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4 Easy Ways to Boost Your Child’s Reading Engagement

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! 

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Posted on 10.Oct.21 in Reading at Home Tips

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How do I know what books are right for my child?

LightSail takes the guesswork out of choosing books for your child by tailoring each child’s library to their precise reading level.

By honing in on a child’s precise Lexile reading score, LightSail can match them with books that are at that “just-right” level to promote optimal reading progress.

And because LightSail contains such a wide-ranging array of content, there is always a vast selection of books for any topic or interest.

What ages/grades is LightSail for?

LightSail’s Premium and Standard subscriptions are designed for children in grades 3 through 12 (ages 8-18).

We also have a World Book Kids subscription for grades 1 through 2 (ages 5-7) and a World Book Early Learners subscription for PreK through K (ages 2-5).

Is LightSail different from an Amazon Kindle or other e-readers?

Unlike static e-readers, LightSail doesn’t just offer children books.

Every book and article in LightSail contains 6 layers of added features that let your child experience books.

By adapting to a child’s precise reading ability, offering them content that is at that “just-right” reading level to promote literacy growth, and providing a fully customizable, rewarding reading experience, LightSail unlocks the magic of reading in ways no physical book or static e-reader can.

What types of parental control do I have over my child’s activity and content?

In short, complete control.

LightSail contains an entire suite of parental control features that govern every aspect of the platform from video viewing, to chats, to what content can be seen and accessed.

Additionally, LightSail’s revolutionary ChildSafe Content Controls lets parents screen and block content according to dozens of nuanced subcategories based on maturity factors, family values, and religious topics.

How can I make reading fun for my child?

LightSail incorporates gamification features into every aspect of the platform, especially reading!

By integrating badges, goals and milestones, social sharing options, motivational messages, and the ability for parents to add customizable gift rewards, LightSail incentivizes reading, writing, and learning just like kids’ favorite games.

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