Saturday, January 12, 2008

Developing Reading Skills In Your Child

A lot of teaching your child to read is first instilling in your child a desire to read. Its so very important for the child to know that reading activities and learning to read is fun. Early on, for instance, if you havent yet, set aside an area of your home where your child can have their very own reading area and little person library. This will get most all your reading activities off to a great start. Having their own special place for reading activities will encourage the child to spend time reading.

Encourage them to begin to find their favorite spot within their area for their reading activities. Grab yourself a comfy chair and join them and youll be amazed how much your child will want go into their reading area and have you with them for a reading session. And an added bonus to the reading area is a great place and time for you to spend with your child reading to them and vise versa. Reading is nothing more than a practiced skill. Practicing being the operative word. Instilling good reading habits in your child early on with consistent and daily reading and practice sessions is laying the bricks to a solid learning foundation no matter what the subject matter.

Books from bookstores, garage sales, flea markets and such are a great way to begin building your childs reading library content. Grab a cardboard box, and old milk crate or two and decorate them with your child so they can have their own library and take pride in how it looks and help them organize their reading materials. If you already have bookcases, then clear of one of the shelves and make that special place for your childs books. Its fun to do and your kids will have fun too. Build momentum early with how much fun reading and exploring books can be.

Also make good use of your public library. Teaching reading skills begins with developing in your child an interest and love for reading. As your childs library grows along with their reading skill they will understand that books are important, enjoyable, and always filled with new things to learn.

A good reading activity can involve very little actual reading. Use picture books with very few or no words and ask your child to describe the picture or tell a story about what the picture is about. This will allow you to monitor the childs vocabulary and the use of the words they have been learning. Dont overlook the importance of vocabulary building along with building reading skills. A strong vocabulary goes well with understanding what youre reading which, in turn, keeps the frustration level down, and the fun factor up.

Encouraging your child to verbalize to you a story or even a couple pages of something they have read about gives them great pride (while you listen for accuracy) and makes them feel like a reader! And when kids feel good about their reading skills they naturally strive to learn more.

Mary Joyce is a former educator, successful homeschool parent, and the primary contributor to the Homeschool-Curriculum-4u website. Please visit (http://www.homeschool-curriculum-4u.com) for a complete list of Mary's articles, resources on homeschool, ideas, and curriculum information.
Also tips guides and how-to's to help you successfully teach your child at home.

How Reading Makes A Child Smart

Reading makes you go to places. It allows you to turn back the hands of time. It will not limit you to write and express your thoughts. It will lead you to higher levels. And it is one of the best skills you could teach your child to develop. Reading is very important for it polishes a childs mind and makes him or her think in-depth.

As you teach a child to read now, it will be a way of preparing the child for a brighter future. It will surely enhance your childs language skills. It does not mean that if your child is not yet reading or speaking, you will not accept the idea of teaching reading. Though he or she is not reading any words, the child observes how you pronounce words and according to Bernice Cullinan, Professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at New York University children who learned reading have longer attention to give to listeners.

In addition, it is a way of preparing your child for some more complex words in the future. The English words that the child must learn should those be which are of his level. As they listen to you, make sure to make the words clear and point out the pictures on the book. This will allow them to recognize speech sounds and figures as well. Books about the things that are daily around them and activities they do are good examples

On the other hand, the reading of books will not just keep them educated but it is also one of the best forms of getting them entertained. Nursery rhymes and other books are very entertaining for your child. They would be realizing the fact that reading is not boring at all.

Reading will enhance your childs listening skill first. After absorbing all that you have read, the child would then develop speech skills. One of the most valuable things a child could develop from reading books is the skill of imagination.

This is also one way of showing your child that you really care. Moreover, reading time may serve as your bonding time together. A parent must always see to it that he is keeping track of his or her child's development and guide the child for the better.

Introduce reading to your child and you will introduce being smart for lifeFor it is in reading that he will discover a world of awe and wonder ahead.

Jessica Davis is a freelance writer for the Baby Times. She writes a regular column which is published every Thursday. Her latest 'favorite pick' is http://www.babygeniusproductions.com/.

Techniques of Speed Reading

Speed-reading is one of the vital reading techniques. Speed plays a vital role in the entire reading process and understanding of content is essential. Studies have shown a close relation between speed and understanding. We have seen that most people find speed-reading difficult and risky. Many are afraid that if they read faster, they might not be able to grasp the idea of what they are reading.

Researches have shown that the individuals who take reading training increase their rate along with an increase in comprehension. If the rate goes down, comprehension also decreases. But in some cases it may be found that slow reading also prevents thorough understanding of the material.

Speed-reading is not just about reading faster; it's about learning to use much more of the extraordinary powers of the mind. Most people find reading rapidly difficult and risky. They are afraid that as they increase the speed of reading, they might not be able to grasp the idea of what they are reading. The ability to read faster, and still comprehend what you're reading, is an essential skill in today's fast moving environment. We must read extensively if we want to be successful in our studies, or careers.

Studies show that the relationship between reading speed and comprehension is directly proportional to each other. That is, an increase in rate entails an increase in comprehension. It is seen that most adults are not able to increase their rate of reading considerably and rather quickly without lowering comprehension. It can be said that comprehension is actually better at faster speed of reading. Simply reading more rapidly without actual improvement in basic reading habits like vocabulary, grammar, etc. often results in low comprehension.

Speed Reading is not only useful in reading for pleasure but is more useful when used in learning and studying. In case of speed-reading, time is an essential factor. To make most out of your scheduled time is the purpose of speed-reading. Researches show that most of us typically read about 200 to 400 words per minute when we are reading for comprehension or reading simply a newspaper.

The basic truth about speed-reading is to learn and retain knowledge. Skimming helps to get a general idea of what we are reading. There's no doubt, learning to speed-read is probably the most valuable and time saving skill you can acquire. Under today's information and competitive pressures one must read faster and better if one has to get ahead of all. It is quite natural that some people will appreciate you without knowing how to speed-read.




The most common type of difficult that is faced by almost everyone is short attention, you start strong and begin to slow down as you read on. This problem creates a great impact on your reading techniques. It creates such a situation where you have to go back to re-read some lines or sentences over and over again as you are not able to understand it.

At present, most of us who are students or professionals and we are flooded with a great volume of reading material. If we can get through this material at a significantly higher speed and without the fear of sacrificing comprehensions and improper pronunciations, the benefits are great. We are able to achieve more and learn more with less effort than we ever thought possible.

If you go through the profile of some best speed-readers of the world, you will see they are capable of reading at speeds you might find amazing. For example, some can finish a novel or reference book at the bookstore or newsstand, and remember what's in it afterward. Such rate of speed-reading surely saves time and both money. Though the concept of Speed Reading is tough but reaching these speeds is not out of the question for you, if you find speed-reading techniques that work for you.

By Christina

Speed Read By Scanning The Book

Teaching a child the fundamentals of reading involves helping them learn the sounds each of the letters make and then joining those sounds together to form words. Its amazing watching and listening to a child as they string sounds together and make a word. They are thrilled and excited at their accomplishment and for the parent or teacher guiding them, its a wonderful moment.

Children use this skill to learn new words as they begin to grow. Over time they are able to recognize words and instead of sounding the letters out individually they recall the entire word from memory. As the child grows and reads more and more they are able to read at a faster rate because they recognize many of the words.

One of the principles of speed reading is very much the same. The speed reader picks out the words in the text that they are reading that are essentially keywords. They are the words that stand out and hook the reader. By focusing on these words they are able to get a good grasp of the information and can do that without reading the material word for word. Having the ability to do this would obviously speed up anyones reading time substantially.

Another approach that some people who are adept at speed reading use is they very quickly scan the book or document they will be reading and pick out important words and phrases that give them a general idea of the information. After doing this, they read the material through briskly, absorbing more. This approach gives them an overview of the information during the first quick scan and then the second read through gives the speed reader a complete picture.

By approaching their reading in this way they are able to grasp the most pertinent information and when they are done speed reading it, they will have a good understanding of the context. This approach works well and it is used by many people who are able to speed read. It can also work for people who have to retain a substantial amount of information in a short amount of time. They may not consider themselves speed readers but they are, in the sense that whenever you scan a newspaper article or a magazine looking for specific information you are picking out certain phrases. You may not read the entire text of the piece, but you certainly have absorbed the major points of it and have a better than average understanding of it.

Everyone can gain useful information by quickly scanning text before thoroughly reading the material. Although its a technique that aids in speed reading, it can help the average person retain more information as well. Your mind focuses in on the key phrases during the first go through and as you read through a second time you pick up and absorb even more information.

Although not everyone has the desire to learn how to speed read, there are small tips we can take from those who do, that can help in our everyday reading adventures.

Learning To Read: Why You Should Give Your Child Reading Lessons

Learning to read is the single most important achievement of a child's academic life. All other success in school depends on this important skill. Yet many parents spend more time worrying about teaching their child to tie their shoes than they do about reading. Why should you give your child reading lessons? After all, isn't that what the professionals are supposed to do in school?

True, trained teachers are an important part of learning to read for most children, but no matter how skilled and dedicated your child's teacher may be they still have a couple dozen other children to worry about in addition to your child. You can focus your attention and energy better because you do not have to worry about teaching 25 children to read. You only have to teach one child.

You also know your child's strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else. You also know your child's interests. This means you can craft reading lessons and reading activities that will challenge and intrigue your child.

There is another important reason why you should be a part of teaching your child to read. Sometimes schools and reading programs fail to meet the needs of all children. Some children struggle with certain reading programs and fall behind their peers. If you are involved then you can spot these difficulties and take steps to intervene before it is too late. If you are not involved then you may now know until your child has fallen behind.

No matter how busy your schedule, you do have time to work in reading lessons because they should be short, more like mini lessons, in any case and many can be done while you are taking care of other chores such as shopping, driving, or cleaning.

Do not feel intimidated by the enormity of the project. Teaching a child to read takes years and a dedicated staff in most schools' reading programs. However you do not need to take on the whole project on your shoulders. Work with your child's teacher and school reading program to reinforce lessons learned in school. If you have time to do more research then you can go beyond those but simply supporting the efforts of the formal reading program can do a lot to help your child.

You do not need to buy any special equipment or reading programs. Most often you can use books, paper and writing utensils from your home or local library to support your efforts.

You should give your child reading lessons because you should be a part of this important step in your child's development, you are the best equipped person to teach your child, and you do not have to do it alone. Teaching your child to read can be fun and rewarding for you both.

By Deanna Mascle

Why Should Students Learn Speed Reading?

You're a college student trying to juggle your on-campus job and three weeks worth of reading for required classes you need in order to graduate. When tackling the near-impossible philosophy, comprehension becomes a rather important skill to possess. As you face two novels in one week, the ability to run through two books at a faster rate in a short amount of time is priceless.

When you enter training to learn how to speed read as a college student, you will cultivate skills that make study sessions much easier to accomplish. Once you graduate, this technique will also help you later on in whatever additional studies or career you choose to pursue.

Numerous reading interpretation and comprehension skills are taught in an array of speed reading programs and software that aims to make studying in college much easier. When college students are able to prioritize the text they must read before a heavy test, they can increase the speed at which they complete their studies. It is important to assess what part of the reading material is more significant than the rest. This works as a successful prep for tackling a large chunk of reading matter in a shorter period of time.

Speed reading is an incredibly valuable skill, allowing college students to save a lot of time and energy in an atmosphere that often brings about many distractions and interruptions. As a college student, being a slow reader hinders your progress in the classroom, and takes time away from completing outside activities and other school pursuits. When a student learns how to read at a faster pace and better comprehend material, they will gain a competitive edge in the classroom that continues beyond graduation.

When it comes to learning how to speed read as a student, below are the top three reasons to seek out a decent speed reading program:

1) Saves Time

One of the largest benefits speed reading skills give college students is more time. When you have mastered the art of speed reading, you will finish a book in half the time (in some cases even less than half the time) it takes to finish books at an average pace. Speed reading helps a student learn that it isnt always necessary to read whole materials to get the main idea. Some reading is easy to skim, making it effortless to absorb essential pieces of information.

2) Increase Your Love of Reading

Many people falter in the reading department because they dread it so. If you are more open to the idea of reading, your overall experiences will become better and more fulfilling. Instead of approaching the concept of reading a lot of material as boring, train your mind to view reading as opening new doors and enhancing your intellectual capacity.

3) Higher Grades

Speed reading greatly helps students by not only improving their rate of reading, but also promoting the attainment of higher grades. With a great deal of information to tackle, speed reading really comes in handy and allows some to push farther in their grades, which often comes in the form of improved comprehension.

By Amy Jones

Reading Silently Can Help Speed Reading

Watch a group of young children who are just beginning to read and youll notice one thing about almost all of them. Even if they have been instructed to silently read, most of the children will be mouthing the words they are reading. Their lips will move to pronounce the words, even though they are not speaking them aloud. The reason they do this is because as children begin to learn to read, they vocalize the sounds of the individual letters and then later on, the sounds of the words.

Although this process is helpful to the children as they are introduced to the concept of reading, its also significantly reducing the speed at which they read.

If youve ever watched a television show that featured speed readers or if youve ever known someone who could speed read, you might have noticed that their lips dont move. Thats not coincidence, its actually very significant.

When a person reads out loud or they mouth the words as they read, it takes them longer to read than someone who simply looks at the word and absorbs it. This is one of the important steps in speed reading learning to not vocalize the words either out loud or silently.

Its difficult though for a person who has always read in this manner to change. Even if they understand that the benefit of not reading aloud is that they will dramatically change their reading speed. Its a habit and its one that becomes natural over time. It can be changed though.

One thing that a person can do to change this habit and to begin on the road to speed reading is to learn not to move their mouths as they read. If you are a parent with a youngster just learning to read and you hear them reading out loud, you might suggest that they try and read to themselves. If they do and you see their lips silently moving to the words, encourage them to try and refrain from that. You can do that by giving them something to chew on, perhaps a stick of gum or a chewy candy. This will preoccupy their mouth enough that eventually the inclination to silently say the words will disappear.

Although adults are more conscious of this behavior, many still do it. They can try those same techniques, the chewing gum or a candy idea. Another idea that works well for adult is if they are alone, they can place their hand over their mouth while they read. This stops the behavior automatically. The benefit of this method is that the person becomes fully aware of when their mouth is moving along with the written words. They can stop it as it is happening. This will ultimately result in them stopping the practice.

With a little work the desire to mouth words as you read them can be stopped. When it is stopped, the rate at which you read will already be climbing. Speed reading is a skill that virtually everyone can learn; its just a matter of dropping old behaviors, such as silently mouthing words, and instead adapting new behaviors.

Friday, January 11, 2008

How To Accelerate Your Reading Speed

Speed reading as a technique was developed by Mrs. Evelyn Wood in 1959. Impressed by her professor who read and graded a term paper of eighty pages in ten minutes she went on to observing reading methods of fast readers and developed the first ever speed reading technique.

Speed reading is a method that aims at improving the speed of reading and comprehension. The need for speed reading is obvious, as the volume of texts to be read on an average has been increasing since the invention of the printing machine.

And, increasing your reading speed can make a significant change in your life.
So, what can you do to accelerate your speed of reading? To get started, you can pick up a non-fiction book. Why? Because the fiction one contains lots of dialogues which means contains many breaks in the text. Those breaks might slow down the speed of reading.

Also, dont pick a thick book. Three hundred pages would be the most. Get a book that you are interested in. It will help a lot.

Dont practice speed reading while you feel tired or not in the mood. To get the best out of it, youd better try it while you are in a good mood. You can try a pleasant morning or mid-day. Get yourself sit in a comfortable couch in a cozy corner. Choose a quiet spot where you can fully concentrate.
Then, what are the techniques?

Here are some techniques you might need to try to increase your speed of reading:

Try to read down the page rather than left to right

Read groups of words or complete thoughts rather than one word at a time

Avoid involuntary rereading of material

You only need 15-minutes-a-day of practice. Doing it everyday will naturally increase your speed of reading.

Since now, the kids read more material than we did back then, it would be a great thing to include your children in the practice.

Make it a fun family activity. Each family member grabs a book and a timer is set. Once the reading begins, each person uses their speed reading skills to read as many of the pages of their book as they can until the timer sounds. The one who read the most will get prizes such as a trip to the library or a new book.

The result of speed reading skill will not only help them now but also in their future.

And remember, this skill is not limited to certain age. No one is ever too old to learn new things. Yet, a strong will is necessary.

Have a nice speedy reading.

By Riana Lance