Helping Your Child Succeed in School
What is the most important skill your child needs to succeed in school? Everyone knows the answer is to be able to read well. Most children who come to Paine Intermediate already know how to read. Many children come to school with the necessary skills, but lack the desire and attitude to read. What can a parent do to make a child want to read? What can you do to that will influence your child to pick up a book instead of the remote control?
I recall several years ago when the Harry Potter series first came to the United States. A friend, a teacher at Leeds Elementary, said her son, John, never liked to read. She worried that he might not ever share her love of reading. One night, instead of turning on the television, my friend offered to read aloud to her husband and John from a new and very popular book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. After reading a chapter or two, she closed the book. Her HUSBAND quickly asked her to keep reading! John and his father both thoroughly enjoyed hearing their mother and wife read aloud for weeks, listening until she finished the very last page. By the way, at the time, John was 13 years old.
Reading aloud to your child is the very best way to grow a reader. When children know their parents care enough to take their time to read aloud, they get the message that reading is important. Tonight, try turning off the television and share a great book with a very important person in your life!