Reading Aloud Important

We stumbled upon this excellent blog post by Gretchen from another website and also suggest to you the resource of the Read Aloud Handbook as a great resource to get started -- we hope it inspires you to read aloud to your children daily!  ~~RR

I had always assumed that a good reader would naturally make a good writer.

Not so, according to Andrew Pudewa of the Institute for Excellence in Writing.

“The fundamental requisite for being an excellent communicator”?  Reading aloud.

Because when we’re reading silently, what do we do?  We speed read.  We skip over the words we don’t know.  We hardly pay any attention to the articles or to the pronouns.

But when we read aloud — or listen to something being read aloud — we absorb the sentence structure, the syntax, and the verbs.  And the more we listen to the language patterns, the more our brain memorizes the form, creating mental templates of excellent writing , building a “rich database of reliably correct and sophisticated language.”

Andrew Pudewa encourages parents to read aloud to their children as much as possible (at least two hours per day), at a level slightly above the oldest student’s reading ability (“decoding skills”, he calls it).  “Understanding is highly overrated,” he says.  “You’re building syntax.”

It is amazing what they pick up.  Our 4-year-old’s vocabulary grows exponentially each time she listens to the radio theater editions of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Radio Theatre: Chronicles of Narnia)
or Little Women (Radio Theatre)
.
Two hours per day may not sound possible to some parents.  But there’s an easy substitute for some of that read-aloud time: audio books!  You can find many free and low-cost downloads at these websites:

• Books Should Be Free
• LibriVox: Free Audio Books
• Free Classic Audio Books
• Open Culture: Free Audio Books
• Audio Books for Free
• Project Gutenberg: Human-Read Audio Books
• Focus on the Family Radio Theatre
• Audible.com

Since attending Pudewa’s Nurturing Competent Communicators workshop (of which you can download a free and fascinating MP3 on his website), we’ve been listening to more audio books, individually, as a couple, and as a family.  We’ve also been making a more concentrated effort to read aloud to our girls — a process the whole family enjoys!

But it’s not just for parents of young children.  “We usually stop reading aloud when they most desperately need us to continue,” says Andrew Pudewa.  We stop reading when they can read on their own — which is just when they can learn and absorb more than ever!

So don’t stop reading aloud…at least not until everyone’s snoring.

“We do not homeschool so we can get up early — we homeschool so we can stay up late reading out loud.”  -Andrew Pudewa at a Nurturing Competent Communicators workshop

March 7 is World Read Aloud Day.  What are you reading aloud today?

Gotta Keep Reading!

Top 10 Ways to Raise a Lifelong Reader

1. Read to or with your child every day, for at least 15 minutes, even when your child is old enough to read independently.
2. Create reading rituals. Cuddle together in the same comfortable space at the same time every day for bedtime stories; read a chapter book aloud at the breakfast table; pick out new books every time you go on vacation.
3. Keep a running conversation: Talk about books you are reading as you read them. Ask your child open-ended questions about the plot and the characters.
4. Show your child that you're a reader. Kids are more likely to grow up loving to read if they see that you enjoy it too.
5. Surround your child with words -- spoken and written -- from birth. Even the simplest everyday conversations build his vocabulary and sound-recognition skills. Frequent exposure to letters and print helps pre-readers learn the alphabet and recognize words by sight. Have fun with language: Sing songs, read rhymes, play word games.
6. Get your child a library card and make a regular date for visits to the library.
7. Make books available in every room of your home -- as well as your car -- so that reading can happen spontaneously.
8. Feed a passion: Help your child find books, magazines, or other written materials that relate to a special interest or hobby.
9. Limit "screen time" (TV, video games, and computer games) so that it does not cut into time better spent reading.
10. Writing supports reading and vice versa. Provide crayons, pens, pencils, and paper and encourage your child to write. Anything will do: letters, shopping lists, journal entries, original stories, etc.

Learning To Read: How do you raise a reader?

How do children learn to read?
How do you raise your child to be a reader?

The process of learning to read is a mystery to most parents. We can read but have few (if any) memories of how we learned to read. We know learning to read is one of the most important steps are young children will take toward success in school and life. We want to help but we don't know how. There are five simple ways you can help make your child a reader and you can start with young toddlers or use these techniques with preschoolers. In fact, these skills can also be used to support school age children who are learning to read.

One important way you can teach your child that reading is important is to model reading.
Show your child that you value reading by experiencing printed material whether it is books, magazines or newspapers. Children often imitate their parents so you certainly want to show them (as well as tell them) that reading is important and fun.

Probably the most important step in helping your child become a reader is by reading to your child every day.
You should make reading to your child a part of your regular daily routine but also include spontaneous opportunities as well. Not only will these moments draw you closer to your child and provide lasting memories but you are also giving your child benefits that will impact their entire life.

Exploit your child's interests to create an interest in books.
If your child is interested in horses or dinosaurs then check books on those topics out of the library or buy them for the child's personal library. Make sure the books have lots of pictures and be willing to read them over again.

Have fun with words and books.
Many children's books are written (and illustrated) to tickle a child's funny bone. Exploit those and seek out funny songs and poems as well for more word play. While learning to read is serious business that does not exclude fun from the process. The more fun your child has with reading and books then the more eager they will be to learn to read.

Finally, show your child that books contain useful and interesting information. When your child asks a question about the world then use that question as the focus for your next library visit and look up a book about Pueblo Indians or fruit bats or whatever.

You can help your child learn to read by modeling reading, reading to your child, exploiting your child's interests, having fun with words, and showing that books contain answers.

Article from:
http://preschoolerslearnmore.com/blog/?p=31