How can parents be supportive at home?

Teachers and parents should work together to ensure that students are strengthening their reading skills and are meeting milestones each year, so they are ready to advance to the next grade. There are multiple ways to support your child’s reading outside of the classroom.

1. Read something every day. Reading just 20 minutes each day can help your child’s reading skills.
2. Choose books of interest to your child to read.
3. Ask your child questions about what they read. Talking about the words in the book
   helps them understand what they are reading.
4. Make sure books are accessible. Your child will be more likely to pick up a book and read if they are out in the open and easy to find.
5. Sing rhyming songs, read rhyming books, and say tongue twisters with your child. This helps them learn new sounds in words.
6. Talk to your child. Use trips to the grocery store, dinnertime chats, and driving in the car as an opportunity to introduce new words and practice their speaking skills.
7. Talk about letters and sounds. Help your child learn the names of the letters and the sounds the letters make.
8. Have your child write. Writing grocery lists, notes, or letters helps children connect spoken words to written words.
9. Take advantage of community resources. Ask your child’s teacher or school librarian for help picking out books. Visit your local library for events and programs like reading clubs.
10. Reading doesn’t end when the school year ends. Help prevent the “summer slide” by reading over the summer months to better prepare your child for the next school year. The Nebraska Department of Education offers a Summer Reading Challenge program free to all Nebraska students.