Quiet Reading

I love doing quiet reading time with my boys!

© Everything Family Guide

What is quiet reading? It is exactly that: Quiet! 

Quiet reading has many advantages and most important one of all is that it teaches your child that print (words) and pictures go hand-in-hand and have meanings. Your child learns to relax during that time because every kid needs some downtime in the day to blow off some steam.  You have to use books with pictures (i.e. stories, fairy tales, non-fictional facts books, etc) for an emergent reader.  If properly taught using the emergent reader strategies, your child can succeed as an independent reader.  Here are some strategies to help your child read by themselves during quiet time: 

• The first time you will read the book together to guide your child as to how its done.
• To start ask your child to: "Look at the cover of the book. What do you see? Pictures? Read aloud the name of the pictures you see on the cover page, as they will tell you what this book is all about. Are there any people, animals, a picture of a location, etc? What do you feel when you look at the pictures? What is the picture tying to tell you?"
• Now tell your child to open the book and look at the picture on the first page to see what is happening. Look at the 5W's (who, what, when, where, and why) of a picture on each page. Tell you child to: "Share your feelings or thoughts out loud. Ask questions and try to find as much as you can about each page. This will give you the central idea of what the book is all about."
• By a few pages your child will be tired or bored. That's ok. Stop right there and return to the book at another time.  Encourage questions and answer them all, to show that you really care and want your child to read. It took me many months of persistent and continuous reading for my son to really appreciate and enjoy reading. You want to instill this love of reading at an early age for lifelong enjoyment and benefit. We all know that the most part of a child's brain develops before the age of five. So all positive experiences benefit your child for life!

Here is a handy reference guide for emergent reading.

© Everything Family Guide

I am hoping that all my hard work will pay off! Ahhh! The life of mom: you always want and try for the best for your kids!

Happy Reading,
Annie