The Power of Repeated Reading
As Frustrating as it Feels…
Goodnight Moon. A beautiful classic, but after reading it more than three hundred times, I tried (ok, pleaded) with my young son to choose another book. Any book. Nope! Each night, Goodnight Moon was the last of our 2-book bedtime story routine. Turns out, while frustrating for me, it was actually good for Jared.
Repeated Reading is Good for Your Child!
According to Tim Rasinski, professor emeritus of literacy education at Kent State University, repeated readings of your child’s favorite book actually is the beginning of sight vocabulary and reading itself. When your child sits besides you and views the text and pictures as you read, the brain begins to map the words. Yes - your child does memorize the text, but this memorization allows the sight and sound of the text to get locked into the brain. This leads your child to begin to make generalizations about phonics and reading. So… go ahead. Read that book one more time, knowing you are putting your child on a path towards conventional reading.
