Shared Reading at Home: The Benefits for Parents

Feb 27

1 min read

Shared reading at home is a really useful practice and has many benefits for children. In simple terms, it is reading together aloud with your child. It might be that as a parent you read aloud and the child follows along with the text or you might take it in turns to read aloud.

Benefits of Shared Reading

It is a great opportunity for children to hear what fluent and expressive reading sounds like.
It can be really fun, particularly if you use different voices for different characters and it is something you can enjoy together.
Children can ask questions about the vocabulary and you can ask them questions about the meaning if you wish to. This helps to improve their understanding of the text.
You can choose a book that they might not be able to read independently. If it is slightly above their level then they are being exposed to new vocabulary. Even if children can read independently, this is one of the main reasons that reading together aloud is so beneficial.
It's a wonderful chance to chat about books together.

Shared reading with a grandmother and a child at home.

Shared Reading Materials

Remember that it doesn't just need to be books that you read together. It could be comics, magazines, newspapers or something else different.

On Pageticker, (a digital reading record) parents and teachers will be able to record different types of reading. From the child reading on their own to shared reading.

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