A basketball player struggles with free throws. Parents and coaches tell him not to worry. He just needs “practice.” Children can’t remember their lines for the school play. Parents explain that it takes “practice” and offer to help them rehearse.

So why is it, when children struggle to read, that some parents find it hard to believe that practice is the key to success? …

As the literacy coordinator for Kingsport City Schools for the past six years, Reed-Wright has seen first-hand the difference reading at home can make for children. Success in school starts with reading. When children become good readers in the early grades, they are more likely to become better learners throughout their school years and beyond.
“If you can read, you can do math. You can do science. You can do social studies. You can function. You can be successful in school,” Reed-Wright said.

“It’s critical to success in school to have a reading component in the home. We see a big difference in the schools,” she said. “The children that are read to and that read in the home, there is a difference in their success in school. There’s also a difference in children who continue reading during the summer.”

Learning to read takes a lot of practice - more than children can get during the school day. It’s a process that starts at home with family members, a process that starts very early on…

Research shows that reading at home is one of the most crucial steps a family can take to help children succeed in school.

“In-home reading is important. Critical to a child is 20 minutes of reading a day and that means quality time - a time of no television, time in an environment of reading,” Reed-Wright said…

“We’ve learned a lot today through research that the ‘to’ level begins with reading picture books and being more of a storyteller,” Reed-Wright said. “When a book has no words or few words, a parent needs to become a great storyteller. Go through and make up names for those characters. Tell the story. Talk about the setting. Talk about a plot. Involve the child in telling the story. Have fun with the story,” she said…

“Spending that time reading is the greatest gift you can give your child - the gift of reading, the gift of your time.”

Source: timesnews.net
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3734127