Motivating Your Child To Read
Over the years, I’ve had many parents ask me how to motivate their children to read at home. Some ways to do this are to introduce them to a series of books, find a comfortable reading place, take an interest in their books, and find their independent reading level.
1. Introduce your children to a book series. Choose a series you think your children may be interested in reading. Read one of the books with or to your children. This will help them become familiar with the characters, setting, and general style of the books which will make them more comfortable reading the next books on their own. I’ve included a list of favorite book series by grade level below.
2. Help your children find a comfortable place to read. It could be on top of a bunch of pillows and stuffed animals, under the table with a sheet draped over the top, or in a special corner devoted just to reading.
3. Take an interest in what your children are reading. Let them tell you about what they are reading. Getting to know the characters and stories as a parent will provide connection with your children. You can be out at the park and say, “Remember when Ramona was stuck on the monkey bars?” The commonality will help create inside stories and jokes between you and your children.
4. Help your children pick books at their independent reading level. If the books are too hard, your children will become frustrated. If the books are too easy, your children will become bored. Your children’s teachers will be able to tell you what reading level they can best read at independently. *If you homeschool your children, see the tips at the end of this post for how to find your children’s reading levels.
Here is a list of favorite book series by grade level.
They would make great Christmas gifts.
K-2
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Margret and H. A. |
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Norman Bridwell |
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Dr. Suess |
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Mayer Mercer |
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Kevin Henkes |
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Crockett Johnson |
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Stan and Jan |
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Laura Numeroff |
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Frank Asch |
K-3
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Bernard Wiseman |
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Eric Hill |
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Else Minarik |
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Stephen Krensky |
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Harry Allard |
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Mike Thaler |
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William Steig |
1-3
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Cynthia Rylant |
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Jill Punter |
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Marjorie Sharmat |
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Barbara Park |
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Marc Brown |
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Peggy and Herman |
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Ludwig Bemelmans |
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ArnoldLobel |
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Jeff Brown |
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Suzy Kline |
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Max Lucado |
2-4
| Geronimo Stilton and Matt Wolf | |
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Dav Pilkey |
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David Adler |
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Judy Delton |
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Ron Roy |
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Baby-Sitters Club: |
Ann M. Martin |
3-6
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BeverlyCleary Jeff Kinney |
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Ben M. Baglio |
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Louis Sachar |
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C.S. Lewis |
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Donald J. Sobol |
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GertrudeChandlerWarner |
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Ann M. Martin |
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Sports Mysteries |
T.J. Edwards |
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The American Girls |
4-6
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Franklin W. Dixon |
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Carolyn Keene |
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Laura Ingalls |
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Matt Christopher |
*If you homeschool your children and need to find their independent reading level, there are a couple things you can do. The first is to call the public school in your area and find out if they will test your children on their state reading test day for free. Some schools will do this. The other is to assess your children on your own. You can find different tests online. Here is one of those tests that will give you a general idea: Free Reading Fluency Assessment.
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Related Posts:
How Do I Help My Child Become A Better Reader?
How Can I Help My Child With Reading Comprehension (Free Reading Comprehension Printables)
Reading Fluency: Increasing Speed and Expression
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