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The
Importance Of Reading Skills For School Success
The importance of reading skills
for a child’s success cannot be emphasized enough. As a
teacher who has worked extensively with children within the
5-11 year old age group, I have personally witnessed the
importance of reading skills on a daily basis in the following
areas:
• Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Science
• Mathematics
• Social Skills
As you can see, the importance of reading skills filters into all
aspects of school.
If you are like many parents, you
probably think the importance of reading skills is only
evident in language arts. This couldn’t be further from the
truth! Of course, your child does need to have adequate
reading skills to do well in language arts, but the importance
of reading skills is noticeable in other subject areas, as
well.
Let’s take a look at social studies, for example. Whether your
child is learning about his neighborhood in kindergarten, or
learning about other countries in the sixth grade, he needs to
be able to read in order to have a rich learning experience.
Even basics of social studies, such as map reading, emphasize
the importance of reading.
To further illustrate the importance of reading in social
studies, let’s look at a real life situation. Let’s say Mrs.
Smith has just introduced the state of Maine to the class.
Your child has never heard of this state. Mrs. Smith then asks
the class to locate the state of Maine on a labeled map of the
United States.
If your child does not have basic sound-symbol recognition
skills, he will have a terrible time finding Maine. If,
however, your child does have these skills, he will know that
the state he is looking for starts with the letter M and has
the letters A and N in it. Now, he has a far greater chance of
locating the state successfully.
Rather than searching frantically for the state of Maine on a
map, and likely becoming frustrated, your child can locate the
state and pay attention to the rest of Mrs. Smith’s lesson.
Having just basic reading skills has helped your child be more
successful in Mrs. Smith’s social studies class.
The importance of reading skills is also obvious is science.
Scientific exploration and discovery are at the core of
learning this subject. The hands-on nature of science often
makes it a favorite subject of children ages 5-11.
But, the ability to follow lab procedures correctly is
important in science. Often, the procedures are very precise.
If they are not followed correctly, the experiment will not
work.
If your child has solid reading skills, she will be able to
successfully follow lab procedures. If she doesn’t, she is
likely to be unsuccessful at completing science experiments.
This will be both frustrating and disappointing for your
child. It can even result your child disliking science,
because she sees it as a subject in which she can’t be
successful.
Most parents don’t think the importance of reading is
illustrated in math. But, poor reading skills can be a huge
obstacle for students in math. As a teacher, I have witnessed
students who excel in mathematical concepts fail because of
poor reading skills.
Most parents of children who are 5-11 years old remember math
as just a number crunching subject. This is no longer the
case. Nowadays, more emphasis is being place on the
problem solving aspect of math. Therefore, math now includes
many story problems, which require reading skills.
A student with a strong math mind, but poor reading skills,
can’t possibly do well in today’s math classes. The importance
of reading skills is so high now that it is nearly impossible to pass
a math class without being able to read.
In addition, students are more and more being asked to review
math material on their own. If your child has poor reading
skills, he is unlikely to be able to review math material
successfully.
Believe it or not, the importance of reading is also shown in
social skills. For example, many teachers at younger grade
levels select reading material that teaches social skills. If
your child can’t read these stories and participate in these
discussions, she is likely to miss out on important social
skills.
Less obviously, the importance of reading in socialization is
seen in the self-esteem of your child. A child who goes to
school every day, unable to read, will experience self-esteem
problems. It is human nature to compare ourselves to others.
If your child can’t read, but everyone else around her can,
she will begin to see herself as less adequate.
Furthermore, a child who struggles with reading often develops
a poor attitude about school – and understandably so. To
illustrate this point, let’s pretend you had to go to a school
where everyone speaks and reads only German. Let’s further
pretend you are supposed to take social studies, science, and
math at this German-speaking school. And, you need to try to
make friends here, too. After doing this for a couple of
months, you are likely to want to give up. If your child can’t
read, he feels this way, too.
The importance of reading skills for school success is immense. To
give your child the best chance of excelling in school, be
sure to provide him with a strong reading basis and to
encourage reading at home.
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