Tricks for getting kids to read? For us, it was make it a consistent part of our family culture. Read together, read before bed, discuss what you read, share interesting stories and encourage different types of reading materials (recipes, comics etc). It seems to have worked. They all read 30 minutes every day on their own in addition to their homework. Consistency, engagement and modeling worked for us.
Thanks for this, Christy. I think you're exactly right - our kids learn by watching us as much as by listening to us. It's harder to demonstrate reading books now that so much of our consumption is on screens - but when we make the point of reading a book, I think there's a lesson there for whoever sees us.
I credit my Grandmother for my love of reading. Books were scarce and expensive in my childhood. My Grandmother had a full set of Shakespeare.She'd read and out act out parts! She loved Philosophy and Poetry. She would ask me questions as she read. What did you think about that? Who is your favorite character? Why? What would you do? Why? Very interactive. I'd ride my bike a good distance to the Library. I can hear my Father say :put down the book and go out and play." I hid books in an old school bag behind the Laundry tubs or the coal bin and go to the Park to read. GREAT Memories! My Brother bought a set of Encyclopedias. So much fun! No TV or computers then.
Cloth books for babies. Board books for toddlers. Picture books for preschoolers. The sooner children have a book in their hands, the earlier they discover the magic of stories.
Of course, the magic happens with one-on-one time with an adult who shares the magic and power of "story". Not just the words on the page (if there are any), but who points out what is happening in the pictures, and interacts with the child on their individual learning curve--animal sounds and colours and names of everyday objects for babies/toddlers or details in the pictures that illustrate a feature of the story and the emotions the characters are feeling for preschoolers, for example.
When my nephew was 2.5, he discovered a Lift-the-flap/Pull-tab board book at my house called Noisy Garage. At that age he needed close supervision, so that he did not rip the moving parts off of the page. But he loved that book. I'm sure we read it no fewer than 50 times over the days when he visited. We looked at every picture in detail. We searched for the mouse hidden on every page. We talked about what was happening, why the car was on a hoist, what the parts were on the stockroom shelves. Eventually his interest broadened to the other books on my children's shelves. Picture books at first, science and history books by early elementary years. The bookshelves were one of the first stops he and his sister made at my house (long before the toy cupboard). He's still voraciously reading in his teen years; they both are.
A very young cousin once asked me why I read; I did some very rapid thinking and replied "You mean because all there is to see are black marks on a white page?" "Yes," the four-year old replied. "But I don't see the black marks. What I see is a movie in my mind," I answered. And she left satisfied with the answer (and also became a reader).
My niece was so enamoured with words that she asked me to teach her how to write at age 4. She already knew many of the letters by sight, and so we spent an hour daily on that week's visit learning how to hold a pencil correctly, learning how letters are formed, practicing printing, and spotting the odd-one-out with b's and d's, etc. (It was I who limited the daily time to one hour; she would gladly have continued each session for much longer.)
I think the adult's role in teaching a love for books is to catch the spark of a child's interest and to fan the flame by meeting the child there, in their imagination.
The competitive nature of some kinds of rewards - not for homework, but for sales contests, for example -- can have a positive effect on performance. But I guess since no one is likely to win the Nobel prize more than once, getting to the goal takes a bit of the fun out of the competition. Frankly, if Nobel prize winners want to turn their brilliance to making things better in other arenas, the rest of us could use the help.
Best trick for getting kids to read--ban the books you'd like them to read. Nothing makes a book more popular! :D
On a more serious note, a reminder from a school librarian of 12+ years: all reading is good. Manga is good reading; comics are good reading; audiobooks are reading; re-reading is reading. And free choice is the spice that makes it all taste good, and makes young readers want to keep reading, thereby increasing stamina, understanding, and vocabulary.
I remember a parent who complained that their 2nd grader only wanted to check out a huge illustrated copy of The Hobbit. "He can't read it," she said. "What is the point?" The point, I said, is that checking out that book is aspirational; that 2nd grader is modeling their desire to be someone who would read this kind of epic adventure. What a great aspiration! So I'd suggest rewarding that aspiration by complimenting his desire to read The Hobbit--maybe talk about it a bit in 2nd-grade terms--and also suggest finding a couple of other adventure books to go along with it that he can read right now for fun, and to get ready for those future adventures. Then read them together!
Tricks for getting kids to read? For us, it was make it a consistent part of our family culture. Read together, read before bed, discuss what you read, share interesting stories and encourage different types of reading materials (recipes, comics etc). It seems to have worked. They all read 30 minutes every day on their own in addition to their homework. Consistency, engagement and modeling worked for us.
Thanks for this, Christy. I think you're exactly right - our kids learn by watching us as much as by listening to us. It's harder to demonstrate reading books now that so much of our consumption is on screens - but when we make the point of reading a book, I think there's a lesson there for whoever sees us.
I credit my Grandmother for my love of reading. Books were scarce and expensive in my childhood. My Grandmother had a full set of Shakespeare.She'd read and out act out parts! She loved Philosophy and Poetry. She would ask me questions as she read. What did you think about that? Who is your favorite character? Why? What would you do? Why? Very interactive. I'd ride my bike a good distance to the Library. I can hear my Father say :put down the book and go out and play." I hid books in an old school bag behind the Laundry tubs or the coal bin and go to the Park to read. GREAT Memories! My Brother bought a set of Encyclopedias. So much fun! No TV or computers then.
This is really beautiful. It sounds like your grandmother was a wonderful person - and that you are carrying on what she cared about in your life.
Cloth books for babies. Board books for toddlers. Picture books for preschoolers. The sooner children have a book in their hands, the earlier they discover the magic of stories.
Of course, the magic happens with one-on-one time with an adult who shares the magic and power of "story". Not just the words on the page (if there are any), but who points out what is happening in the pictures, and interacts with the child on their individual learning curve--animal sounds and colours and names of everyday objects for babies/toddlers or details in the pictures that illustrate a feature of the story and the emotions the characters are feeling for preschoolers, for example.
When my nephew was 2.5, he discovered a Lift-the-flap/Pull-tab board book at my house called Noisy Garage. At that age he needed close supervision, so that he did not rip the moving parts off of the page. But he loved that book. I'm sure we read it no fewer than 50 times over the days when he visited. We looked at every picture in detail. We searched for the mouse hidden on every page. We talked about what was happening, why the car was on a hoist, what the parts were on the stockroom shelves. Eventually his interest broadened to the other books on my children's shelves. Picture books at first, science and history books by early elementary years. The bookshelves were one of the first stops he and his sister made at my house (long before the toy cupboard). He's still voraciously reading in his teen years; they both are.
A very young cousin once asked me why I read; I did some very rapid thinking and replied "You mean because all there is to see are black marks on a white page?" "Yes," the four-year old replied. "But I don't see the black marks. What I see is a movie in my mind," I answered. And she left satisfied with the answer (and also became a reader).
My niece was so enamoured with words that she asked me to teach her how to write at age 4. She already knew many of the letters by sight, and so we spent an hour daily on that week's visit learning how to hold a pencil correctly, learning how letters are formed, practicing printing, and spotting the odd-one-out with b's and d's, etc. (It was I who limited the daily time to one hour; she would gladly have continued each session for much longer.)
I think the adult's role in teaching a love for books is to catch the spark of a child's interest and to fan the flame by meeting the child there, in their imagination.
The competitive nature of some kinds of rewards - not for homework, but for sales contests, for example -- can have a positive effect on performance. But I guess since no one is likely to win the Nobel prize more than once, getting to the goal takes a bit of the fun out of the competition. Frankly, if Nobel prize winners want to turn their brilliance to making things better in other arenas, the rest of us could use the help.
Best trick for getting kids to read--ban the books you'd like them to read. Nothing makes a book more popular! :D
On a more serious note, a reminder from a school librarian of 12+ years: all reading is good. Manga is good reading; comics are good reading; audiobooks are reading; re-reading is reading. And free choice is the spice that makes it all taste good, and makes young readers want to keep reading, thereby increasing stamina, understanding, and vocabulary.
I remember a parent who complained that their 2nd grader only wanted to check out a huge illustrated copy of The Hobbit. "He can't read it," she said. "What is the point?" The point, I said, is that checking out that book is aspirational; that 2nd grader is modeling their desire to be someone who would read this kind of epic adventure. What a great aspiration! So I'd suggest rewarding that aspiration by complimenting his desire to read The Hobbit--maybe talk about it a bit in 2nd-grade terms--and also suggest finding a couple of other adventure books to go along with it that he can read right now for fun, and to get ready for those future adventures. Then read them together!