My daughter has a hard time in reading. Any ideas on helping her at home?

I read alot of good advice so I wont restate the same.... What I DO have to add though I think you will find very useful....

www.bookadventure.com

This site allows you (the parent) to set your child up to earn points for reading books (they can choose a book they read from a list of books on the site, all reading lvls so no feeling "dumb" and then they take a comprehension "quiz" on the book) this not only gets her enthusiastic for reading due to the points and the points leading to rewards, but it also ensures she is remembering and comprehending what she read.

The site gives a few various "rewards" for different point lvls and the child gets to "buy" their rewards, so if they dont like a reward that costs 200 but want one that costs 2000 they can save their points to "buy" the more "expensive" prize.

You (as the parent) can choose to add prizes and set the point lvls (example: I set a trip to the movies at 3000 points for my children who are above their grade lvl).... so you could set the points a little lower and let her build on it. The school can also adopt this program and let the entire school population benefit from it. Ours did :) The best part? The program is FREE.... you have to buy her the rewards that YOU add to the site for her, but the program itself is free!

Good Luck, I am sure she will love to read, youve already set a good foundation!

My daughter is also 8 yrs old and started 3rd grade.

Reading daily is the best thing. My daughter has a learning disability when it comes to processing information, and was a lot lower than average in reading. She is in the resource room at school for 5 days a week for 1 hour. I read to her and she reads to me each day. The gap has lessoned greatly and she did a great job on the state test in reading. She actually got top level in reading.

She also follows these reading strategies:

Stretch the word out with the beginning letter,

look for little words in the big word,

and look for consonant blends in the word.

Look at the picture to help

Skip the word and go on, then go back and see what would make sense.

Last year she got into the American Girls books. These are books that are 8 and above and would be hard for her to read , I mostly read to her and she tries a few pages. But they have a younger series of maybe 6 books called "Hopscotch hill Kids". These were great because although they are easy they are set up like chapter books, My daughter gained a lot of confidence from reading these.

The American girl books are fun because each girl comes from a point in history and she can learn what a girl about her age was doing during slavery, pre revolutionary war, WW2, depression, and a pioneer. My daughter got one of the dolls for Christmas and she can play with the doll and read stories about the doll and it makes reading that much more fun.

At back to school I learned the Magic Tree House Books and Junie B Jones Series are at the level where 3rd graders should be at the beginning.

Ask the teacher if you can have a copy of her anthology (reading book) from school. Take the book home, and have her practice the story a week before they read it in class.

These are things that will help her:

you read a page she reads a page

you read a page.......she mimics what you read

read it together

Think out loud

when you come to a word you don't know say

"Hmmm...that words is hard for me I'm going to see if I can find a chunk of a word hidden in there that will help me sound it out

Example: parking...........I see the word park hidden in there.

(This is called chunking words) Children needs lots of practice with that.

Go on line and look up third grade dolch words. These are frequnetly read words that children need to know.

Make up card games, play tic tac toe, etc. using these words.

Play hangman. Make the games fun.

After your child reads ask questions:

Who was the charactrer in that story What were important events that happened, did you ever feel like that character?

What do you think about when you hear the story?

Retell the story to me............

Make sure the books that your child is reading are not too hard or too easy. There is a five finger rule:

If a child reads a book out loud and cannot read five of the words on the page..........it is too difficult.

I had a jerk for a first grade teacher (she was fired) and most of the class had to be tutored over the Summer to get into second grade. My tutor was a fossil of a retired teacher and she quizzed me every day about what the stories on the front page of the paper were about from the previous day. I was reading at a level two years ahead by the end of the Summer.

You are doing everything you should do. A tutoring class might be the way to go! My daughter was the same in 2nd grade and took tutoring classes that the school offered and when it came around to testing after she completed the class, she was reading above grade level.

I have always loved music. When I was a child, I used to sing to songs to improve my english. Cat's the musical has complex vocabulary in its lyrics. Learning should be fun and interactive. Don't just read a book, act out the story and do different voices for the characters. Engage the imagination with role playing and do short skits. Best of luck! :-)

What problem is she having in reading? Is it just reading fluently? Is it comprehension or vocabulary, phonics?

Reading with her is a great start! That is so important to do each night. Find the results of the test to see what area she is lacking in and and get with her teacher and/ or the school reading coach to see what you can do to help her.

Kids really like to play. Maybe she is missing some of the basic blends or pay attention to what she is having a hard time reading. Is it certain sounds, or is she trying to read to fast? Make up a fun game, where she has to find certain words on billboards or in the supermarket. Play boggle, or scrabble junior. Try to make reading fun not work!

Get her To Do Learning programs From Child Education Websites That Have Voice Recognition.

Read to her yourself, as much as possible.

Label things in your house with large-letter labels print them out on your computer and label things like OVEN, RUG, LIGHT, etc. Stick em on with blu-tac.

Flashcards of individual letters with example words on the back.

Buy scrabble and play with her at her level. Give rewards like chocolate almonds when she makes a word, even a very simple one. Have a nightly quick game with her.

Point out and discuss words with her whenever you notice them. Things like the care labels on her clothes, if she helps you do the laundry.

Buy her a subscription to a magazine she will like and look over the articles with her. Talk about the headlines and comment cheerfully on the items of interest. A girl's magazine, I guess, one about clothes and stuff.

Doing all of these things in a cheerful manner without making it obvious and boring that you are trying to help her read will make words an integral part of your household. It can be great fun and as you know, good literacy levels are so important in life.

Good luck!