The Black Mom Imperative: Build a Strong Reader; 7 Tips to Boost Your Child’s Reading Skills
Having a child who is a strong reader is the black mom’s imperative. We know how important good reading skills are to any child’s development and future growth. Don’t let your kid fall behind. Boost your child’s reading skills with these 7 tips.
Having a child that is a strong reader is a black mother’s imperative. Studies show that school-aged African American children consistently perform below their white peers in reading, math and science. We can close the achievement gap! There is nothing more important to future academic achievement than being a
solid reader. If your child isn’t there yet, don’t fret. With time, attention
and a few good tips, you can help your child become a stronger reader. Here are some great tips:
- Model good behavior. The
simplest thing a parent can do to boost their child’s reading skills is to
model a love for reading for your children. Seeing you read will inspire
your children to read. Set up a daily 15 to 30 minute time when everyone
in the family reads together silently. Just 15 minutes of daily practice
is sufficient to increase their reading fluency. - Read for fun. “Reading for the sheer enjoyment of the
story and knowing they [students] can just read as a pastime and no one is
going to ask them to do anything extra, is imperative to fostering a
desire to read in students,” said
Ginny Dowd, creator of The Phonics Dance, and a 23 year veteran
teacher in Ohio. This also builds
an internal motivation where your child will want to read on their own,
Dowd says. - Make it fun. Play games
with your children in the car and during downtime. Word games can range from anything such
as asking a child what a synonym, antonym or a rhyming word is to another
word. - Read together. Parents
should do shared reading with their children. In shared reading, a child
and another reader take turns reading to each other. While reading, ask text-related
questions, like “What do you think will happen next?” Another strategy to
boost reading skills in children age six to eight years old, is to have
them re-read stories; re-reading stories boosts fluency and confidence. - Develop the library habit. Entice your children to read more
by taking them to the library every few weeks to get new stuff. The
library also offers reading programs for children of all ages that may
appeal to your children and further increase their interest in reading. - Find books that are just
right for their child. Just right books are books just what they
say—they’re not too hard and they’re not too easy. Ask the classroom
teacher or a local librarian to find books that are on the child’s level and
interesting to the child.
