TEACHING TUESDAY [05.16.23]
Welcome to Teaching Tuesday! If you are new here, I’m a former teacher, have a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and am now a homeschool mom. You can read more about that journey here.
Every Tuesday I’m going to share an at home learning idea for preschool and elementary age kids, new curriculum resources and a freebie or two!
If you have a struggling or reluctant reader, one way to increase their confidence and the reading endurance is to create an independent reading time where they read aloud to their stuffies. We started this in January and I love seeing his confidence grow each time. We set a time for 5 minutes to start and he would read a book that he’s already familiar with aloud to his stuffies. If he finished that book, he’d start another. We have gradually increased the time each week and now he’s up to 15 minutes.
Here’s a couple of ways that this practice will help your child:
There’s no pressure. The child is reading to stuffed animals, therefore they don’t experience any perceived judgement.
By reading a story that they are already familiar with, they are practicing reading fluency and word automaticity. It’s ok if they read the same exact story everyday for a week. Each time they read it, the words are becoming more automatic for their brain to recognize and recall.
It’s a great way to practice setting goals and experiencing pretty quick achievement, which will boost the child’s confidence. If they only read half of the story in 5 minutes the first day, set a goal to read to one additional page the next day.
Here are new resources that I’ve been working on this week!
