Family engagement and family literacy are two of the most important or components for building a strong foundation for children's academic success. Family engagement is about spending quality time with children every day by talking, playing, and asking questions, which builds bonds and promotes language development. Family literacy supports…

Why encourage children to play board games? In the increasing disconnect of our digital lives, playing games provides a way to connect and relate with others on a human level. Strategy and role-playing games provide intellectual challenges and stretch creativity to keep the gifted mind engaged in solving problems. At the same time, the players…

The purpose of this article is to provide teachers, tutors and parents with an effective and enjoyable approach to practicing reading fluency, increasing comprehension and encouraging the joy of reading, based on the theories and methods of Sally L. Smith. This method can be applied and adapted to individual student's needs. Sally Smith, the…

The debate continues as to whether the underachievement of boys has reached "crisis" levels. Therefore, in an effort to increase the achievement of male readers, this article provides five teacher recommendations from the perspective of Derek, a sixth grade struggling reader. Derek is a soft-spoken, amiable African American who has consistently…

Today, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common and most studied psychiatric disorder of childhood, affecting approximately five percent of school-aged children. That means that there are probably at least two children with ADHD in any average elementary school class. In the last 20 years, there has been an explosion in…

Adults can help children with reading disabilities improve comprehension and enjoyment of stories by listening to the child retell the story s/he has just heard. (CL)

Guidelines are provided that assist parents to help their children establish a study schedule and study goals, to promote studying for understanding, and to recognize achievements. Several techniques for studying reading assignments are outlined. (IAH)

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between reading achievement and parental involvement for sixth grade middle school students. The participants were forty-eight sixth grade students who completed parental involvement surveys. The parents of these students also completed a parental involvement survey. The results of the…

Discusses what school professionals, parents, and PTAs can do to help middle and high school students comprehend and think critically about what they read, as well as encourage them to read outside of school. For example, teachers can create cooperative groups to study portions of text, parents can model reading at home, and PTAs can organize book…

Strategies are suggested to assist students with reading comprehension difficulties. Strategies include: (1) developing appropriate background through discussion of story concepts, brainstorming, conceptual webbing, and kinesthetic or tactile experiences; (2) asking students to predict what will happen; (3) reciprocal questioning between students…

Measures children's attention to television programs varying in pace and continuity and assesses recall of the temporal sequence of program events. Attention and comprehension covaried more in animated than in live shows. Age, continuity, and pace effects on recall were not fully accounted for by their effects on attention. (Author/AS)

Describes a variety of simple, structured techniques that reading teachers might recommend to parents who want to help their children. (ARH)

Describes and evaluates several methods for teaching reading that can involve the parent in the child's reading development. Concludes that a program involving paired reading in its purest form is the best method. (SRT)