Parents of students who struggle with reading are often confronted with the frustration the kids face, and it can be painful for the whole family. The kids know that everyone reads because they see all the adults around them reading for everyday tasks such as recipes, road signs, or instructions. The teacher in the classroom is using reading to explain other subjects. The parents, meanwhile, feel helpless as their kids struggle, not knowing what to do to help.

It’s true that reading is not just necessary for books, magazines and video games. Reading is a skill for life as we navigate throughout our day, and can keep us out of danger when we know how to avoid it. Warning signs and instructions to use various tools, equipment and appliances can prevent injury.

Following instructions is a part of learning, which is why reading is such an effective and important part of school. Through reading, a wide variety of topics can be explained or displayed, exposing readers to new ideas and cultures. Proficient literacy skills are an indicator of academic and professional success.

It should be obvious that reading is a vital skill, but is it being taught effectively to children?

The Science of Reading

Long-term studies show that young students who lack literacy skills will continue to struggle as their reading becomes more complex at higher grades. As they fall further behind, they lag in other subjects as well, and become frustrated in class. Many have difficulty entering or completing college or holding jobs as adults.

It has also been established that kids who are read to at young ages come to school more prepared to learn to read than students who were not. The benefits of reading to kids have been borne out in a variety of subjects, from cognitive function to creative thinking and problem-solving skills. It is a proven fact that reading helps develop these and other executive functioning skills that don’t seem to have to do with reading, such as patience, emotional literacy, and getting along with their peers.

Reading is a process that involves several components. Readers must have phonemic awareness, which is the ability to distinguish language sounds, and phonics, which is the ability to match those sounds to letters or letter combinations. However, fluent readers must also understand what they are reading, and furthermore should be able to read and comprehend quickly.

Phonics vs the Whole Word Approach

Several schools of thought have evolved about how best to teach reading, but the two most prominent pit learning phonics against recognizing words by how they look. Both approaches have their uses, because not every word can be sounded out phonetically. The whole word approach was dominant for decades in education, and phonics left almost completely behind.

This has created problems with how reading is taught. Almost one fifth of students in the United States are reading behind their grade level, and some methods of teaching reading create bad reading habits that make it harder to do more complex reading later. Because of this, the teaching of reading has been very contentious among educators.

There Are Better Ways

Teaching reading is a matter of making sure students can understand both the words and the ideas they convey without having to read slowly or stumble over them. Learning how the words fit together into ideas comes when reading is facilitated by a variety of teaching methods, both in the classroom and at home.

This is where structured literacy is an important tool. Structured literacy builds foundations in phonics and phonemic awareness and then uses a variety of methods to ensure readers can learn in the way that is most conducive for them. As students learn to sound out words, they can learn fluency and comprehension by experiencing the texts they read.

• Choral reading is a method where readers and students read aloud together from a text they all have access to. This gives all the students a chance to both hear and say the words, no matter their reading level. Students who are struggling get support from hearing and seeing words at the same time, and it helps develop phonemic awareness.
• Reading with a partner can help reinforce comprehension when students talk to one another about the text. Stronger students can help those who are struggling in one-on-one settings. Classrooms of younger students can also partner with higher-grade students, exposing them to more sophisticated texts in a guided setting. A higher-grade student who is struggling can also get a boost from reading lower-grade texts with a younger partner.
• Ear reading is when students read a text along with an audiobook. Teachers have been reading to students this way for decades and now audiobooks allow the teacher to give attention to students who are struggling. This gives readers plenty of practice without the pressure of reading aloud, alone, to the class. 
• Teaching Academic English exposes readers to specialized words, such as found in anatomy or zoology. Students learn words more easily when they can engage with them and have experience with their context, even when it comes to words that are topical. Teaching them the technical terminology allows them to decode the meaning from the words.
• Periodic assessments of reading comprehension are an important part of teaching reading. Students need to understand words, and they need to understand the meaning behind them. This can be accomplished in a limited way by associating words with pictures of their concepts, but more abstract ideas require some probing. Asking the student to answer questions about what they read also encourages them to think about these ideas, giving them practice with critical thinking and creativity.
• Students will be more interested in reading when they are allowed to choose the books they read. This can include graphic novels, comics, and books below their level. There is nothing wrong with reading below one’s level, even when a student is capable of reading more complicated text. Encouraging the finding of enjoyment from reading can be a great boost to helping teach students to read.
• Has your student read a certain book over and over? That’s okay, because this can also help students learn to read. Some classrooms read the text aloud together and then read again on their own or with partners, often reading the same text a few times in a week to foster reading skills from various approaches. 
• As children grow, their brains develop both physically and cognitively. Learning any topic should be approached with this in mind because children develop in stages. Reading skills likewise develop in stages, and both educators and parents should be aware of the stage each student is in so they can teach reading most effectively.

Make It Fun

When learning is enjoyable, it takes the pressure off the educational aspect. Students can strengthen their reading skills by playing games related to the texts and by reading things that are fun and interesting to them. Students should be taught that reading can be fun, and can also enhance their fun with other activities by teaching them more about them through books, articles, and analyses.

Not every student will have the same interests, so it is important to be aware of what each student enjoys. For example, a student who has no interest in classics might become absorbed by notes on how to play a video game, while the student who does enjoy the classics will be bored by the same notes. Reading according to their interests ensures students are excited by what they read.

Teaching Reading for the Future

When it comes to teaching reading, there are so many theories that the whole topic can be confusing for parents. This doesn’t have to be the case, because there are definitely better ways to teach reading and support students at home while they learn to read at school. The skills required for reading also develop other skills that benefit students for life, so it is important to ensure they are able to master literacy.

Parents have different schedules. Some work the traditional nine-to-five, but others work nights or extended hours. Some parents work from home, while others are stay-at home parents. No matter what the schedule entails, sometimes all parents deal with the issue of simply not having enough hours in the day.

When children need help with reading homework, parents might have limited time to spend guiding them. Parents might need to take another child to an activity or there could be work-related issues. Here’s how to help with reading at home when time is limited:

• Make a schedule

• Divide and conquer

• Read a short book

• Play short reading games

• Use a reading app

The Most Important Tip: Make a Schedule

Time is not always a parent’s best friend. When time is limited, the most important tip that parents might follow is to create a schedule.

Plan the evening and map out everything. This can help parents understand how much time they can devote to helping their child with reading and other homework. Once parents know how the evening is planned, they can stress less and tackle the list—including finding the time to help children with school work.

When time is limited, the best way to control stress might be to take control of the schedule.

Divide and Conquer

Some parents are single parents while others share duties with a partner or spouse. Those who have a partner (or spouse) might choose to divide and conquer. What does this mean?

Divide up duties and split them equally. One partner might cook dinner while the other helps children with reading and schoolwork. Dividing up duties can help relieve parents from the stress of doing everything.

What about single parents? Dividing and conquering doesn’t mean splitting duties. Single parents might divide and conquer in other ways. They might use dinner time to also help children with reading; they could encourage children to practice reading recipes.

Read a Short Book

Parents might have made a schedule and they might divide up duties. Some days, though, time is really crunched. How can parents help children with reading if there really is very little time?

Some days are imperfect. Instead of stressing out and trying to cram a reading lesson into the evening, parents might just sit and read a small book to children. Take turns reading a page. Help children sound out words and ask questions. Even reading a paragraph or a short story could be beneficial.

Play a Quick Reading Game

One way that parents can help children with reading in a limited amount of time is to pack reading games in a handbag or in the car. Reading games could include a list of sight words for a ‘sight word scavenger hunt’ at the store or flash cards to help children practice their sight words.

Parents can help children practice with these games on errands or even at a doctor’s office. Take the flash cards and work with children to memorize their sight words while waiting for the doctor or at their sibling’s sports practice.

A list of sight words can be used to encourage children to go on a sight word scavenger hunt anywhere. Encourage them to find all their sight words.

Use a Reading App

When time is really crunched, parents simply might not be able to provide one-on-one reading help. However, reading apps can be used to help children who are struggling to read when parents simply don’t have the time to provide this guidance.

Reading apps like Readability can be used from preschool through fifth grade. Readability includes a built-in AI tutor that learns a child’s voice. Lessons in Readability are done aloud;  if a child mispronounces a word or has difficulty, the tutor will provide help.

Readability tracks both reading fluency and the child’s comprehension ability. At the end of each story, the tutor asks the child questions about the book to test their understanding. If a child answers the question incorrectly, the tutor will show the child a section from the story that will help them answer the question. The tutor also reads this aloud and the child has another chance to answer the question.

As the child reads, the tutor also is measuring the child’s reading fluency. This is measured in words read per minute. Readability tracks each child’s fluency progress.

With Readability, children also can work on their vocabulary skills. Every story in Readability includes a list of vocabulary words. In addition, children can tap any word in a story to hear the definition or hear the word used in a sentence.

Every discovered word that the child taps within a story is then added into the child’s word bank. Children can open their word bank to hear and explore their words as often as they wish.

Parents might wonder how they will know if a reading app can help their child. With Readability, parents can follow their child’s reading journey via a private portal that includes their child’s reading data. Parents can see their child’s reading level, understand their child’s reading fluency (measured in words read per minute) and review their comprehension mastery, too.

In addition, this parent portal also shows how long each child used the program. Parents will never be in the dark as to whether their child practiced their reading for the day.

A Reading App Can Serve as a Virtual Tutor

When parents are struggling with finding time to help their child, they can only do the best they can. For parents who can’t find the time to provide one-on-one help for their child, a reading app can serve as a virtual tutor to guide the reading lessons.

When a child uses Readability, they are never alone during their reading session. Every child has access to the AI tutor; this tutor knows and can identify when a child needs assistance.

Parents can feel confident that their child will have help when they struggle. With Readability, their child also will read books that are appropriate for their reading level. Readability only advances a child to the next reading level when they demonstrate appropriate mastery of fluency and comprehension.

Children can use Readability throughout elementary school, too. Children who start using Readability in kindergarten can continue to use the program all the way through fifth grade.

For children who read below grade-level expectations, Readability offers high/low books. These books include topics and stories geared towards older ages but are written at a low reading level. High/low books ensure that older children who struggle to read aren’t reading books that are written for younger children.

Readability is Compatible with Accelerated Reader

Parents who need a reading app to help their child with reading also might look for programs that include books compatible with Accelerated Reader. The Accelerated Reader program allows children to take comprehension quizzes on books that they read to earn points.

Many teachers offer rewards when children reach certain point milestones on Accelerated Reader. Children can read stories on Readability and take the quiz on these books in their classroom.

When children use Readability, they won’t miss out on earning points just because they are using a reading program. Readability helps them earn points via Accelerated Reader.

To find out how many points each Readability book is worth, parents can use the Accelerated Reader Bookfinder tool.

When Time is Limited, Children Can Listen to Stories

Parents who are crunched for time might not be able to read stories to their child. Readability also can take over the storytime duties. In fact, Readability includes a feature called Storytime that reads books to children.

With Storytime, children can listen to their favorite Readability stories anywhere. They can follow along as the program reads to them and enjoy the storytime experience. Parents can download the Readability app to their smartphone or tablet to allow children to use the app (and storytime) in the car and on the go.

Try out Readability to Explore the Features

Time is precious for parents. Those who are single parents and who can’t divide and conquer with the help of a partner might need help providing reading enrichment for their child. Two-parent households also could struggle with finding time to help their struggling reader.

It takes a village to raise a child, and sometimes technology can be a virtual village of guidance. Parents who struggle to find time to help their child can try out Readability to see if it will work for their child’s struggles.

Readability offers a free seven-day trial that provides full access to all the program’s features. Children can work with the AI tutor and read books to explore what Readability has to offer. In addition, parents can sit down with children as they explore the program to better understand the design of Readability and how it guides each child.

Parents who want to continue with Readability can use one account for up to three children. Monthly subscriptions are priced at $19.99. Interested in exploring how Readability can guide a child’s reading progress? Sign up for a free trial today.

Readability provides every child with a 24/7 reading tutor. Powered by AI, Readability’s tutor includes voice recognition software that understands each reader and provides help with pronunciation and offers guidance as needed. Readability’s tutor ensures that every child receives the help they need as they learn to read or work to gain proficiency.

The U.S. Department of Education released a guide detailing the key benefits of tutoring for both the instructor and the child. Parents researching reading tutoring apps for their child should look for programs that provide the fundamental tutoring elements that will best support the literacy journey. The Department of Education explains that tutoring provides numerous benefits for the child; parents should look for these elements when choosing a reading tutor:

• Creates a favorable learning atmosphere

• Provides more time to read and more time on task while also offering support

• Offers quick and effective feedback

• Boosts reading performance

• Increases motivation and decreases frustration

• Monitors progress for each individual

Creating a Favorable Learning Environment

Most children probably don’t want to sit down at a table and have lessons drilled via monotonous methods. After sitting in a classroom for nearly eight hours, many children come home and need time to relax and decompress.

While reading is a part of at-home expectations for many students, reading tutoring sessions should be engaging and an appealing learning environment could help to transform a lesson into an immersive activity. Readability offers an engaging design filled with interactive features to keep children interested and enthusiastic about reading.

The program offers a reading tutor for each child. This AI tutor ensures that children always have the help they need during lessons.

Books in Readability are read aloud by the child. This is how the tutor learns the child’s voice; as the child reads, the tutor is listening. If the child cannot pronounce a word or struggles while reading, the tutor will offer help and interact with the child.

The reading tutor ensures that the child isn’t working alone. Like a human tutor, the child’s AI tutor is there to help ease struggles and guide the reading journey.

Provides More Time to Read

The more a child reads, the better they might become at reading. Tutoring offers children more time focused only on reading. While children might need to multitask at school, tutoring offers the opportunity to zero in on one task.

Students in all grades typically are required to read a specific number of minutes every day at home. Readability allows children to read at any time and from any location. The AI tutor is there to help a child whenever they choose to read.

Readability’s books also are compatible with the program Accelerated Reader (AR). Many classrooms use AR; this program lets children take reading comprehension quizzes on books that they have completed. Children earn points on these quizzes, and many teachers offer prizes or other rewards at specific point milestones.

When children read books in Readability, they can choose to take the AR quiz on the books they completed at the program. For children, using a reading tutor via an app lets them gain confidence and proficiency, complete their reading minutes and earn coveted AR points, too!

Offers Quick and Effective Feedback

One of the benefits of reading tutoring for students is that the tutor can provide immediate feedback. Tutors can help children if they struggle on a word and teach them techniques related to decoding or other skills.

Readability’s tutor also provides instant feedback for readers. The tutor is always listening as the child reads aloud. If the child doesn’t understand how to pronounce words, the tutor will identify this struggle and offer help.

In addition, Readability also lets children tap any word in a story to hear the definition or listen to the word used in a sentence. Every book in the program also has a list of vocabulary words.

Children have access to a comprehensive vocabulary list to ensure that they can hear these words or review the definition at any time.

Boosts Reading Performance

A reading tutor should be able to help children gain proficiency and increase their confidence. Since tutoring is one-on-one, children are provided with the guidance to help ease their individual struggles.

Tutoring a child means starting at an appropriate reading level and working with the child to help them advance. Tutors will incorporate more difficult reading materials when they feel that the child is ready to move to a higher reading level.

When a child uses Readability, parents can set the reading level of the program to ensure that the child begins at the most appropriate reading benchmark. However, if parents don’t know their child’s level, the program can help determine this.

Children advance to a more difficult reading level when they demonstrate mastery of both reading fluency and reading comprehension.

While the child reads aloud, the tutor is calculating the number of words the child reads per minute. At the end of each book, the tutor also asks the child questions about what they read. These quizzes help determine the child’s level of comprehension.

If a child answers a question incorrectly, Readability shows a section of the book that provides clues about the answer. The tutor also reads this section aloud, and the child has another opportunity to answer the question. In this way, Readability helps children understand the importance of re-reading sections of stories to facilitate understanding.

Increases Motivation and Decreases Frustration

Play can help nurture learning. Tutoring for reading (or any subject) should be engaging and motivating. A child shouldn’t feel frustrated or feel alone in the journey.

Readability’s 24/7 reading tutor is always available to help a child. However, the program also includes many other features that keep children motivated as they read. For example, all stories offer colorful illustrations to break up the text.

Again, children also can tap any word in a story to hear the definition or hear the word used in a sentence. This interactive feature encourages children to explore the books beyond the read-aloud function.

The program also offers a variety of high/low books. These books are focused on a child’s age or grade-level interests but are written at a lower reading level. High/low books ensure that older readers who have literacy struggles can enjoy books that interest them.

Readability also offers a Storytime feature that lets younger readers listen to their favorite books. Children can enjoy hearing a story narrated, and they can follow along as they listen.

Monitors Progress for Each Individual

Tutoring shouldn’t leave parents wondering if the extra help is beneficial. Progress should be measurable; parents should have some methodology to determine if the tutoring is effective for their child.

With Readability, parents can follow their child’s reading level and other data via a private parent portal. This portal displays the child’s reading fluency, reading comprehension data and even shows parents how long the child used the program.

Parents can visit this portal at any time to audit their child’s progress. In addition, parents can collate the data into a reading report that can be emailed to the child’s teacher. This can help ensure that teachers understand how the child is progressing at home and compare the data to how the child is performing at school.

Since children only advance to a higher reading level when they demonstrate mastery of both fluency and comprehension, parents might be concerned if they notice that their child seems to be stuck at a specific level. Every child’s progress is unique; some children might advance several levels quickly and then need more time at other levels.

To understand the efficacy of a program, parents can look at trends related to their child’s progress. If the child moved through multiple reading levels quickly, they might simply be more challenged at the new reading level.

Exploring Readability

Finding the best reading tutor for a child might lead parents to reviewing their monthly budget to better understand just how much they can afford for private sessions. Private tutoring sessions could be an investment for some parents.

With Readability, private tutoring can be accessible and affordable. A Readability subscription is priced at only $19.99 per month, and one account (or subscription) can be used for up to three children.

Like an in-person tutor, Readability’s AI tutor offers guidance and help to children as they navigate their reading journey and gain confidence and proficiency. Readability’s tutor helps children boost their reading comprehension and reading fluency and provides an interactive and fun environment for expanding vocabulary skills, too.

Parents who are unsure what to expect from an AI tutor can explore Readability at no cost by signing up for a free seven-day trial period. With this free trial, children can explore all the features of the program and meet their 24/7 reading tutor.

With Readability, children have access to a private tutor any time and from anywhere. Explore Readability today and sign up for a free trial period.

Reading is an important life skill. We communicate a lot through the written word, in newspapers, textbooks, recipes, and street signs. In the digital age, we use the Internet to convey information and fulfill a variety of everyday needs. We even carry reading in our pockets, on our cell phones, where much of our communication with friends and loved ones is through text messaging.

However, teaching reading can be challenging, and it is tempting to leave it to professional educators. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t help at home when it comes to teaching literacy. Reading to infants and toddlers will help prepare them for learning to read in school, and there are a variety of proven techniques parents can look for in their students’ classrooms. A basic understanding of how to teach reading can be a worthwhile aid for parents to help students learn literacy.

Parts of Reading

The brain goes through a lot of processes when we read. These can be divided into two categories, recognition and understanding. Recognition is how readers identify words. Understanding is how they process those words into meaningful ideas. These processes work together to interpret the writer’s message, whether a short note or a long essay. Literacy depends on building effective skills in using these processes.

Recognition 

Teaching students to identify words only starts with the alphabet. Once kids know their ABCs, the next step is to teach them the sounds associated with each letter. This is called phonemic awareness, and leads to phonics, which is the process of sounding out words based on the letters that make them.

Some words, such as “the,” “are,” or “of,” cannot be sounded out. Teaching students to recognize these words means showing them in written form and using them orally, so students learn to connect the visual cues with the words. It is still important for them to know the alphabet, however, so they can construct these words on their own and use them in communication.

Understanding 

Being able to interpret what we read is the other major component for literacy instruction. When students have reading comprehension, they gain meaning from the words on the paper. Having a large vocabulary, or knowing a lot of varied words, is part of comprehension. When students are exposed to new words, they learn new concepts about the world.

However, students should also know how to use the words to extract meaning from the text. A large vocabulary doesn’t do much good if readers have no context for the definitions of words, especially words that cannot be explained with pictures.

Turning Recognition and Understanding into Reading

A good literacy program keeps these two concepts in mind and integrates them into how reading is taught to students.

• Using Phonics for Literacy

Phonemic awareness and phonics are the most effective ways to help students recognize words. Many parents may remember being taught to “sound it out” by making the sounds of each individual letter, saying the word slowly and speeding up with practice. When students who have practiced phonics encounter new words, they can sound these out and learn them. This process is called decoding.

Word families are words that have similar sounds. Many of these words rhyme or can be used in sing-song tones, making them easier for students to learn. Children who have been read to also pick up a lot of sounds for hearing them, and these benefits continue until after middle school.

Using phonics as a method to teach literacy also assists with spelling and pronunciation. While awareness of the sounds of letters and words can teach students to read, the reverse is also true. When students know what a word sounds like, they can figure out how to spell it. Knowing how to spell a word and what sounds each syllable makes enhances pronunciation by focusing on each part of a word.

When students can understand the sounds their language makes, they can carry this method to learning other languages. Phonemic awareness applies to all languages, so children learn first the sounds of their native language. As they master this, they build the skills to listen for new sounds in other languages.

• Word Recognition

Being able to recognize words on sight can be important. Reading a “stop” sign and other traffic signs keeps us safe on the road. Words like “doctor” or “emergency” also need to be recognized immediately in some situations. Learning what words look like starts even before school in households that read to infants and toddlers.

Word recognition uses pictures and visual aids, and associates words with pictures of the items they stand for. Students are shown the pictures both with and without their associated words so they know what the words look like as well as what they represent. It is notable that popular foreign language programs for adults use the same technique to immerse learners in the language without translating to English.

Using word recognition is especially good for non-phonemic words like “the” “are” and “of.” It can be difficult to explain such words using phonemic awareness. Word recognition allows students to see how the letters are arranged while pronouncing them and commit them to memory.

• Experiencing Words

Readers understand words best when they have context for their meaning. When teachers use the personal experiences of students in their lesson plans, they show the students the relevance of words in their lives. Words about communities, family, friends, and playing can provide a sturdy foundation for reading about the world around us, and this is a stepping stone to learning other topics. Students need a wide range of experience, such as visits to zoos and museums, to learn words outside their immediate environment so they can experience a broader range of words.

Students also need to hear language for themselves. This starts at birth, as caregivers and immediate family speak around them. Reading to infants and young children has been shown to benefit them with developing reading skills on their own, giving them a head start. In schools, many classrooms also have teachers read to the class or have them listen to audiobooks while reading along in a text. This helps learn auditory cues and unfamiliar or specialty words.

The Best of All Methods

Many students benefit from a combination of all three methods, using them to compliment one another. While explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics has proven to be the most effective, it is still enhanced by exposure to experience and rote word recognition. All three techniques can be blended together based on each student’s needs.

In the home, that means getting to know what benefits each individual child and being adaptable, as kids may need to switch from one technique to another to ensure literacy. Kids with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD will need a wide variety of strategies to teach reading, but every child learns differently, and has different needs when it comes to learning to read. There is no one way that is perfect for every child.

Working Together on Reading

The best method to teach students to read is to make it an experience tailored to each child’s needs. This includes reading to them, talking to them, showing them pictures and associating them with words, and allowing them to experience as many words as they can. More specialized techniques may help readers who are struggling, but no matter what technique you use, working together with your kids when it comes to learning to read will give them their best chance at literacy as adults.

When children begin kindergarten, they will start to learn to read. Some children might already be reading fluently while others might still be learning sounds or letters. While a child might learn to read at their own pace, school districts have benchmarks for what children are expected to master at the age of every grade level—including kindergarten.

Parents who notice that their child is struggling with reading or might need more practice can work with their child at home. Here’s how to help kindergartener with reading at home to improve their fluency and comprehension:

• Practice sight words

• Read together

• Encourage children to read aloud

• Play letter games

• Read wordless books

• Choose appropriate books

• Go to storytime sessions

• Incorporate reading tools

• Use a reading app

Sight Words in Kindergarten

Many school districts require children to memorize a list of sight words. Children will need to practice this list of words until they master them. How can parents help children memorize these words and identify them by sight?

Make the process fun. Some teachers might recommend using flash cards. This is an easy way to skill and drill. Use index cards to make a deck of sight word cards. Shuffle them up and practice with children every night.

Parents also could play a matching game with children to work on learning sight words. Make two cards for each word, shuffle the deck and lay them face down. Then take turns choosing cards and making matches. Have children say each word when they flip a card.

How do sight words help children learn to read? These words are so common in books and stories that knowing them by sight can simplify the reading process; these words don’t need to be decoded since they are memorized.

Read Together Every Day

Even in kindergarten, children might be assigned a specific number of reading minutes as daily homework. Yet, while children need to practice reading, parents can still read to children. Reading together and sharing stories is a great bonding experience.

Parents should talk to children as they read the story. Encourage children to predict what might happen next or discuss how a character might be feeling. At the end of the story, ask children about their favorite parts. If they didn’t like the book, talk about why.

Conversations about stories might encourage children to think more about what they read.

Encourage Children to Read Aloud

When reading together, parents can encourage children to read aloud. Take turns reading a page.

Listening to a child read aloud can help parents understand if they are struggling, and parents can provide additional help. Reading aloud also can help children feel more confident.

If parents use a different voice for each story character, encourage children to make up unique voices, too. Have fun reading aloud and teach children how to read with feeling and confidence.

Play Letter Games to Practice Sounds and Blends

Some children might struggle with their letter identification or have difficulty decoding or blending sounds. There are many apps available on Google Play or the App Store (for free) that can help children practice their letters and master the alphabet. These games also could help children with their sounds, too.

Parents also could make up their own games at home. During summer, go outside and write letters in chalk or draw letters in the sand. Help children practice writing and understanding upper and lower case letters.

For children who need to work on sounds, make a card for every letter of the alphabet and go on an alphabet scavenger hunt. Have children find as many objects as possible for each letter.

Read Wordless Books or Create One

Wordless books are different in that they don’t have a written story. Instead these books only contain pictures. It’s up to the child to tell the story.

These books don’t help with reading in the standard sense, but they can help children understand the parts of a story. They also help foster a child’s independent creativity. A wordless book can be different each time a child reads it.

Children also can make their own wordless books. Use construction paper or just plain printer paper and encourage children to draw pictures that tell a story. Children also should create a cover for their book.

Read the book together and have fun making up new stories each time.

Choose Appropriate Books

Children can struggle to read for many reasons, and some children might struggle because they are trying to read a book that is beyond their level. When helping a kindergartner with reading, make sure the book is at the appropriate reading level.

Typically, teachers send home reading reports that help parents understand their child’s reading progress and their reading level. If parents are unsure about their child’s reading level, they can reach out to their child’s kindergarten teacher.

Go to Storytime Sessions and Listen to Stories

Many public libraries offer a storytime for younger children. These events are great for socialization and they also introduce children to new books and stories. Many children love listening to stories.

In addition, these events can help introduce children to their public library. At the end of the storytime event, take children to look at books. Let them choose a few favorites to check out at the library. This also might be a great opportunity to sign up a child for their first library card.

Incorporate Reading Tools

What are reading tools? These are resources that can help make the reading journey a bit easier for children. Some common reading tools include reading comprehension bookmarks and graphic organizers.

For children who have trouble with reading comprehension, a reading comprehension bookmark can provide a visual reminder as to what they need to think about as they read. Children can make a bookmark, or parents can find free bookmarks online.

A reading comprehension bookmark for a kindergartner might just include simple prompts like “who, what, where, when and how.” These bookmarks also can be used to cover up parts of text to help chunk sections of the story for easier readability.

In addition, kindergartners also could benefit from using a graphic organizer. These are worksheets that have spaces to write in details about a book. Some focus on characters, but others could focus on other literary themes or terms.

Use a Reading App to Help Struggling Readers

A reading app could be beneficial to use at home if a child is struggling to hit grade-level benchmarks. Parents also could use an app to help a kindergartner practice their reading skills or to help them gain confidence reading aloud.

Readability includes a built-in AI tutor that guides reading lessons; the tutor is programmed with voice-recognition software which allows it to understand each child’s voice. Children read stories aloud in Readability, and, if they struggle with a word, the AI tutor will identify the struggle and offer help.

At the end of each book, the tutor also asks questions to test comprehension. If a child answers a question incorrectly, the tutor will show a section of the book that offers details about the answer. The tutor also reads it aloud, and the child has another opportunity to answer the question.

The tutor also measures each child’s reading fluency as they read the program. When a child demonstrates mastery of both reading fluency and reading comprehension, the program advances them to the next level.

Parents can follow their child’s reading progress via a private portal. They can review their child’s reading level, reading fluency (measured in words read per minute), and reading comprehension. The portal also lets parents see how long their child has used the program.

Readability can be used from preschool through fifth grade. Parents can try Readability with their child by signing up for a free seven day trial period. Sign up today to start using the program and begin working with the AI tutor.

When we send our students to school, part of what we hope they will learn is how to read. Reading is one of the most important skills they will need when they become adults. Yet literacy rates in the United States are not what they could be, and very few students read for leisure or find reading enjoyable.

In a world of television and streaming services, video games, and the Internet, it is easy to blame devices and screens for students lagging behind in literacy. However, educators have been examining the way reading is taught for decades, and a variety of theories and techniques have emerged.

Some teaching techniques have been proven to be very effective, while others have been shown to confuse students or even hinder their literacy altogether. There are some methods of teaching literacy that are so embedded that educators can’t imagine any other way.

The technique known as “finding the main idea” is one of the methods most ensconced in education, and also one that has been controversial recently. While many educators use it, is it really a good way to learn to read?

Why Reading Is Vital to Life

The importance of learning to read cannot be overstated. Reading is everywhere in adult life, from traffic signs to recipes to instructions. We read when we fill out forms, file our taxes, or or examine labels, reading is an important part of that.

What is reading? It is the ability to understand how our letters become words, how our words become sentences, and how our sentences convey ideas. Reading is about communication and is a form of listening, which means being able to decipher the message received. If people don’t understand what they are reading, they are unable to receive the message the writer is intending to convey. This makes comprehension an essential element of literacy.

Understanding words comes with both expanding vocabulary and with exposure to experiences that help readers see the words in action. Adult life is full of jargon and complex terms, but readers who are underprepared will find themselves behind if they are not taught effective literacy skills when they are learning to read as young students.

What Is “Finding the Main Idea”?

The premise of teaching students to find the main idea in their reading is that if they can identify the central theme of a sentence or paragraph, they will gain understanding of the paragraph. Building upon this knowledge, they can then gain insight into the main idea of essays and longer works.

The process starts by identifying the topic of the work and looking for certain types of sentences and phrases. Through these cues, it is believed that students can identify the central message the writer is trying to convey. Phrases and sentences that state or imply a main idea are considered, and emphasis is placed on the first and last sentence of the opening paragraph.

In later grades, this method is also taught when it comes to writing essays. The introductory paragraph is intended to convey a main idea, and each subsequent paragraph has a sentence with a main idea that supports the point of the introduction. This may be an effective tool for learning to write, but is it helpful when learning to read?

Problems with Finding the Main Idea

For students learning to read, there are flaws with teaching this method. Finding the main idea may help identify overall themes of a work, but students miss out on a lot of details when using this method.

Understanding Different Topics

Finding the main idea favors those who have knowledge about specific words. For example, if a reader is not familiar with baseball, words like “slider” and “innings” will be confusing, while a baseball fan will have a clear image of the intention of the text.

This favors students with more experiences, which also favors privileged students over students in poverty or with few nearby cultural experiences. Students with less exposure to ideas and traditions outside their immediate community have little context when it comes to reading about them. Specialized words have no meaning when there isn’t something to relate them to. Finding the main idea becomes more difficult when students can’t find cues buried in words they’ve never been exposed to.

Knowledge of a variety of topics comes from exposure to both the words and the concepts. Reading can introduce these topics, but they can be further experienced through other media, including the Internet, video, and interactive games. Relating new concepts to the words associated with them helps readers engage with ideas, rather than just reading about them.

Readers Are Learning Fewer Words

Building vocabulary helps students understand more concepts, which enables them to engage with reading materials. However, relying on “finding the main idea” teaches students to seek out specific words and phrases rather than absorbing the whole text.

Students form habits that leave out words and make reading a mechanical process. These habits include associating words with pictures or skipping words altogether to learn them through context. Students are taught to view words as a visual cue, rather than as part of their language.

This points to a need for phonics as part of learning to read skillfully. Students taught to pronounce the words they read become more skillful readers as words become something they actively learn. Learned words become more than icons on the page as students learn to sound them out, and new words become easier to discover when they are associated with the sounds we make.

People hear language when we talk, to “hearing” it when we read makes it easier for us to absorb what we are reading. Thankfully, the benefits of phonics are being revisited by educators when designing reading programs.

Experiencing Reading

Schools are now experimenting with new methods for teaching students to read. Teachers are relying on integrated techniques to teach English Language Arts (ELA) by teaching reading in tandem with other subjects. This gives students experience with a variety of topics and the words associated with them.

Getting students involved with what they read has proven to help students improve literacy. It provides context for them to understand what they are reading, which builds a foundation for learning from more complex explanations. Direct experience is always best, but lesson plans that include learning material can in turn improve literacy among students.

The results have been very telling as literacy rates where these methods have been used have improved at both the fourth and eighth grade level, even among students that started out behind. Educators are sharing their results, passing new ideas about teaching students to read from schools all over the country.

Do We Really Need to Find the Main Idea?

It is a simple matter to teach students to recognize words, but comprehension is harder to teach. Students need to be able to associate the words they see in constructive ways so they can derive meaning from what they read. “Finding the main idea” is only one useful skill in a variety of strategies that can help teach literacy.

However, using this method by itself establishes habits that can actually reduce literacy because students learn shortcuts that take them away from their language. Without language, communication becomes more difficult as words become less defined and the concepts they convey lose their potency.