Ideas for Reading at Home
(from Ministry of Education)
Make reading fun
- Have discussions together about books – read the books your child is reading
- Encourage Internet research about topics of interest – notice what they are keen on
- Make your home a reader-friendly home with plenty of books, magazines, newspapers that everyone can read – look for books and magazines at fairs and second-hand shops. Ask your family or whānau if they have any they no longer want
- Share what you think and how you feel about the characters, the story or the opinions in magazines and newspapers you are reading. It is important that your child sees you as a reader and you talk about what you are reading.
Here's a tip - encourage your child to read every day. Make reading fun and praise your child’s efforts, all the time.
Read together
- Reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do, no matter how old they are. You can use your first language
- When you are reading to your child, you can talk about words or ideas in the text that your child might not have come across before
- Children are often interested in new words and what they mean – encourage them to look them up in a dictionary or ask family/whānau about the meaning and origin.
Here's a tip - keep the magic of listening to a good story alive by reading either made up, retold or read-aloud stories to your child – with lots of excitement through the use of your voice!
Keep them interested
- Help your child identify an author, character or series of books they particularly like and find more in the series or by the author
- Talk about the lyrics of songs or waiata, or the words of poems your child is learning, and see if there are any links to who they are, and where they come from
- Think about subscribing to a magazine on your child’s special interest, eg animals, their iwi, kapa haka or sport, or check out the magazines at the library, or on the Internet
- Go to your local library to choose books together. These might be books your child can read easily by themself. They might be books your child wants to read but are a bit hard - you can help by reading a page to them, then helping them read the next one
- Play card and board games together – the more challenging the better.
Here's a tip - be a great role model. Let your child see you enjoying reading – whether it’s the newspaper, a magazine, a comic, a cook book or a novel. Read in the language that works best for you.