Reading Tips from Brooklyn Book Bodega
By Ana Oropeza-Parra
In the midst of this pandemic, many worry that their child is losing out on meaningful instruction, leaving them to wonder what they can do to help. One of the most important activities that can have a resounding impact on a child’s reading is a good, old-fashioned read-aloud. In addition to providing a time to reconnect with your child to enjoy a book, doing it on a regular basis has enormous positive impacts on your child’s reading. Through read-alouds, you expose your child to rich and quality language while simultaneously increasing vocabulary, building connections between written and spoken words, and improving language and listening skills – just to name a few of the benefits. Reading Rockets, a national literacy initiative states that reading aloud to children is “the single most important activity for reading success.”
When reading aloud to your child (ages 0-8), get the most out of the experience by cuddling up in a safe and cozy space. Ask as many open-ended questions as possible while reading the book. This will create more opportunities for your child to build their own use of language while simultaneously processing language. Ask questions such as:
What do you think is going to happen next? Why?
Can you think of a time when you felt like the character does? When?
Why do you think the character chose to do that? Would you be friends with this character?
Where does the story take place? Have you ever been somewhere like this place? Would you like to visit this place?
Read in an engaging manner, creating voices for characters and building excitement or anticipation for what is to come. This is also a great time to have your child predict what will happen next. While these read-aloud tips are for younger readers, research shows that even upper elementary students can continue to reap tremendous benefits from reading aloud with an adult.
The fact that our brains learn to read is quite remarkable, for learning to read is not a natural process. It requires the development, and use of, different networks of the brain. In order to initially activate a child’s regions of the reading brain, it is vital to provide them with experiences that will develop their ability to hear and process language, amongst other skills. Read-aloud experiences provide all the aforementioned skills and perhaps more important, time with you. Take on a read-aloud with your child, and experience together its power.
Ana Oropeza-Parra has been an educator for over 20 years in both public and independent school settings. As a trained Reading Specialist, Ana now works as a private reading tutor and incorporates mindfulness and social-emotional learning into her lessons, as she believes they are critical skills congruous to learning. Ana has been volunteering with Brooklyn Book Bodega for 3 months (and counting). She believes wholeheartedly in Brooklyn Book Bodega's mission—spreading the magic of books to communities. Growing up in a low-income home she knows firsthand how books can change a child's life.