November is "Celebrate Reading" month.
Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don't, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.
Parents are by far the most important educators in a child’s life and it's never too young for a child to start, even if you're only reading to, or with your child for a few minutes a day. Even before they're born, babies learn to recognize their parents' voices. Reading to your baby from the time they're born gives them the comfort of your voice and increases their exposure to language.
As children start to learn to read at school, you can play an important role in helping them become interested in books. Find out what interests them and help them find books that will be engaging and fun for them. Encourage them to practice reading the books they bring home from school.
Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out printed letters. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a rich and wide vocabulary. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read. It's important for them to understand how stories work as well. Even if your child doesn’t understand every word, they'll hear new sounds, words and phrases, which they can then try out, copying what they have heard.
Reading Comprehension
Without comprehension, the words on the page have no meaning. And while people read for many different reasons, the chief goal is to derive some understanding of what the writer is trying to convey and make use of that information – whether for fact gathering, learning a new skill, or for pleasure. That’s why reading comprehension skills are so important.
"Practice makes perfect" applies fully to the process of reading. Basics of reading include word recognition and fluency. Students can mimic the words on a page but if they don’t have the necessary comprehension skills, they will not be able to understand the content, sequence or characters, clarify confusing parts of the text, or connect what they’re reading to their own experience or prior knowledge. All this defines what true reading comprehension is about.
The dangers of functional illiteracy
Functional illiteracy is a term that applies to people who can read and write in some capacity, but their reading comprehension level is so low they can’t manage the every day aspects of life. Poor reading comprehension skills have also been linked to poverty and crime. Consider these facts as researched by the Read to Grow organization:
And even more alarming:
These statistics send a message that is loud and clear: developing strong reading comprehension skills is essential for a rich academic, professional, and personal life. Living safely and productively is only one of the many outcomes of proper reading comprehension skills. Being able to derive meaning from the written word also enables students to develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally – something we all want for our children.