This is an informative article on how to create and decorate a reading nook especially for you and your children. According to the National Children’s Reading Foundation’s website, “Just 20 minutes a day reading aloud to young children promotes family bonding, encourages listening and language skills, and gives children a strong reading foundation.”

Decorating a Reading Nook

A Corner to Read Aloud to Your Children

By Pamela Cole Harris

Decorating a reading nook or corner can be an investment in your child’s future. When children discover books, a new world opens up to them, both now and in the future. According to the National Children’s Reading Foundation “Just 20 minutes a day reading aloud to young children promotes family bonding, encourages listening and language skills, and gives children a strong reading foundation.” One of the ways you can promote your child’s love of reading is to make intimate one-on-one time in a space decorated just for sitting and reading with your children. Don’t have a space? Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Room for all. Find an overstuffed chair wide enough for the two of you. An ideal chair is a chair and a half, which is slightly smaller than a loveseat and ideal if you are reading to several children. Kids love to snuggle with their parents! (And parents love to snuggle with their kids!)

2. Reading light. Make sure that there is proper lighting near your chair. Use soft, reader-friendly bulbs in lamps which are the correct position to prevent light from shining directly at eye height. You don’t want to read with glare in your eyes.

3. Tableside. Find a table to put beside the chair to hold the lamp, glasses or additional books. Make it sturdy enough so that kids cannot accidentally tip it over when climbing on your lap and big enough to hold a cup of tea.

4. Bookcase. Buy or build bookcases to put near the chair at a height just short enough that your child’s favorite books are easily accessible. This makes it easy to have your child choose a favorite book for reading together.

5. Footstool. An ottoman or footstool is a wonderful place to comfortably rest your feet while reading. And when your child is older and thinks he has outgrown snuggling, it is a perfect place for him/her to sit.

6. Bean bags. As your child gets older and is reading on his own, invest in bean bag chairs. Children love to “slouch” in bean bags and read. If bean bags aren’t available, an alternative may be a rug or maybe even a big pillow on the floor. The most important thing is that your child is comfortable.

It’s easy to turn a small space in your home into a cozy reading nook for your children. And there is a bonus – in this era of computer games and cellphone, a quiet corner is also a great space for Mom and Dad to spend reading that latest summer page-turner.

How To Read Aloud to Your Child

By Elizabeth Kennedy

When you read aloud to your child, is it a rewarding experience or an exercise in frustration? Here are some ways to help ensure an enjoyable experience for both of you when you read aloud, with children’s books that make great read alouds and effective reading aloud techniques.

You don’t have to wait for your baby to get to a certain age to begin reading children’s books to him. Start now!

Continue reading aloud to your child until he is at least 10 years old. Children continue to benefit from listening to others read long after they themselves have learned to read children’s books.

For young children, children’s books with rhyme, rhythm and repetition are excellent. Be sure to read Mother Goose rhymes often.

Be consistent about reading aloud to your child. Do it daily and, if possible, about the same time every day. Reading children’s books right before bedtime often works well.

If you have several small children, you can read to them together. Picture books work well for this.

Don’t be surprised if your children want to hear a favorite children’s book again and again. That’s fine. As they get to really know the story well, have them fill in words for you.

Try to choose children’s books that are above your child’s reading level but at the child’s interest level.

Some children love reading about the same characters. If that’s what your child likes, choose several short books in a series or a longer chapter book. Reading a chapter a night works well.

Vary the subject matter of what you read as well as the type. In addition to fiction, you might also read poetry, magazine articles and non-fiction.

Try to find children’s books that match your child’s interests. Get suggestions from the children’s librarian at your school or public library. Check with a bookseller at your favorite bookstore.

If your children are several years apart you will need to read to them individually as they get older to ensure that each children’s book you choose is at the appropriate reading and interest level for each child.

As your child gets older and gains in reading ability, occasionally pick a book right at her reading level and take turns reading to one another.

Tips:

When reading a chapter of a children’s book each night, always review what happened in the previous night’s chapter before starting a new chapter.

When you begin reading aloud to a baby, you will only be able to keep your baby’s attention for a few minutes. That’s to be expected.

As children mature, so do their attention spans.

What You Need:

* children’s books
* time
* enthusiasm

How Can I Help My Child Be Ready to Read and Ready to Learn?

Reading Tips for Parents articles by ED.gov

* Talk to your infant and toddler to help him learn to speak and understand the meaning of words. Point to objects that are near and describe them as you play and do daily activities together. Having a large vocabulary gives a child a great start when he enters school.
* Read to your baby every day starting at six months of age. Reading and playing with books is a wonderful way to spend special time with her. Hearing words over and over helps her become familiar with them. Reading to your baby is one of the best ways to help her learn.
* Use sounds, songs, gestures and words that rhyme to help your baby learn about language and its many uses. Babies need to hear language from a human being. Television is just noise to a baby.
* Point out the printed words in your home and other places you take your child such as the grocery store. Spend as much time listening to your child as you do talking to him.
* Take children’s books and writing materials with you whenever you leave home. This gives your child fun activities to entertain and occupy him while traveling and going to the doctor’s office or other appointments.
* Create a quiet, special place in your home for your child to read, write and draw. Keep books and other reading materials where your child can easily reach them.
* Help your child see that reading is important. Set a good example for your child by reading books, newspapers and magazines.
* Limit the amount and type of television you and your child watch. Better yet, turn off the television and spend more time cuddling and reading books with your child. The time and attention you give your child has many benefits beyond helping him be ready for success in school.
* Reach out to libraries and community and faith-based organizations. These organizations can:

o Help you find age-appropriate books to use at home with yourchild;
o Show you creative ways to use books with your child and other tips to help her learn; and
o Provide year-round children’s reading and educational activities.

HELP MY CHILD READ

Typical Language Accomplishments for Children, Birth to Age 6 — Helping Your Child Become a Reader

Learning to read is built on a foundation of language skills that children start to learn at birth–a process that is both complicated and amazing. Most children develop certain skills as they move through the early stages of learning language. By age 7, most children are reading.

The following list of accomplishments is based on current scientific research in the fields of reading, early childhood education, and child development [ *** ] . Studies continue in their fields, and there is still much still to learn. As you look over the accomplishments, keep in mind that children vary a great deal in how they develop and learn. If you have questions or concerns about your child’s progress, talk with the child’s doctor, teacher, or a speech and language therapist. For children with any kind of disability or learning problem, the sooner they can get the special help they need, the easier it will be for them to learn.

From birth to age 3, most babies and toddlers become able to:

* Make sounds that imitate the tones and rhythms that adults use when talking.
* Respond to gestures and facial expressions.
* Begin to associate words they hear frequently with what the words mean.
* Make cooing, babbling sounds in the crib, which gives way to enjoying rhyming and nonsense word games with a parent or caregiver.
* Play along in games such as “peek-a-boo” and “pat-a-cake.”
* Handle objects such as board books and alphabet blocks in their play.
* Recognize certain books by their covers.
* Pretend to read books.
* Understand how books should be handled.
* Share books with an adult as a routine part of life.
* Name some objects in a book.
* Talk about characters in books.
* Look at pictures in books and realize they are symbols of real things.
* Listen to stories.
* Ask or demand that adults read or write with them.
* Begin to pay attention to specific print such as the first letters of their names.
* Scribble with a purpose (trying to write or draw something).
* Produce some letter-like forms and scribbles that resemble, in some way, writing.

From ages 3-4, most preschoolers become able to:

* Enjoy listening to and talking about storybooks.
* Understand that print carries a message.
* Make attempts to read and write.
* Identify familiar signs and labels.
* Participate in rhyming games.
* Identify some letters and make some letter-sound matches.
* Use known letters (or their best attempt to write the letters) to represent written language especially for meaningful words like their names or phrases such as “I love you.”

At age 5, most kindergartners become able to:

* Sound as if they are reading when they pretend to read.
* Enjoy being read to.
* Retell simple stories.
* Use descriptive language to explain or to ask questions.
* Recognize letters and letter-sound matches.
* Show familiarity with rhyming and beginning sounds.
* Understand that print is read left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
* Begin to match spoken words with written ones.
* Begin to write letters of the alphabet and some words they use and hear often.
* Begin to write stories with some readable parts.

At age 6, most first-graders can:

* Read and retell familiar stories.
* Use a variety of ways to help with reading a story such as rereading, predicting what will happen, asking questions, or using visual cues or pictures.
* Decide on their own to use reading and writing for different purposes;
* Read some things aloud with ease.
* Identify new words by using letter-sound matches, parts of words and their understanding of the rest of a story or printed item.
* Identify an increasing number of words by sight.
* Sound out and represent major sounds in a word when trying to spell.
* Write about topics that mean a lot to them.
* Try to use some punctuation marks and capitalization.