The short answer is, very important. While it might be an annoying battle to fight, the benefits of daily reading – especially for elementary school age kids – is huge.
Reading just 20 minutes per day can expose students to roughly 1.8 million words a year. And, students who regularly read 20 minutes a day are more likely to score in the 90th percentile on standardized tests. Students who read five minutes a day are expose to 282,000 words a year, and tend to score in the 50th percentile on standardized tests.
Of course, test scores aren’t the only benefit to regular reading. Reading improves writing skills, boosts critical thinking skills, and encourages empathy and emotional intelligence. Reading is also a great stress relief – and a nice break from screens!
As a parent of two boys, I know the battle of making kids read – especially when they are just learning and it is a challenge. Here are some ways to support your early reader in their at-home reading practice.
1. Read with them. Reading isn’t a do as I say, not as I do. If your kids see you enjoying a good book, they’re more likely to pick up a book. It’s tough when we’re so busy doing everything else, but it also becomes a nice break for you!
2. Don’t make reading a timed punishment. Set aside daily reading time, but make it fun. Let them read with a flashlight under a blanket. Get them reading during their snack time, so they look forward to it. Don’t have a snack time? Create a fun snack time just for reading time.
3. Let them read what they want to read. My son was obsessed with Diary of a Wimpy Kid all the way through fifth grade. His teachers wouldn’t let him read it at school because it was “too low” (by the way, it isn’t). That got to be his book that he read at home. He read each book, over and over again. And you know what? He was consistently reading 2-3 grades above his level. Clearly, it didn’t impact his literacy development.
4. Bribery doesn’t hurt. I had a student whose dad paid him $5 for every chapter book he read. That kid was MOTIVATED! He read so many more books than his peers, and his reading level improved from two levels below grade level to above grade level. Sometimes a little bribery works.
5. Extend bedtime for reading time. This works better with little kids, but I used to “let” them have a later bedtime if they were going to read in their room before bed. Of course, it was the time I planned for them to go to bed anyway, but it got them reading!
6. Take turns. If your child is just learning to read, it takes a lot of mental energy just to decode the words. By the time they’ve decoded a sentence, they’ve forgotten what they read. That can make reading work, not fun. Try switching pages – or even paragraphs – in the early stages. They read a page, you read a page. That will help them get more engaged in the story, so it is less work.
Don’t make at home reading a battle. Try to find ways to make it fun. There are so many books out there, that your kid is bound to find a genre they like to read. Once they find it, they’ll be hooked!
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