Family Book Club

Maximize the chances of reading together as a family with these tips:

• Set aside a consistent time each day for reading together. Make it part of a routine (such as at bedtime) or add it onto daily activities (such as bath or snack time, laundry folding).
• Take books with you out of the home too. Keep a book in your purse, car or shopping bag so you can read at a moment's notice.
• Add audiobooks to the mix. Listening to audiobooks counts as reading! Audiobooks allow the whole family to listen while doing other things (such as chores or driving) and are a great option for families with reading challenges.
• Keep books in the house within reach. If books are visible, such as in your living room or by your bedside, you’re more likely to make family reading time happen. Borrowing books from EPL is an affordable and easy way to fill your home with great read alouds.
• Prioritize quality over quantity. Make reading fun so always stop when it's no longer enjoyable. Treat reading time as a reward rather than a chore. Say, “let’s snuggle up together with a book" versus “you must get your home reading done or screen time is cancelled”.

Set yourself up for success with these tips:

• Allow children time to settle in and transition into reading time. Pulling them away from another activity without transition is more likely to make reading feel like a chore rather than a reward.
• Keep hands busy. Many children listen better when their hands are doing something else. Offer your child an activity or fidget while they listen to you read aloud. Some examples include drawing, colouring, playing with playdoh, eating snacks and building with Lego.

When we read aloud to our children, we do the heavy lifting of decoding sounds and interpreting rhythm and vocal cues. This frees children to fall in love with the story. 3 Model fluent reading with these tips:

• Use expression when you’re reading. Be animated by changing the tone of your voice to fit what you're reading (e.g. happy, sad, yelling, whispering).
• Pause at periods and commas. Change your voice inflection at question marks and exclamation marks. Show what you do when you come to a word that you don’t know.
• Read in your home language. Reading in the language you are most comfortable in (the language you speak at home) helps your child learn English. If reading in any language is challenging for the adults in your family, listen to audiobooks instead.

Reading together with your child is a time to share ideas and deepen their thinking. Encourage discussion with these tips:

• Sprinkle in discussion. Talk about what you read whenever it feels natural, even long after you’ve finished reading.
• Use discussion prompts (questions that help start conversation). This shouldn’t feel like homework so keep them light and open ended so your child can't answer them with a "yes" or "no" answer.
• Use reading time to have conversations on topics that may not otherwise come up. “In many ways, every book is a kind of self-help book for kids.” 4 Personalize the conversation by connecting the book to a memory or talking about your dreams. This can help families get to know each other better.
• Bring the author of the book to life. Read their bio on their personal webpage or on the book’s dust jacket. Use Book Connections available through EPL to get everything you need to know about a book.
• Have conversations about books with other families and their children. Show your child that outside conversations and connections about books are meaningful. Has anyone else in their class read the same book? What do they think about it?