Reading at Home with Osceola Reads

Reading at home is the first experience your child will have with books, so let’s make it a good one! You can use this time to create healthy reading habits and get your child ready for kindergarten. There are many resources to help your little reader brush up on these skills while making reading fun. Follow this guide on how to help your child to read!

Developing Language

There are many benefits to reading 15 minutes a day. This sets them up for future success! Read-alouds provide the base of what’s to come and foster a love for reading. When children are first developing their language skills, the best thing families can do is read together and talk about the book as they are reading. 

Early reading is like going on a language adventure. It's a magical journey where words become friends, and sentences are like maps. Learning this early helps us get really good at talking and writing. So with practice, you’ll little reader will soon be a chatterbox!

Linking Sounds and Letters

The next step in developing reading skills is to link letters to their appropriate sounds. Reading helps us learn the sounds each letter makes and how they blend to form words. This early phonics journey makes it simpler to read new words and comprehend stories.

The Super Sounds library on Footsteps2Brilliance is the perfect opportunity to read together and begin recognizing letter sounds. There are also many other free reading programs for kids online to get your little one started. These beginner reading programs have games and activities to develop skills in phonics and reading comprehension. Be sure to also visit your local Osceola Library for more free resources for reading. 

Blending and Recognizing

Read-alouds at home are a great way to learn phonics. The first words that children are able to read independently are CVC (consonant - vowel - consonant) words such as CAT, DOG, and PAN. While reading at home, write CVC words that you find in your current book. You can write them on a board or with magnetic letters, then let them sound them out. 

This activity will help them recognize words and build up their known sight words, a necessary step when preparing for kindergarten. By learning to sound out words in context and quickly identify sight words, your child is setting a strong base for further education.

Read for Understanding

Once children are able to identify letters, link sounds to those letters, and begin blending sounds together to make words, they are ready to read for understanding. 

Start by finding books that your child can read by themselves. Let your child read these beginning books to you and talk about what was read. Follow these tips once your little reader is ready to demonstrate reading comprehension:

• Ask them reading comprehension questions before and after they read to ensure they take everything in. 
• Ask your child what they think will happen next in the story. This enhances their comprehension and critical thinking skills.
• Encourage your child to describe what they see in the pictures. This helps connect visuals with the story.
• Relate the story to your child's life. Ask if they've ever experienced something similar or how they would feel in a similar situation.

During these moments spent reading and having conversations, you are modeling proper sentence structure, and articulation, and sharing your thoughts. These are all skills that will help with future development and kindergarten readiness!

For more literacy tips and activities, visit our Parent Resources Page.