Ways to Create a Home that Supports Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum

  1. Read for pleasure. Let your child choose any genre of reading material such as novels, magazines, articles, and picture books. Read anywhere your child chooses including out in the yard.
  2. Share a book. You and your child choose a book to read together. Talk about it, share quotes, feelings, thoughts, characters, vocabulary, and share your favorite parts of the book.
  3. Talk to your child. Share stories, life events, look through pictures and share stories that relate to the pictures. Share stories about your childhood memories.
  4. Be a storyteller. Create an imaginative story together. Select three things that together you want to include in the story and have your child make up a story that includes those things. For example, a princess, an ice cream cone, and an airplane.
  5. Take a weekly trip to the library. Try to pick books out for themes that go along with family events such as holidays, birthdays, and family and/or class trips.
  6. Set up a homework/literacy center. Find a place in your home that isa quiet learning spot. Create an organized area that includes all necessary supplies including a basket of books, pens/pencils, paper, crayons, highlighters, and post-it notes. Establish a homework routine.
  1. Read aloud. Read aloud to your child your own childhood favorite books. Share your favorite authors. Read aloud picture books, chapter books, magazines, comics,etc…You’re never too old to listen to someone read!
  2. Make a family scrap book. Include pictures taken throughout the year.
  3. Share your successes and struggles you had as a child or in school.
  4. Encourage your child to keep a journal or a writer’s notebook. Encourage your child to bring it whenever they go on family outings. Ask them to write about their experiences, thoughts, wonders, and feeling.
  5. Read around the environment. Have your child read posters, signs, billboards, street signs, menus, and etc.
  6. Leave notes or letters. Leave notes for your child in his or her lunch bag or school bag. Leave notes for him/her around your home. Create to-do list or have your child create a to-do list or the family shopping list.
  7. Buy a new book. Take a trip to the book store or order books through scholastic. Encourage friends and family to give books as gifts or other literacy tools.
  8. Subscribe to a children’s magazine. Some popular magazines include Highlights, Click, Ranger Rick, Scholastic, Sports Illustrated and National Geographic Junior.
  9. Play word games. Some popular games include Scrabble, Boggle, Bingo and Apples to Apples.
  1. Ask questions. Ask a lot of questions when your child reads or tells a story. For young elementary children, have them identify the beginning, middle, climax, and end or retell the story across their fingers. For the older children, have them identify the story elements including the characters, setting, exposition, problem (conflict), rising action, climax, falling action, and the solution (resolution).
  2. Access to a computer or electronic device. A computer can support basic word processing skills. There are plenty of CD-ROM programs that support reading and writing. Many applications can be downloaded free that support reading and writing.
  3. Save your child’s writing and praise the growth your child is making as a writer throughout the school year.
  4. Encourage your child to read to siblings, family, friends, and neighbors.
  5. Communicate with your child’s teacher.