The Benefits of Home Reading

All teachers across P-5 set reading as homework for your child. Here are some of the reasons why:

Language and speech development: Reading to a child makes it easier for him/her to develop speech. As a matter of fact, it is recommended that parents read to children with speech delays as it is an important part of their treatment.

Vocabulary and pronunciation: By looking at a picture in a book or seeing a word and then hearing how it is pronounced out loud, children can learn new words along with their pronunciation.

Preparing for school: Children are ready to go to school when they can attend or listen to what is being said, learn and participate in structured situations and focus in and listen to one central person in the classroom. Reading to a child is a great way to prepare a pre-schooler for the school environment. On a higher level, children will get used to hearing stories and following sentences. This will be very helpful when they start to learn about grammar and sentence structure.

Bonding time: Reading to a child is also an ideal opportunity for a parent to spend some time with their child. Reading time can be perceived as ‘their time’. Parents should spend time with their children at their level and reading an interesting children's story to them accomplishes this.

Part of a routine: Reading to children before bedtime becomes a nice pre-bedtime ritual or routine. Children tend to have an easier time going to sleep if there is a set routine. For example: brushing their teeth and having a story read to them.

Life-long benefits: As a child gets older, they will read on their own, building on the interest and experience of being read to for years. This sets off a life-long interest/aptitude in reading which comes in handy in any aspect of our lives, especially during the formative school years, through to university and beyond.

One of the modern day challenges parents are faced with relates to the ‘high-tech’ revolution of computers, the internet and video/computer games. Many will argue that these may cut into a child's reading time and interfere with parents reading to them. Children need to become technology savvy, but parents should accompany them while they work/read and learn on the computer or internet. Parents should also make sure that they reserve regular time to read a book to their children – an old fashioned, yet still very beneficial thing to do!

Mrs Sue Zweck, Head of Teaching and Learning K-5