Reading engagement is an essential part of your child’s learning experience. When students are entirely focused on their reading materials, they’ve engaged both physically and emotionally. Engaged readers retain more information, find joy in reading, and develop empathy for others. While your child already practices reading engagement in the classroom through choral reading, quizzes, and games, you can also implement reading strategies at home.
Here are a few easy ideas to get you started:
#1 – Ditch the Books!
Yes, it may seem drastic, but if your child is having trouble engaging and focusing on the material, it might actually be the book length that is the problem. If they’ve never had the chance to read anything other than books, they might not know what’s out there. Or, the length of the book and the amount of words on the page might just be too overwhelming. For the kid who loves superheroes, watch the characters jump off the page in a graphic novel! For the one who loves YouTube, explore the world of interactive books with embedded action clips. For the deep diver, look at World Book Digital Encyclopedia articles, where everything is interconnected. For the people person or athlete, meet new people or learn more about those already on your radar in the Biography Center on LightSail. For the historian or news-watcher, take a look at Back in Time or Behind the Headlines on LightSail. Nobody said that reading had to be from a book! And LightSail’s all-in-one platform makes it so easy to explore whatever your child wants to read!
#2 – 3-2-1
This reading engagement prompt is a great way to both get to know your child better and ensure they’ve understood what was read. The idea behind this strategy is for your child to comprehend the text as a whole with an easy-to-remember solution – 3-2-1. They will describe 3 things they learned, 2 questions that arose while reading, and 1 thing they enjoyed about the book. Students love technology, so be sure to utilize LightSail’s Chat feature to relay this information.
#3 – Summarization and Narration
Part of reading engagement is being able to internalize what you just read. This is where summarization and narration come in! When your child summarizes, they’ll tell you the book’s main points, main characters, and the setting. Summarizations are usually written or dictated after the entire book is completed. It may sound stuffy and boring, but simply asking your child to tell you what they read about and prompt with questions about the protagonist, antagonist, and plot may help them get in the summarization groove. Guaranteed they will be required to summarize at school, so it’s a less stressful way to practice at home.
When your child narrates, they read a small section of the book and tell you what they remember from that portion. Narrations are less structured and leave more room for the student to express their opinions of the material. Or, you can get creative with narrations, having them act out the characters, pretend to be an inanimate object and give its opinion of what happened, make a home movie or trailer with programs on their tablet, or even design a Lego project based on the story. Let them be as creative as they want, because they have the time at home to do so!
#4 – Reward Systems
Reading engagement strategies at home should be laid back and fun. Reward systems are a fantastic way to keep your child motivated to read. Online reward systems save busy parents time by allowing them to track reading minutes, books read, and more virtually. LightSail has a fantastic feature that gives parents the ability to reward their children for hitting specific goals. For example, if your student logs an excellent summarization in their journal, you can let them earn badges and rewards from LightSail’s Gamification features.
Children are most engaged in reading when they’re excited about the content, and reading at home is a great time to let them discover their next reading unicorn. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to supporting your reader. LightSail’s extensive library provides students with the best fiction and non-fiction titles, including amazing interactive books that make reading come to life. There’s something for everyone!
Posted on 10.Oct.21 in Reading at Home Tips
