Reading is reading

Back when I was learning to read, we had to expand our palette of reading. There was no question of if you hated reading, like I did, or if you weren’t good at it, also like me. There was an expectation that you read it all. The teacher side of me knows that we need to challenge kids to read genres they don’t like to expand their minds, but the mother in me thinks that’s a waste of time. I remember myself such an immense sense of guilt and failure when it came to not finishing a book, even if I truly hated it. So my husband gave me his rule: get to 100 pages, if you still hate it, then drop it. As usual, I digress. So let’s talk about reading with kids. If you have older children who have a genre they like, let’s say graphic novels. Every time you head to the library or bookstore store that’s all they want, my goodness, please just let them get their fill.

Reading is reading, is reading, is reading.

Let’s talk about the reality of reading in school. If done right, your children are reading lots of different things all the time. Eventually, the plan is to teach them how to read and then let them find their reading genre. If all they do in their free time with reading is read about football or Nancy Drew mysteries, so what? Ask yourself, “Are they reading?” If the answer is yes, then let them.

What’s happening while they read something they like?

When your child reads what they like, they are gaining confidence in reading, while also working on fluency, probably gaining some new vocabulary words, and most of all, the engagement with the text helps their comprehension. Your little reader (LR) will likely just be eating up whatever they are reading. Meaning you can have some pretty dope reading conversations with your LR because they are engaged. Use this to your advantage.

Why does this matter?

All of the reading helps cement all the lessons you are working so hard on, to gain a foothold in their little minds. You want the neuro pathways for all the elements (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension) to root deep. These roots only come with practice.

How do you expand?

Okay, I have a friend whose child really likes graphic novels. It’s the basis for this post, but she worries that her LR is not doing enough or expanding enough (I’m inferring), so when her LR gets a new graphic novel, she wonders if they are doing enough.

Of course, the LR is, because it’s practice; however, if she wants to expand the LR's mind, then she can ask them to do a book report. Summer is a good time to practice this. So have your child pick the topic, that’s your buy-in. Also, ice cream can help. Create questions, let’s say,

“New fact I learned, Old fact I knew, something that shocked me, what questions do I still have?”

This can just be simply answering the questions, but it also can be a paper that you have them write you. This report will greatly aid comprehension. They also may hate you a little, but it’s for a good cause.

You can also use THIS bookmark template to have them stop and ask questions during reading to expand comprehension.

Happy reading with those LR!