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If you are an educator, when you read the phrase, “reading stamina,” you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you are not an educator, you maybe haven’t heard that phrase but can infer its meaning based on your understanding of the word, “stamina.” Reading stamina is a person’s ability to read for an uninterrupted, prolonged period of time. Educators have many strategies to build reading stamina in a classroom setting, but there are many ways that you can build reading stamina at home.
Why is reading stamina important?
Most parents know that the best thing they can do for their child’s literacy and education, in general, is to have them READ and read a lot. Reading every day is the best thing to do for your child when it comes to cognitive growth. You can buy all the learning apps there are, but nothing replaces reading to and with your child and independent, sustained reading.
There is a very popular statistic in the education world. The graphic below (made by Kayla at Stuff Students Say-and Other Classroom Treasures) has been sent out at almost every parent-teacher conference at my school since my first year. Reading every day is SO important to increase your child’s vocabulary, inference and reasoning skills, ability to process information, as well as help them on test scores in school.
Nagy, W. E., R. C. Anderson, and P. A. Herman. 1987. Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal 24: 237–70.
Stamina falls right into this because i
Why should YOU work on stamina at at home? Isn’t it the teacher’s job?
Simply put, NO. It is not the teacher’s job to teach your child reading stamina. The reasoning is that by the time the teacher even meets your child, they should already have a strong reading foundation (yes, even in kindergarten).
This does not mean I expect your kid to be able to read fluently and independently. However, they should be able to read AT THEIR LEVEL for a prolonged period of time. For my son (3) that means picture reading and retelling. When he looks through a book he retells the story based on my previous read
The teacher’s job is to take that foundation and extend it. They should be able to teach specific skills in reading with what the student can already do. As a fourth grade teacher, MANY, if not most, of my students came to me with NO reading stamina. This meant that I couldn’t have them read a story to work on a specific reading skill because they couldn’t read for more than a few sentences without being distracted or deciding they couldn’t do it. My entire first quarter in reading stations was building reading stamina so that we could even have reading stations.
How to Build Reading Stamina at Home
Even if you are not a teacher, check out the book The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy in Elementary Grades. I almost want to say ESPECIALLY if you’re not a teacher. Because it goes over a lot of things I feel like parents should know about literacy. We are, afterall, our children’s first teachers. It also has some great strategies for building stamina and helping literacy in young readers. I read this book my first year teaching and used the strategies EVERY year. The reading stamina strategies were absolutely necessary for me to be able to implement ANY other small group or guided reading strategies.
The book is targeted for a classroom setting but the principles can be applied at home to help your child’s literacy too!
How to Build Reading Stamina at Home
- Read with your child EVERY day.
20 minutes is super easy to hit. We usually end up at around 30-40 minutes when we read together. There’s always “just one more” book to read. But as you’ll see later on, it’s important to start where your child is. If they can only sit and listen for 5 minutes, then start with that. You want it to be enjoyable. Each night try to push it a little longer. This suggestion is not just for little kids who can’t read. Read with your older kids too. Find a great adventure story that is within their interest but maybe harder than what they can read alone.
My very favorite memories are of reading with my mom. She read to me and it wasn’t long before I would read to her. She would be making dinner and say, “How about you read a chapter of our book to me while I cook dinner?” - Demonstrate literacy.
When you send your kids to read for 20 minutes, you should be reading too! Your child should see you reading every day. - Make a comfy reading nook.
Reading for a longer period of time is much more enjoyable when the child is comfortable. Have a cozy little place for them to escape. Reading should feel like their special time away from the world. Create a space that has lots of books available right there, so they do not have to get up and interrupt their reading when they need new material. This brings me to the next step. - Have books available
Have plenty of books readily available for your child of varying levels (even ones that seem way above their level), genres, and topics. You want your child to be able to explore many genres and have exposure to hard books as well as some that are too easy. Some children start to read harder books because of high interest in the topic. Children can also benefit from reading a book that is too easy for fluency and just for enjoyment. Again, reading should be fun! If a child has a favorite that they want to go back to over and over again, let them! - Start small.
Your preschooler is not going to sit with a book for 20 minutes at a time right off the bat. Even your older child, if they haven’t been consistently reading for stamina will not be able to stretch their time very long. Encourage your child to read independently. If they read for 2 minutes before they are ready to be done. That’s fine. Only have them do it while they are enjoying it. I cannot emphasize this enough: MAKE READING ENJOYABLE! This is so important in how to build reading stamina at home. If you try to push them to 20 minutes when they are only ready for 2, then they will start to hate reading. You’ll find that they will start reading for longer and longer periods. - Practice
Here’s where the stamina building really starts. Now that your child up for literacy and made a comfortable place to read, start practicing. As said above, start small. Each day
have time set aside that you will work on reading quietly. Everyone in the family should stop whatever else is going on and read.
Why everyone? Your child needs to see that reading is important. It will also encourage them to stretch their stamina as they will not be distractedwith every one is reading.
Each night or whatever time you have set aside, encourage your child to read. Let them go as long as they feel. After they have reached the end of their stamina, talk to them about their book. What were they excited about? What was the best part? Be interested! Get them really excited to read again. You could talk about how long they read and make a goal if you think this would be fun. Be careful, becausefor some kids, this makes it not fun like they are meeting a quota. As said before, trying to push a time goal that they are not ready for will make reading unenjoyable.
What if?…
Find books that will draw them in. Sometimes this means really dumb books that aren’t exactly what you think will improve their vocabulary and literacy. That’s okay. Get their interest first. When I was a kid, it was Captain Underpants that was the secret weapon to get kids who “didn’t like reading” absolutely devouring books. Today, it could be Minecraft Handbooks (my students could not get enough of these-every monthly Scholastic order had at least 5 Minecraft Handbooks delivered to my classroom)! If you have a 2 year
old that’s obsessed with Paw Patrol, get him some Paw Patrol books.
What if my little one won’t be still while I read to them?
This could be that they have reached the end of their stamina and it’s time to be done. If you feel like you never actually started, go back to your book choice. If you have a very active child, find a book where movement is incorporated or interaction is part of the story (try THIS ONE!) Get them engaged with the pictures. Instead of trying to read all the words, just focus on the pictures on the page. Ask them what they see! If they are really little, try a textured book, like Never Touch a Monster!
Well, don’t make me cry… I will say exactly what I said about when a child thinks they don’t like to read, reevaluate your book choice! Pick one that is at your level and within your interest. Maybe you are not a strong reader, read children’s books. I love children’s literature. There is ZERO shame in reading children’s books. There are many children’s books that I feel are more valuable as literature than the vast majority of adult literature that is being written right now.
Find something that is interesting to YOU! Not just what’s on the bestseller list. Read about your favorite celebrity or athlete. Read about an activity you like. Do you crochet? Get some crochet books! If you are trying to improve an area of your life maybe some self-help books are a good idea. JUST GET OUT THERE AND READ! You will most likely find that once you get going, you like it a lot more than you thought you did.
In Conclusion…
What I’m saying here, is
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Good tips! I never thought about reading stamina, but it is an interesting concept. I am lucky that we were blessed with kids who like to read, but then, I like to read too. So maybe it was seeing me engrossed in a book. Or maybe it is just being lucky. Good food for thought, thank you!
Karen | https://OurCarpeDiem.com
Yes! How we approach reading ourselves has a huge impact on how our kids approach it! My kids love reading too because I love reading and I get as excited about new books as they do! 😜