How do children become good readers?

First let's talk about what is happening in our schools. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has designed that all children read fluently by the time they reach third grade and to also help close the gap in literacy achievement between the rich and the poor. This act also provides federal funding through the reading First program to the schools that comply with specific requirements. It is true that good teacher make a difference in how our kids learn to read. However as a parent I think that learning to read and love to read starts at home. I never had the opportunities that my child has now, I don't remember my mom or dad reading to me when I was younger. I think that if they paid a little more attention on my education and not depend on the teachers I would have been a better reader. Yet my parents were giving me everything they could and believed that the teachers would help me and teach me. While all this is true, starting early by just reading at home at night with your child could help greatly.
When learning about the importance of reading to your child, one of my classes told gave me as an assignment the book Reading Magic the book started off by talking about how she got started in writing this book about the benefits of reading aloud. She stated “if reading aloud had had such a powerful impact on my child’s life and on her ability to learn to read, I felt I had no business keeping it a secret.” She then talked about showing the power of reading aloud; she had the opportunity to work with a child that she had never met before. The parents didn’t know that, their child would be able to read just by hearing them read to them. She then went to talk about the benefits of reading to your child. That if you read to your child or your child has had an experience with books then that child will be better off than most. She stated in one of her chapters that “children’s brains are only 25 percent developed at birth. From that moment whenever a baby is fed, cuddled, played with, talked to, snug to, or read to, the other 75 percent of its brain begins to develop.”

She also stated that the best time to read to a child is when they are born. Having that bond with a child not only will allow them to be able to read sooner but will love to read. This will not be a hassle of like homework to them but rather a joyous occasion were they can have some time with their care givers. She also stated that there is no one way to read to your child. That it didn’t matter what time of day you did it. That she read to her daughter during the night time before bed. Yet that’s not what everyone one has to do. If parents have a night job and the only time they have to read to their child is during the day, then that’s the best time to read. As long as parents are taking time off from their busy time to stop and read with their child. Yet she did say that when we are reading to our children we have to make the most of it. That we should not only read but ask questions, play games, make mistakes to that they could correct us. The author talked about the three different secrets to reading.

The first secret is the secret of magic of print, “this secret id the ability to recognize and make sense of the many little squiggles on a page.” The second secret is the magic of language, “ we can’t read well without understanding the meaning of words, without understanding the clever ways words link to form sentences.” And the third secret is magic of general knowledge, which is all the information that we have from when we were born to now. When all these secrets come together the child then starts to read.
I really enjoyed this book, as a child I was never read to so I didn’t like reading, yet when my baby was born I decided that I would do things different. I am so glad that I made that choice because my child is 3 years old and she is reading. The book was as if I wrote it. I agree with all that the author said, my child and I have a great bond and she craves reading. We read three books every night without knowing I was doing something correct I always chose a book she could read, one that she loved and my choice which is a difficult book. Till I read this I thought that it was just because I thought it would be a good idea , yet now I know the back ground and the importance of choosing those books in that order. She stated “the ideal three stories a day are one favorite, one familiar, and one new, but the same.” I was shocked that I was doing something right without even thinking about it. I was reading to my daughter since she was in my stomach, my husband always said that she could not hear me yet I knew better. I remember having her in my lap when she was born reading books of baby Einstein followed by a baby Einstein movie. I will always remember those times and I really believe that she will as well. I really enjoyed this book and will recommend it to others.

When in classroom create a supportive environment; first a positive attitude, children come to school with many different attitudes toward reading so its up to the teacher to make it positive. Many of the students have been read to at home, others will come from homes where reading is practiced differently or where books are unavailable. Engagement; make sure that when creating lessons they are engaging in reading. Motivation; make sure that you keep your students motivated in reading when motivation increases students want to spend more time reading. Self-Selected let your students give you ideas on what kind of books they would like to have in their class library, allow the students to go to the class library. I have been in classrooms where the teacher had a great classroom library yet the students hardly ever used it. What a waste of great books. Time for reading is a big one, I know that as a teacher one has so many responsibilities, lessons and activities that they have to jam pack in one day of 6 hours yet giving time to the students to just read or look at the book will give them a much more desire to read.