Montessori Matters - Reading Matters!

Montessori Matters - Reading Matters!
By SJMS Librarian Jessica Appel

At school, students are encouraged to read daily. But reading at home is where the real practice happens. “The amount of free reading done outside of school has consistently been found to relate to growth in vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency…” (Cullin, 2000, p.3). Click here for more details. Developing home reading habits with good reading role models (parents and siblings) will help your child develop better reading skills, and will push them along the path to becoming a lifelong reader. 

Here are 5 tips for encouraging reading at home. Helpful facts here.

1. Read before you watch/play on screens. Read a book before you see the movie version. Read for 20 minutes before watching a show or playing a video game. Read about a show or video game. So many ways to go with this one.

2. Read aloud with your child (even older kids still like this). Picture books have rich vocabularies and often tackle deep and/or historical topics. They are fun to read aloud even after kids think they are “too old” for them. 

3. Help your child find books that meet their interests. Some kids prefer nonfiction but cannot articulate that. Some kids have very specific scopes of preference for fiction. Get to know what your child prefers.

4. Set aside time where everyone in the household reads. Kids want to be like adults. If they see you reading they will want to read.

5. Play audiobooks on trips. This is a great way to introduce different types of books to kids.  

There are no deficits to reading at home - only benefits. 20 minutes per day reading at home equals 122 hours of reading a year. Just imagine what your child can achieve and learn in that time! 

Cullin, B. E. (November 200). Independent  Reading and School Achievement. School Library Media             Research, 3, 1-24. Here are some great tools.