Parents and guardians always ask me what they can do at home to support the great work our teachers and staff do in our classrooms with our Eagles. The simplicity of the answer may surprise you: Read with your Eagle(s). There are several benefits to reading with your children ranging from quality time spent together, building vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, and promoting and modeling empathy.
In a world that moves a million miles an hour with work commitments, kids with schedules that rival world leaders', and is powered by technology, slowing down to sit and read a book together is a beautiful way to combat the breakneck speed we find ourselves in. Find a book that centers on characters or a topic that interests each of you and carve out some time in your day to read together. It could be a work of fiction that draws you into a world similar to but totally unlike our own or it could be an informational or nonfiction text that teaches you all about something new and exciting in the universe. Finish that book, and then start another one. I promise you won't regret it.
As you read these books together, ask questions about a key moment to see if your Eagle(s) understand it, a new, unfamiliar word, or to make a prediction about what happens next. These are all skills readers use every time they crack open a book. In our classrooms, teachers tend to use shorter stories or vary the focus by each chapter of a chapter book to focus on one specific skill. You can try this at home, but certainly, there's no wrong way to build comprehension and vocabulary at home. You'll also be amazed at the vocabulary and comprehension skills your Eagle has already mastered!
Finally, when we read, we build empathy for characters. While we see this happen primarily in fiction because of the nature of protagonists, antagonists, and conflict, it can also occur when reading nonfiction depending on the topic and how you feel about it. When we read, our brain has to make the movie, and in doing so, we embody the characters - we can see them in our mind's eye. When we stop to ask how a character feels, how a choice made in the story would make you feel, or how a character might feel if "x" happens, we understand more about how someone else feels. The more we understand how someone else feels, the more we master the very important life skill of empathy.
Of course, this doesn't even begin to get at what we can do about math at home (Homework is certainly enough to ask of a family!), but reading with our kids at home is a beautiful way to boost not only their English Language Arts skills but their social skills as well. Have a wonderful Presidents Day Weekend with your favorite people, and if your schedule permits and the weather encourages you, feel free to read a book as a family!
