How do you involve parents in their students’ reading practice?

The answer might not be so simple. We asked our Renaissance Royals^™ community this question and received a ton of great responses. From sending home research highlighting the benefits of reading to writing-based projects, there are a ton of great ways to involve parents in their students’ reading practice. Below, we’ve highlighted a few of our favourites.

A few recommendations

• “With our SFA program, the students have to read to their parents 20 minutes each night. The students have to write a brief comment about what they read. The parent has to sign off that this was done and the student brings it back to school the next day.” – Dvawn
• “I provide parents research and data on the value of reading. I don’t make them sign reading logs, but I involve them in all of our reading celebrations so I can remind them of the need for their participation.” – Lloyd
• “I have a huge classroom library and ask my students every afternoon, ‘Do you have a book to read tonight?’ They are always welcome to borrow from me.” – Renee
• “I have the parents complete a novel study project. The students choose a book to read with their parents, then the parents and child write short books back and forth to each other about the original book they chose.” – Jayme
• “Parents are always informed. I send a weekly newsletter home to state the reading skill we will be working on for the week. I also try to keep parents active with checking their child’s Renaissance Accelerated Reader^® goal and their certification level. This helps drive reading fluency and comprehension.” – Melissa
• “Students are provided with books daily and on weekends. I send messages to parents to encourage their child to read daily. I also send research-based literature expressing the importance of reading and the impact it has on a child’s overall academics now and long-term.” – Cynthia

Making it stick

In an earlier blog post, we highlighted the importance of keeping students engaged during summer. Perhaps the biggest component of this is involvement from parents. Not only do parents need to be involved in their students’ reading practice throughout the school year, but they also need to be during the summer months. It is truly a year-round exercise.