“My new reader can read but when it's time to read, it's like pulling teeth.” If your kiddo is anything like mine, you've probably said this more than once in your lifetime. Over the past 2 years, I've tried countless strategies to build his confidence around reading.
These 5 turned out to work the best for us and we still use them to this day.
1. Alternate who reads aloud. - He reads the cover and first page, I read the next page, and so on. Depending on his confidence with the chosen book, some days he reads 2 pages and I read 2 pages.
2. I mirror him. - I allow him to take lead and almost “parrot” him while he reads.
3. Underline challenging words. - If I helped him to pronounce a word or reminded him of the reading rules, we underline that word. This works out well when you read the same book for the entire week.
4. Read books in chunks. - We read a 60-page book over the course of 5 days. For example, Day 1 - We read pages 1 - 12, Day 2 - We read pages 1 - 24, Day 3 - We read pages 1 - 36, and so on.
5. Choose interest-led books. - This one is kind of a no-brainer but I noticed when we read books that he’s genuinely interested in, there is a lot less push-back.
Fast forward to now, he is more confident and reading fluently.
I hope this helps.
Leave a comment below and let me know which strategy you’re going to try or have already implemented. I would love to hear about it.