3 Activities Improve Reading Skills

As a parent, you do have the power and ability to help your kids improve their reading skills. These activities are for everyone! They also help those with an identified learning disability, dyslexia, ADHD, or are gifted. There are 3 easy to implement activities that each take just a few minutes a day to improve reading skills.

1. Improve reading fluency in 5 minutes a day
2. Improve spelling and learn the 8 ways we put letters together to make words
3. Improve reading comprehension by playing a reading comprehension game

1st Activity: Improve Reading Fluency

The speed and accuracy of your reading are extremely important. The first activity you can do to help your child improve reading skills is reading fluency training. In just 5 minutes a day, you can boost your speed, accuracy, and comprehension. When you skip, repeat, or mispronounce words while reading, the meaning is often lost. Reading fluency is one of the most ignored reading skills and one of the easiest to practice at home. And, yes, fluency practice can be done in as little as 5 minutes a day. More and more research shows that short interval training consistently throughout the week helps people have bigger gains than working for long periods.

2nd Activity: Improve Spelling Skills

The second activity which is helping your children improve reading skills is by helping your children improve their spelling skills (about 12 minutes). Spelling incorporates both decoding words and encoding words. The decoding is the ‘sounding out’ part. Encoding is the ‘writing down the sounds you hear’ part. So many children struggle with this as they are expected to learn over 30 spelling rules. However, when you realize we only put letters together 8 ways to make words,  improving spelling skills doesn’t have to be hard. When spelling becomes easier, reading becomes easier.

3rd Activity: Improve Reading Comprehension

The third activity is all about having fun with reading, in other words… play games with your children. The key here is to play games that are specifically designed to improve reading comprehension.

The third activity is playing a reading comprehension game. That’s right, game playing! Playing The Comprehension Zone, a reading comprehension game, teaches your kids how to read for the main idea and details or sequence what they read does the trick. Other reading games might be ones that build vocabulary skills. Comprehension improves when you know the meaning of more words.

Check out our DIY reading products as well as our ASW Programs where Bonnie teaches you step-by-step via video and audio lessons.

Additional Activities that Improve Reading Skills

Read as a Family

• Stop at the end of each chapter and talk about what is going on.
• Who is doing what?
• What do you think will happen next?

Paper Bag Skits

• Place 5 – 6 different objects in a bag and then have the kids make up a skit using each of the items in it. e.g.: hat, ball, clip, envelope, toy, etc.
• Have one of the participants write the skit out as you are all making it up. Then have everyone practice their parts together and put it on for the family or neighbors.

Additional Games That Improve Vocabulary and Spelling:

The Sentence Zone, Junior Scrabble, Quiddler, and Apples to Apples

Improve Reading Skills Tips

• As a parent, one of the most important thing you can do to encourage your child to read is to be the example. When your child sees you reading, they will be more apt to want to read.
• Read to your child and with them. As they begin reading, you can read a page, and they read a page, you read a page, they read a page.
• This also not only encourages them but also gives them modeling of good reading. also talk about what you are reading.
• Who is your favorite characther so far and why?
• Where does the story take place?
• Are the characters always in the same setting?
• What is the conflict?

Another Family Activity to Improve Comprehension Skills

After watching a video as a family talk about the 5 w’s + How

• Who was in it?
• What did they do?
• Where did they do it?
• When did they do it?
• How did they do it?
• Why did they do it?

For additional step-by-step help with reading, writing, and study skills…check out our Awaken the Scholar Within Reading, Writing, and Study Skills Program.