Reading Tips
10 Tips to Help Your Child Succeed in School
Every child has the power to succeed in school--and in life. And every parent, family member or caregiver can help. See these tips and activities to help your child acquire the skills to succeed in school.
TIP 1: Encourage Your Child to Read
Start early. When your child is still a baby, reading aloud to him should become part of your daily routine. At first, read for no more than a few minutes at a time, several times a day. As your child grows older, you should be able to tell if he wants you to read for longer periods.
Encourage your child to ask questions and to talk about the story. Ask him to predict what happens next to engage him further.
Make sure your home has lots of age appropriate reading materials. You can often find good books and magazines at yard or library sales. Ask family members and friends to consider books and magazine subscriptions as gifts.
Set aside quiet time for family reading. Some families even enjoy reading aloud to each other, with each family member choosing a book, story or poem to read to the others.
Show that you value reading. Let your child see you reading for pleasure and in routine activities. Go with her to the library and check out books together. When your child sees that reading is important to you, she is likely to decide that it's important to her, too.
Get help for your child if he has a reading problem. It could be as simple as needing glasses for reading. Or, your child might benefit from additional help. Ask teachers or your local librarian for names of community organizations and local literacy volunteer groups that offer tutoring services.
TIP 2: Talk with Your Child
Talking and listening play major roles in helping children learn the language skills they need to do well in school.
Talk to your about school, play and more. Ask questions and occasionally repeat key points made to demonstrate that you are listening closely.
As you shop, talk with your child about prices, differences in brands, how to select good vegetables and fruits.
Ask your child to help you prepare dinner and to help you follow the steps in a recipe. Discuss possible results should ingredients be left out.
As you complete home repairs, ask your child to hand you tools and discuss what you are doing to fix a problem. Ask for suggestions about how you should do something.
When watching TV, talk about the program and ask your child to tell you about key characters backgrounds. Share the types of programs you liked to watch when you were at the same age.
TIP 3: Monitor Homework
Let your child know that education is important and that homework must be done and reviewed with you.
Have a special place for your child to study. A desk, kitchen table or a corner of the living room works just fine. The space should have good lighting and be fairly quiet.
Set a regular time for homework to help children finish assignments. Set a schedule for younger children; allow your older child to establish his own schedule--and hold him to it.
Remove distractions. Turn off the TV and discourage phone calls during homework time. Try to schedule quiet activities during the times students in the household are working.
Don't expect or demand perfection. Praise your child's progress and, when needed, make suggestions for improvements in a positive manner.
TIP 4: Monitor TV Viewing and Video Game Play
Limit the time that you let your child watch TV. Too much television cuts into important activities in a child's life such as reading, creativity, playing with friends and spending time with family members.
Model good TV viewing habits. Children imitate their parents' behavior and if they are living in a home where parents and other family members watch a lot of television, that is how they are likely to spend their leisure time, too.
Watch TV with your child when you can. Walk about what you see and try to point out the things in TV programs that are like your child's everyday life.
When you can't watch TV with your child, spot check to see what she's watching. Ask questions to see what she likes about the program, what troubles her and what she remembers.
Limit the amount of time your child spends playing video games and monitor the content of games to ensure they are age appropriate.
TIP 5: Encourage Your Child to Use the Library
Introduce your child to the library as early as possible. Weekly library trips can be an excellent outing for even a toddler. Many libraries have evening hours to accommodate parents who work outside the home.
When you take your child to the library, introduce yourself and your child to the librarian and ask the librarian to show you around and tell you about the services the branch offers. Ask about special programs that your child might enjoy, such as summer reading programs, book clubs, story time and more.
Let your child know that she must respect and follow the library's rules of behaviors. Materials must be handled carefully and returned on time. Shouting, running and being disruptive are not appropriate library behaviors.
TIP 6: Help Your Child Learn to Use the Internet Properly and Effectively
For children to succeed today, they must be able to use the Internet. Here are some suggestions for helping you child maximize the Web for learning.
Spend time online with your child. Ask her to explain what she is doing and why. Ask her to show you her favorite Web sites and to tell you what she likes about them. This will help her build self-confidence and pride in her abilities and ensure you have a comfort level with the sites she is visiting.
Help your child locate appropriate Web sites. Point her in the direction of sites that can help her with homework or that relate to her interests. Pay attention to any games your child may download or copy from the Internet. Some games contain violence or sexual content inappropriate for children. Resources such as GetNetWise (http://www.ala.org/ICONN/familiesconnect.html), a service of the American Library Association, can provide you more information and help you with Internet choices.
Monitor the amount of time your child spends online. Internet surfing can be just as time consuming as watching TV. Have your child place a clock near the computer and keep track of how much time is spent online.
Teach you child rules for using the Internet safely. Children should never do the following:
- Tell anyone, including friends, computer passwords.
- Use bad language or send cruel, threatening or untrue e-mail messages.
- Give out any personal information, including names, home address, phone number, age, school name.
- Finally, your child should understand that he should never arrange to meet a stranger that he has met in a chat room.
TIP 7: Encourage Your Child to Be Responsible and to Work Independently
Taking responsibility and working independently are important qualities or school success. Here are some suggestions for helping your child to develop these qualities.
Establish rules. Every home needs reasonable rules that children know and can depend on. Have your child help you to set rules, then enforce them consistently.
Teach your child accountability. If a teacher reports the child is disruptive in class, ask for his side of the story. If a charge is true, let your child take the consequences for his actions.
Work with your child to establish a reasonable, consistent schedule of jobs to do around the house. Making a contribution to the household builds self esteem.
Make your child responsible for getting ready for school each morning. Getting up on time, packing her supplies and homework, etc. If necessary, provide a checklist to help her remember.
TIP 8: Encourage Active Learning
Active learning involves asking and answering questions, solving problems and exploring interests. Active learning also takes place when your child plays sports, spends time with friends, acts in a school play, plays a musical instrument or visit museums and bookstores.
To promote active learning, listen to your child's ideas and respond to them. Let him jump in with questions and opinions when you read books together. When you encourage this type of give-and-take at home, your child's participation and interest in school is likely to increase.
TIP 9: Help Your Child with Test-Taking
Talk with your child about testing. It's helpful for children to understand why schools give tests and to know the different kinds of tests they will take.
Explain that tests are yardsticks that are used to measured what teachers are teaching and how students are learning. Most tests are designed to measure students' progress in a course. The results tell teachers and schools where students need extra help or where they are ahead of other students.
Meet with your child's teacher as often as possible to discuss progress. Ask the teacher to suggest activities for you and your child to do at home to help prepare for tests and to improve your child's understanding of schoolwork.
Provide a quiet, comfortable place for studying and make sure your child is well rested on school days--especially the day of a test.
Don't place undue emphasis on your child's test scores. Too much pressure can affect test performance.
Help your child avoid test anxiety. Here are a few tips to share:
- Plan ahead. Start studying well in advance. Review the material more than once.
- Don't "cram" the night before. This is likely increase your anxiety which will interfere with clear thinking.
- Get a good night's sleep.
- When you begin the test, read the instructions carefully before you begin work. If you don't understand, ask the teacher to explain.
- Look quickly at the entire test to see what types of questions are on it (multiple choice, true/false, essay). See if different questions are worth different numbers of points to help you determine how much time to spend on each part of the test.
- If you don't know the answer to a question, skip it and move on. Mark it and, if you have time at the end of test, return to it and try again.
TIP 10: Improving Study Habits
1. Set a schedule and stick to it. If there is no homework on a specific day, your child can use the time to work on longer term projects.
2. Help your children get organized. Give them a calendar on which to record assignments and to track their progress.
3. Provide reinforcement.
4. Offer help. Parents should be available to answer questions that might come up. They should try to provide information without actually doing the work themselves.
5. Teach you child that studying is more than just doing homework assignments. Encourage your child to do things like:
- take notes while reading a chapter
- learn to skim materials
- learn to study tables and charts
- learn to summarize materials in his own words
- learn to make his own flashcards for quick review of dates, formulas, spelling words, etc.
This information is in the public domain. Books, magazines and programs are mentioned as examples and are only a few of many appropriate resources. Listing and materials and resources in the book should not be construed or interpreted as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education or any private organziation or business listed herein.
