about learning to read. Use silly voices or animal noises, suggests Healthy Children. Show your child the pictures and ask her questions as you read. You can also encourage your child to read phrases that repeat throughout the story with you so she gets practice looking at words and sounding them out.
Have Child Read to You
Allow your child to choose a story and read it out loud to you. Healthy Children writes that having your child read to you increases his confidence, which will motivate him to keep reading to increase his fluency. If your child struggles to read a word, help him immediately so he does not lose his focus on what the story is about. Healthy Children also recommends not correcting your child if he substitutes one word for another as long as the story still makes sense. The important thing is to encourage your child to read as many words as he can so he can understand what the story is about and feel empowered to keep learning.
Play Word Games
Scholastic recommends playing word games to make learning to read fun and more engaging for your child. Try giving your child word search puzzles to solve. Introduce a word of the day so your child is learning a new word to read each day. Make flashcards of words your child needs to know to increase her reading fluency and challenge her to read as many of them as he can. Encourage your child to illustrate each card to help make connections between words and their meanings. Other ideas that the Scholastic website suggests include mad libs so your child is practicing reading words that would fit into a story or a scavenger hunt, which requires your child to read clues to win.
