How to Get Your Child to Read More - Fourth and Fifth grade (ages 9-11)

Getting your Child to Read More!

As your child gets older, you may find yourself looking for ways to get your child to read more. By fourth and fifth grade, students usually have a specific genre in mind for their books. To get your child to read more, suggest even more genres!

By this age, if they are not interested in reading, or if they want to do anything other than reading, you have to make sure they have all of their reading skills, and then you have to find something they are interested in learning about. You can start the conversation by asking what have they ever wanted to learn about? Let them read anything they want and reward them for reading. If you or a teacher can work with them to find a book that interests them, it will be the beginning of great experiences.

Check out my Recommended Books on these Genre Pages:

Promote Reading

1. Visit your Public Library. Have your child explore different types of books.
2. Also, visit a Book Store and have your child explore.
3. Be a Role Model for your child. Have them see you enjoy reading!
4. Read every single day with your child!

Read Different Types of Reading Materials

Books
E-Books
Magazines
Games
Brochures
Signs
Menus
Recipes from recipe books or magazines

Read Using Different Types of Devices

Computers
Amazon Fire
Kindle
Apple iPad
CD Player

These are a few more ideas from my post, How to Help a Reluctant Reader

Read EBooks
E-books can be read on a Kindle or the Kindle Cloud. You can use it on a Kindle, iPad, etc. You can find them under the Kindle tab. They have most of the book titles available.

Make Your Own Ebook
Creating a story and then making an ebook is a super fun project. If you have a Gmail account which is totally free, you have Google Slides and if you don't see it as an option, just type "Google Slides" in the menu bar at the top of the page and it will appear! Just follow the directions on this page and you'll have your ebook in no time!! That's a bit of writing and reading!!!

Read Big Print Books
Because the big print books have bigger fonts, a reluctant reader enjoys reading them more than the smaller print books. These books also appear to be larger because there are more pages and it makes some kids feel prouder because their book appears to be larger. I know that seems strange!!! Here are a few big print books for some popular books:

Read Aloud
A child LOVES to be read to. I can walk into any classroom when a teacher is reading and 95% of the time the only noise is the voice of the teacher reading a favorite book!!! There is something magical about being read to and your child will probably love for you to read to them (or use a CD of a book).

Buying Books for Your Fourth and Fifth Grader

Tips for buying books for 9-11 year-olds:

10-12 sentences per page - so the pages aren't overwhelming.
Bigger Fonts - bigger fonts are easier to read.
Some pictures in the book to go along with the story - the pictures give clues to the words so that the child can feel success in figuring out the word.

Graphic novels are becoming more and more popular. They are found in the nonfiction part of the library because of their pictures (they look like comic books), even though they are fictional stories. Sometimes teachers and parents don't like them because they do look like comic books, but some of them don't realize that any type of reading is better than none. Graphic novels just might be a stepping stone to well-written chapter books. A couple of the more popular graphic novel series are Bone, Amulet, Pokemon, and Baby Mouse.

Fun Ways to Get Your Kids to Read

Purchase or make a "reading" tent in your home!
Wear special fake glasses while you read!
Copy the words to a song and sing it!
Use a flashlight to focus on words as they're being read!
Use a magnifying glass to focus on words as they're being read!
Have a turn off the TV and read night, game night, movie night, etc.
Make a bookmark or other craft connected to reading

Mix it up sometimes when you’re reading with your child:
Read the pages at the same time.
You read one page and your child reads the next.
Find a new spot in the house or outside to read.
Have your child read to your pet.
Have your child read to a stuffed animal.
Have your child read to a family member or friend.
Make a craft connected to the story they're reading.

Boardgames to help your Child's Reading Skills

This classic games, players put letters together, build words, add up your points and win!

Fast and fun. Players race against each other to build crossword grids and use all their letter tiles first. Great for travel.

What else can help you Child Read More?

Responsibility Chart gives rewards for daily reading, chores, homework, etc.). You can write down the important things that need to get done and check them off when they're done. You can add fun rewards such as after 100 minutes reading you'll take them for ice cream, let them stay up 30 minutes later, watch a movie, etc. You can also just use a calendar to keep track of this.

Also, Try My Checklist

I created this list of daily responsibilities - if you'd like a Google Doc of this form, just email me at mrs.dehm@gmail.com and I will email it to you. You then will be able to copy the list and add your own touches!! 🙂 Also, check out my Reading Challenge document!

If your child is still not catching the reading bug, sometimes just have to give it time - be patient as there are lots of resources available to you. What works for one child may not work for another one, and sometimes when you try a product or technique and it doesn't work, the timing could have been off - try it again!

Check out these other popular posts:

If there's a specific book or other reading product you're looking for, a type of book you're looking for or a question about reading, just leave a comment or question below or email me at mrs.dehm@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!