# data[].attributes.body
Rhyme Generation Activity can be a good group activity to work on students sound skills. The activity would be good following a rhyming book (Dr. Suess is always a good choice for younger groups).
1. After reading a book as a class the teacher will pick a couple rhyming words from the book (The Cat in The Hat would let the teacher pick -at words like cat and hat).  And show on the board how the words look similar while they rhyme.
2. The teacher can show how they find other words in the text and try them to see if it rhymes as well (cat, hat, and bat all rhyme and are all in the book). The teacher will ask if the students can find or think of any other words that rhyme.
3. The class can either stay as a group with the teacher asking students to share out or can break up into small groups to make word ladders. The teacher will encourage speaking the words aloud to make sure that they are getting the rhyming correct.
4. If they broke into smaller groups the teacher can ask for students who want to share some of the rhyming words they came up with. This way the class can make a big word ladder for the book together.

Students who need extra support can use letter tiles when trying to come up with new words if seeing the words visually will help them. They might just need extra support speaking the words to hear the rhyme if they have a need for speech.

# data[].attributes.body
Picture Card Snap is a card game that lets students work on speech sounds. The game uses picture cards to practice matching beginning or initial sounds.

1. The teacher prepares the picture cards and either selects the sound the whole class will focus on finding or sets up small table groups that focus on different sounds.
2. The teacher will model the sounds clearly while giving an example of that sound with a word such as [b] for "boy"
3. The teacher will put a picture card out for students to match the initial sound with. The decks at the tables will have pictures with different starting sounds so students have to check the sound.
4. After the small groups have dealt the cards out to each other they start taking turns trying to match the initial sound of the pictures together. There is a discard spot where students will put sounds that don't match. So if the picture card we are matching sounds is a rat and a student has rug and bat they would put bat in the discard and match rug to rat for the [r] sound.
5. After all the tables have finished matching the teacher will have each group taking a turn to come up and share their picture card sound matches. This lets the whole group hear the sounds and check if the sounds are correct.

One thing that can help students with different learning needs is noting how our mouths form the words. Saying things like "my lips press together and pop apart when I make the [p] sound. Watch my lips [ppp]" and then showing how your mouth moves.

# data[].attributes.body
While hearing Down By The Bay or The Name Game every day might not be a parents idea of a good time those are good ways to encourage phonemic awareness in your child. Listening for rhymes lets children listen for the endings of words and what sounds match. Reading nursery rhymes or books with rhymes can help encourage that listening and decoding skill.

But a good simple activity can be you saying two words that rhyme and encouraging your child to help thing of more. You can say "hmm fun and bun rhyme, can you think of an other -un word?" You may need to help them think of another word such as "run" but hearing you say more rhyming words can help them learn what rhymes are and how to think of more.

# data[].attributes.body
This article is a good resource for parents as many may not have heard the phrase phonemic awareness. It gives a simple break down of what phonemic awareness is, why it's important, and some ways to encourage it in their child.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
HOMER Blog I The essential early learning program for ages 2-8. Try it free!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Research shows that for children to become enthusiastic, fluent readers, they need a firm grasp of phonics and the alphabetic code. That's where phonological and phonemic awareness - the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words - come into play.

Having said that, we understand that it can sometimes be hard to know where to begin. And as a parent, you may or may not have even heard the term "phonemic awareness" before.

Good news! We're here to break down the concepts of phonological and phonemic awareness and show you how you can use them to encourage a love of reading in your child.

What is Phonemic Awareness?

As we mentioned above, phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds. Put another way, it's a concept that deals with how we understand the function of sounds, specifically, phonemes.

A "phoneme" is the smallest possible unit of sound in a language. Every word we use is made up of a combination of phonemes. These sounds blend together to form words.

The easiest way to understand phonemic awareness as a concept is by playing around with words yourself (and with your child, but we'll get to that part later.)

If you take a simple word like "ball" and change the beginning sound from a /b/ to a /t/ sound, you get a different word - tall - with a completely different meaning.

Phonemic Awareness Vs. Phonological Awareness

Phonological and phonemic awareness have a good bit of overlap, which can make the two ideas confusing! We're here to simplify them and show you how these technical terms are actually fun, important parts of your child's reading journey.

Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that includes different skills your child will encounter while on their journey to becoming an enthusiastic, engaged reader. These are:

Really, phonological awareness is all about groups of sounds and how they relate to each other. Combining and playing with multiple syllables, or even the amount of words in a sentence, is the meat and potatoes of phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness, by contrast, focuses on single sounds - or phonemes. The same skills can be used to engage your child's phonemic awareness.

From a practical standpoint, the fact that phonological and phonemic tasks are so closely related means you can utilize the same blending and sound-swapping exercises; if you'd like your child to focus on phonemic awareness specifically, simply use the exercises with individual sounds.

Examples

Maybe you're thinking to yourself: well, that's about as clear as mud. We hear you!

For the sake of your child's learning, don't sweat over working on these phonological and phonemic skills as individual, separate components. The distinction is mostly academic. Our examples will help you work both at once.

Singing nursery rhymes or silly songs is a great place to start! This will build your child's phonological and phonemic awareness skills by allowing them to play with and manipulate sounds and words.

Why Is Phonemic Awareness Important?

Phonemic awareness is one of the first skills your child will need in their toolbelt for reading, which, of course, is an important part of learning. It's also one of the first steps to building their confidence with sounds (and, later, words!).

Phonemic awareness is an effective tool for helping your child become an engaged, self-motivated reader in the future. A child with a healthy foundation of phonemic awareness stands the best chance to read with fluency and for fun!

Jumping straight into matching up sounds with letter forms may seem like the obvious first step. Your instincts are on the right track; that's an important part of helping your child learn to read!

But another way to help your child with phonemic awareness is to focus on listening skills - such as isolating individual sounds, blending them together, and then moving sounds around to create new words - will help your emerging reader get to their end goal.

As you're working with your child, keep in mind that phonemes may take a while for kids to grasp. That's okay! You can relax knowing that phonemic awareness will come with time and exposure.

How To Encourage Phonological And Phonemic Awareness

You've probably realized by now that when it comes to helping your child develop a love of reading, phonemic awareness is important. But that doesn't mean it has to be boring or difficult!

At HOMER, we believe in learning that's fun and functional for your family. We don't want the prospect of helping your child with their phonemic awareness to feel intimidating.

That's why we're here to share tips for encouraging phonemic awareness in a way that is engaging, stimulating, and educational for your child (without eating up all of your wind-down time as a family!).

The good news is that phonemic and phonological awareness practice can be incorporated into your family's busy lifestyle while allowing you to help your child build their reading confidence and bond with you at the same time.

The best way to build up your child's awareness of sounds in words is to play easy and fun games together. Light-hearted and entertaining activities will keep your little one happy, calm, and excited to learn (without really knowing they're learning in the first place!).

Hearing Rhymes

This one is probably part of your routine family life already. You may not have realized it, but by singing along to nursery rhymes with your child, you're already engaging their phonological awareness!

Exposure to rhymes is the easiest and first step to your child learning to manipulate sounds. And who doesn't love an old-fashioned sing-along in the middle of afternoon traffic or Sunday morning chores?

If you want to focus on your child's phonemic awareness skills more specifically, you can encourage them to make rhymes by only the beginning sound in a word.

For example, you could start with the word "rat." Your child might reply with the word "hat." On and on you can go together!

Differentiating Rhymes

Helping your child distinguish what words do or don't rhyme is an important introduction to a more advanced phonological concept - how changing the letter of a word also changes the sound and meaning.

For this exercise, play a rhyme game. You'll say three words, two of which rhyme and one that does not. Make sure you play up the silliness so your child understands that you made a mistake (one that they will be confident to fix!).

For example, you could say "cat," "bat," and "dot." Then ask your child to pick out the word that doesn't rhyme. Once they gain enough confidence, try and see if they can do it back to you.

Producing Rhymes

To help your little one learn to make their own rhymes, try saying a sentence and asking them to finish it with a word that rhymes. For example: In my bag, I have a ___ (rag).

You can play up the fun in this activity by seeing which one of you can come up with the silliest rhymes. And since you're mainly focusing on listening skills for this activity, the words you come up with don't even have to be real!

Recognizing Sounds

As adults, we take it for granted, but recognizing the beginning and ending sounds of words is really important for emerging readers!

Try saying three words that begin or end with the same sound and asking your child what sound they share. For example: l-l-leg, l-l-lamb, l-l-lint.

You can also change it up by inserting a word that does not belong in the sound group and have your child yell out which word is wrong.

Using the same example, you could say "leg," "lamb," "lint," "mud." once your child hears the wrong sound, they have to shout it out! How many times can your child catch you?

Creating And Associating Sounds

This is where the old I-Spy game comes in handy. Start by saying, "I spy with my little eye something that starts with an /r/ sound."

Have your child answer with something around you that begins with that sound. And while you're playing, remember that at this stage, you're focusing mostly on sounds, not the traditional letter name.

Make sure to give lots of praise and cheers when your child gets it right!

Blending Sounds

This one can be a lot of fun with the right twist! For example, pretend you're a robot who has come to Earth and is trying to learn the English language. Ask your child for help with a certain word in robot-speak.

Break down the sounds in a word and tell your child you don't know what the word is. Ask them to repeat it in robot talk (example: /c/a/t/), and then ask them what word you are saying.

This will help them practice blending different phonemes together to create a single word with a single meaning.

Phonemic Awareness: The Takeaway

Phonemic awareness is an important first step on your child's journey toward a lifetime love of reading, writing, and learning!

Remember: Your child's ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes (sounds) all make up their phonemic awareness. The more your child is able to play around with rhymes and break apart sounds the stronger their phonemic awareness will become!

And while it's crucial to introduce your child to phonemic awareness concepts early in their life, it's much more important to do it in a way that doesn't stress them (or you!) out.

That's why we offer kid-powered, play-based activities designed by learning experts to help keep your child entertained and learning. If you're not sure where to start, try our learning quiz to discover where your child is on their learning journey.

All in all, we encourage you to keep it simple: play phonemic and phonological awareness games for a few minutes as you go about your day. The more fun you have with it the more your child will as well.

If your child ever seems overwhelmed by what they're learning, feel free to take a break. Confidence comes with time and practice.

After all, there's no pressure for them to read Shakespeare any time soon. We know that sound by sound, word by word, with one success following another, your child will soon be on the road to reading Macbeth and other literary delights!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Phonemic Awareness: A Simple Guide for Parents - HOMER Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Research shows that for children to become enthusiastic, fluent readers, they need a firm grasp of phonics and the alphabetic code. That's where phonological and phonemic awareness - the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words - come into play. Having said that, we understand that it can sometimes be hard to know where to begin.

# data[].attributes.body
This activity is good for when students are first learning to read and write as it allows a teacher to keep sight or common words in view for students.

The teacher should work with students to pick out words to put on the word wall. The word wall should be somewhere visible and the words should be on different colored paper with clearly written words in black ink so students can read and tell the difference between similar words. The class can go over the word wall to review the sight words as well as being able to use the word wall when they are doing writing activities.

If students struggle with reading the word wall from their desk and copying down word they need, the teacher can put a word wall paper on their desk or in their folder. Word walls are also helpful for ELL students as it lets them see the sight words and practice them.

# data[].attributes.body
A simple way to work vocabulary review is to have it as the welcome work a couple days a week. The teacher will put up 3 words on the board that are from the weeks reading.

1. If doing multiple vocabulary review welcome work the first day can be partner/table review. So students can talk together and see if they can all remember what the word is and what it means. The teacher can check for understanding by having a sharing session before moving onto other work for the day.

2. On a different day in the same week or if only doing one day of vocabulary review welcome work then the students can build sentences around the words or write definitions of the words. After the welcome work time is over the teacher can ask for students who want to share their sentences or definitions.

If a student needs more support then the teacher can have vocabulary flash cards ready for a student to build a sentence. If they struggle with motor skills to write down a sentence than the teacher can speak with them one on one and help them write their sentence.

# data[].attributes.body
Readers Theater is a good activity for working on fluency. It has students read together and practice their reading skills as well as reading with expression.

1. Teacher gathers passages for students to read. The passage should have highlights or other markings for students to know when they are reading.
2. Students are paired up and given the highlighted passages.
3. Students will read together to practice as the teacher moves through out the room helping students with any difficult words.
4. Students will then take turns reading their passages aloud to the class.

For students with different needs picking passages that are a little easier or have simpler words is a good modification. Also making sure to have passages with easy to read fonts and larger lettering can help students who struggle.

# data[].attributes.body
Story sequence lets students show their understanding of a story and the events that happen in it.

1. Teacher will provide students with story line charts. The charts have a beginning, middle, and end section.
2. The teacher will read a story aloud to the students. The students can make note of what happens in the story while the teacher reads.
3. After the story has been read the teacher will give students some time and encourage students to fill in each section of their chart by asking questions like "who is the story about and when did we meet them?"
4. Once the class has had a chance to fill in their charts they can pair and share their story chart with a partner to show their understanding of the story and see if they agree about what happened in the story.
5. After the students have filled in their chart and gotten to share then the class can come together to fill in the classroom chart. This allows the teacher to check on the students understanding of the story as a group.

For students with different needs having prompts on the story chart can help them think through the story. For younger students using wordless books or even encouraging students to use the pictures to help with their understanding of the story.

# data[].attributes.body
There are lots of ways to do alphabet matching. And making sure students can recognize the upper and lower case versions of letters is important.

One way to work on alphabet matching is playing a letter match game. There are print outs for superhero letter matching as well as toys you can buy to work on that skill. The superhero letter game has students matching the upper and lower case letters.

At a table students could be given a sand tray and some letter cards and have to copy the letter down. This activity done in a small group lets the teacher check in with each student about the name of the letter they are making.

For students with different needs making sure to use a clearly written font is important. As well as making sure they don't have too many letters to learn at one time.

# data[].attributes.body
The Essential Word Routine is a structured but simple graphic organizer that lets students learn new words.

The graph can be filled out by the whole class following the teachers already finished example to help students with learning the new word. The graph is made up of four parts. The definition, a picture example, example sentences, and turn and talk questions based on the word.

This activity is good to reinforce other lessons like science or history as you can have the example sentences, example image, and turn and talk questions relate to the subject. This helps students build more connections and really take in the new vocabulary.

For students with different needs moving them closer to the front of the room can help them with focus. As well as make it easier for them to see. They might need a fidget seat or a standing desk if they have high energy and need help focusing on the task. Having some print outs of the teachers graph for those students to follow along with on their own may help them as well.

# data[].attributes.body
Choral Reading is a whole group fluency practice activity. This activity is good as it allows weaker readers not to feel singled out.

1. Teacher has a prepared passage on the smart board as well as paper copies for students.
2. Before the teacher starts reading they go over good reading strategies with students. Following along with a finger or pencil.
3. The teacher will read aloud alone modeling fluent and expressive reading for the students. While the students make sure they are following along in the passage.
4. After the teacher has finished they let the students know it is time to read together. As a group the whole class will read together with the teacher.

To help students with different needs you can use the reading bookmarks. They have a clear line in the center and either side is cloudy so that students can more easily track their reading. Students who struggle with read could also be given certain parts of the passage they have to do the group reading with while the rest they focus on tracking.

# data[].attributes.body
Exit tickets allow students to write down what they thought or learned about during class.

The teacher will have exit tickets that ask questions about the reading they did.  Examples:
Who is the main character of the story?
What is the main character searching for?
Is there someone who is stopping the main character from doing ____?
What was the first thing that happened in the story?

A mix of these questions for students to answer lets the teacher see students answering for different parts of the story.
The teacher can also have exit tickets for students who finish a book on their own. They can write down the name of the book they just read and then answer a question or two about the story. This lets the teacher see that the student was doing their reading and understanding the reading.

For students with different needs you can modify the questions to be simpler or easier to read. You can let students pair up and answer the exit ticket together. Or you can do verbal exit tickets as well.

# data[].attributes.body
You can help encourage your child's understanding of phonics by using letter cards and asking them the sound of the letter. This is a simple but effective way to practice sounds of the alphabet as you don't have to rush through and do the all 26 letters at a time. You can start with the letters in their name and any siblings names.

# data[].attributes.body
This might sound a little silly, but when your child is a toddler to kindergarten age labeling and describing everything you can increase the words they hear. Allowing your child to learn what different things are and using new words to describe those things lets them learn those words. When you see a flower telling them "oh look at the crimson colored rose" can teach them a new color name and flower name. The more variety in words they hear the more their vocabulary can grow.

# data[].attributes.body
While this might seem like a silly activity to list. But a huge part of teaching kids to read and enjoy reading is just reading with them. You reading with your child allows them to hear how words should be pronounced, how expressive you should be when reading, and a good pace for reading aloud.

To really help with fluency you can read a passage and then have your child read the same passage. Making sure to encourage them to be expressive in their reading.

If you have a child with differing needs you can use printed short passages with big font rather than a story. This lets them focus on the print rather than a picture while practicing reading with you.

# data[].attributes.body
Dialog Reading is a great way to work on comprehension with your child.

Dialog Reading is focused on asking questions that encourage children to talk about what was read. There are three level of questions for parents to ask children.

Level 1: Asking "wh" questions that relate directly to the text. Ex Who is wearing the green hat? Child then points to the character in the hat.

Level 2: Asking open ended questions. Ex What is happening in this part of the book? The child then can share their thoughts and understanding of what is happening in the story.

Level 3: There are two types of questions here. First questions with text features and story components. Ex Who is the main character and how do they feel? The child responds with who the character is and makes a guess at the feelings. The other question type is having students connect the story to the real world. Ex: How would that make you feel? The child shares how that would make them feel or even a time that something similar happened.

This activity is really easy to keep differing abilities in mind. With three levels of question types you can stay at the level that seems most suited for your child. If they are not ready to answer questions about what is happening in the book then stick with questions that they can answer using the book.

# data[].attributes.body
This article gives a few different ideas on encouraging phonics in your child. Knowing how to encourage phonics can be hard and the simple activities listed allow parents to focus on the phonics and not coming up with their own activities. A couple of the activities have the child writing letters if your child struggles with the fine motor skills needed for writing having letter cards or tiles for them to pick instead can help.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Letters and Sounds: Practical Ideas for Parents

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Provide your child with the opportunity to learn that written words are made up of letters that match the sounds in spoken words.

# data[].attributes.body
This article lists ten simple tips on encouraging learning new words. A lot of the tips have to do with engaging with the new words in some way from acting/drawing out new words to connecting them to experiences. You can do this with children of differing needs by making sure you are giving clear and simple definitions of new words and supporting them in learning new words.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Want to give your children a major learning advantage? (Of course! Who doesn't?!)

Here's how...

Help them build their vocabulary! Kids with a large vocabulary understand more of what they read and hear. So big vocabulary=big learning! Exploring new words on a regular basis is one of the best ways parents can support learning at home.

Try these classroom-tested vocabulary building tips with your kids at home:

1. Notice new words when you're reading or listening. Talk about the importance of a large vocabulary and make an effort to learn new words.

2. Talk about what to do when we discover unknown words. (Hint: Don't just skip them.) Try using context clues or use another resource to find the meaning. Teach kids to locate words in the dictionary or use an online resource...

3. But focus on kid-friendly definitions and examples of new words rather than complicated dictionary-style definitions. (Note to parents and teachers: Please don't make kids look up long lists of words in the dictionary and copy long definitions. I remember doing that monotonous task as a kid, and it did NOT inspire a love of vocabulary.)

4. Keep track of the words you know. List them. Categorize them. Play games with them. Revisit them. Kids often need multiple exposures to words in order to really learn them.

5. Focus on learning the right kinds of words. Pick words that are more complex or descriptive versions of common words that kids already know. (For example, descriptive adjectives and verbs.) Also, focus on technical words kids need in order to understand a concept or a task that they are currently learning about.

6. Learn common roots, prefixes and suffixes to SUPER SIZE vocabulary knowledge. When you learn one word part, you'll begin to easily recognize many more words with the same word parts.

7. Interact with the words in some way. Draw their meaning. Act them out. Make them come alive so you'll remember them.

8. Try to find concrete examples of new words whenever possible to make meaning more clear.

9. Relate words to real life experiences. Make them meaningful and make connections with new vocabulary.

10. Read. A lot! Read all sorts of books, signs on the wall, directions, recipes... A wide variety of reading material will expose kids to a wide variety of new words.

Also, if your kids love word searches as much as mine do, check out this set of 12 word searches focusing on common root words. On each page, kids read the definitions of five related words and determine what they all have in common. (Each word shares the same root word, or relates to the meaning of the root word in some way.) Then they unscramble the words, and find them in the word search puzzle.
And here are a few more great vocabulary learning resources:
This post contains affiliate links which means I receive a small commission on items purchased through the links at no additional charge to you. Thanks!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Vocabulary Building: Ten Tips for Parents - Home Literacy Blueprint

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ten tips for parents to help kids with building vocabulary at home.

# data[].attributes.body
This article includes the home activity suggested as well as four more ideas to help increase reading fluency at home. While this article doesn't go into differing needs of students the adjustments you may need to do are lowering the complexity of the text you read. Or reading text that has larger font for your student to focus on.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reading is one of the most important components of language learning and education. It forms the basis for learning how to read - only to learn from what we read. While most children gain the fundamentals of reading by the time they are in second grade, not every child develops the ability to read fluently. Reading fluency is more or less a skill that enables the reader to read quickly, accurately, and with expression.

If your child is struggling to read fluently, there are many strategies you can use at home to support this critical, lifelong skill. Don't worry! Any child who struggles with reading fluency can improve with practice, attention, and consistent feedback. Here are a few simple ways to get your kids reading pages and pages of text with absolute confidence.

1. Model fluent reading

Young children are naturally pretty fast learners. The one thing that we often overlook is their ability to learn from others. One of the best ways to improve a child's reading fluency is to model it for him. Let the child see and hear what fluent reading should sound like. Make sure you include plenty of expressions and emotion while reading and model proper phrasing and pacing. Then ask your child to read the same passage in the same style or manner as you did.

2. Stopwatch readings

Another strategy that works for improving reading speed, which is also a major part of fluency, is asking your child to read a given passage in a set time frame. Here's how it's done: Set a stopwatch for one minute, and have your child read a passage with as few errors as possible. Notice where your child stops or breaks his fluency and work on improving those areas. Perhaps there was a word he couldn't pronounce. Ask him to repeatedly pronounce the word after learning the meaning. Then once again, ask your child to read the passage with the timer set to one minute. This time the reading should be faster!

The one minute read works because it is a manageable chunk of time and your child will be able to practice several repeated reads in a row without losing focus or interest.

Use a graph to track the number of words your child read per minute, along with the number of errors and challenging words. Your child will be excited to know he/she is improving, so be sure to celebrate improvements regularly.

3. Choral read aloud sessions

"Choral reading," is when a teacher or parent reads aloud and asks the children to follow at the same pace. Choral reading is another way to show your child what fluent reading should sound like. Choosing a book at the child's independent reading level will make it easier for him/her to keep up with the accuracy and pace.

4. Marked reading

Take a passage and ask your child to read while you silently follow on a copy of that same passage. Mark places where your child made mistakes (mispronunciation, skipped words, etc.) and keep practicing these words and passages. This can be done during the stop watch reading exercise or a read aloud activity.

To track progress, mark the number of errors and challenging words each time the passage is read. Again, remember to celebrate progress with prizes and/or praise.

5. Re-read favorite books

Always encourage your child to re-read favorite books. Some parents or teachers discourage children from reading the same books again and again in an attempt to expose them to new information. However, constantly reading new material doesn't help reading fluency at all. In fact, the more accustomed to reading a particular book your child is, the more fluent he becomes at reading it. This gives them the confidence, accuracy, and speed needed to read fluently without focusing on just reading and instead more on comprehending and mimicking expressions.

Lastly, the best way to improve children's reading fluency is by encouraging them to read more often while keeping speed, accuracy, and expression in mind. The more they read, the better they get! Modeling positive reading behavior sets the tone for reading in your household.
Martin Berk is a well-trained personal tutor hailing from Los Angeles. He works as a senior editor at an online company offering the services of expert coursework writers UK . He's also an avid reader and a wannabe blogger with keen interest in teaching, tech and education, etc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 ways parents can increase reading fluency | Reading Partners | Reading Partners

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reading fluency is a practiced skill. Parents can help their kids increase reading fluency by using these easy, at-home strategies.

# data[].attributes.body
This article gives some ideas of how to help encourage comprehension at home. I like the idea of a family book club as it lets the whole family connect over the same thing. I also like the suggestion of audio books for children who may struggle with reading. This is a good adjustment as well for students who need extra support in reading.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Developing strong reading comprehension skills is crucial to your child's future success. But many children struggle to master these important skills in the classroom. The good news is that there are plenty of ways for parents to help their children improve reading skills outside of the classroom. Here's how parents can help with reading comprehension at home:

Start A Family Book Club

Use Online Reading Comprehension Worksheets

There are a number of websites that allow parents to print reading comprehension worksheets for free. Each worksheet will include a short passage followed by questions about the passage.

Ask your child to complete these worksheets so they can practice their reading comprehension skills at home. The more they practice, the more they will improve their reading comprehension skills.

Create Graphic Organizers

If your child is a visual learner, creating a graphic organizer is a great way to improve their reading comprehension skills .

There are several ways to use graphic organizers to improve your child's reading comprehension skills. For example, create Venn diagrams to compare and contrast characters in a story. Or create a storyboard that shows the sequence of events that took place in the story.

Creating these graphic organizers can help your child understand the relationship between characters and events, the chronological order of events, and other concepts.

Play Audio Books

Some children are auditory learners, so they may benefit from listening to audio books . Instruct your child to follow along with the narrator while you play an audio book. Auditory learners may be able to extract more meaning from the text by listening and following along as opposed to reading independently.

Encourage All Types of Reading

Practice is the key to improving reading comprehension , so encourage your children to practice as much as possible. Don't limit your children to books, either. Encourage them to read anything they may find interesting, which may include comic books, newspapers, and magazines.

Focus On Your Child's Favorite Topics

Studies show that reading multiple books on the same topic can actually help your child improve their reading comprehension skills more than reading multiple books on various topics.

Use this research to your advantage by finding books related to your child's favorite topics. Does your child love baseball? If so, check out a handful of different baseball-themed books from the local library. Is your child interested in the solar system? Find five or six books on the planets.

Discuss the books with your child once you're done reading. Ask your child to compare and contrast the books to check their comprehension and keep them engaged.

Compare Books and Movies

Download the Readability App

Let your child work on their reading comprehension skills anytime, anywhere with the Readability app, which is available for Apple and Android devices.

Readability's Interactive Voice-Based Questions & Answers (IVQA) feature allows your child to communicate with the app just like they would with a reading tutor. The app will ask your child questions about the text and listen to their answers to keep them engaged and improve their reading comprehension skills.

You can even keep a close eye on your child's progress using the parent dashboard, which will . Use the dashboard to watch as your child drastically track your child's pronunciation accuracy, comprehension, and time spent reading improves their reading comprehension skills over time using this innovative app.

Download the app on your smartphone or tablet to start your free 7-day trial today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Parents Can Help With Reading Comprehension At Home

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn how parents can help with reading comprehension at home so you can improve your child's crucial reading skills.

# data[].attributes.body
Because I am using the unpaid version I am unable to upload the video to my padlet. I will include my video in my word document instead.