Tyler and I enjoy reading together. Reading has always been a part of his life. I firmly believe that the reason he reads so well is because I’ve always had reading material sprinkled around the house. He assumed that everyone had reading blocks at their house and was surprised to find out this is not the case.
Initially for our reading block, I read to him. When he started reading independently, he would read a few books to himself while I read a few pages from one of my books and then I would read a book to him. The past few months I have been reading chapter books and he has really enjoyed each one. Although targeted for older kids, Tyler is able to follow the plot and he actually sits still for the two chapters I read each night.
Lately, our routine is for him to read one book to me, and then I read one book and two chapters of a chapter book. While at the library last week I came across a book called, You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You. If you can snag a copy of this book from your local library, please do so. There are actually several books in the series so your local branch may have different stories.
These books are great for family story time. As the name implies the parent and child read the book together. The text is in three different colors. When the text is one color the parent reads that part, when it’s another the child reads. The third color the parent and child read together, generally the last few lines. We had a ball reading this little book, which was a book about well-known fairy tales with characters from the stories talking to each other about the story. It’s a great way for your little ones to practice reading aloud. It was also a great way for Tyler to practice following along as I read because he had to be ready to read his part when it was his time.
If you are looking for more ways to incorporate family reading time into your daily routine, read these blogs:
Finding Books for Family Storytime