Topic: Parents and Reading and Young Children

10-second review: Activities parents can do with their young children at home to support learning to read: phonics.

Title: “Strategies for Engaging Parents in Home Support of Reading Acquisition.” Sharon Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Activities for Parents and Children: Phonics.
Talk with the teacher about the child’s phonics progress.
Encourage children to point to words and say them out loud when writing.
Listen to the child read.
Help children sort words by long-and short-vowel sounds.
Help children define larger words by breaking them into smaller chunks.
Play spelling and word games like Scrabble and Hang Man.

Comment: It’s important to remember that phonics is not a set of rules to be memorized by the child. Phonics (sound out) is a tool to help children recognize words that they already know from their listening and speaking. RayS.