Falling behind academically because of a shaky foundation in reading. It’s a reality for so many students.
One in six children who are not reading proficiently in the third grade will not graduate high school on time. Those same students are four times more likely not to finish high school at all. 68% of America’s fourth-graders are reading below grade level and 82% of those children are from low-income families, according to the literacy nonprofit, The Literacy Project.
A reality that Josh Huff, a sixth-grade science teacher in the Birdville ISD, has seen first-hand.
“It’s like building a house on quicksand,” Huff said. “If you don’t have the foundation of reading, the whole house is going to collapse and it’s really critical.”
Huff said these three elements will make a good formula when it comes to your child’s continued classroom success.
“You are never too old nor is your child too old for you to read to them,” Huff said. “Reading is also about comprehending and understanding. If they look at words on a page and never comprehend or understand, then they are really not getting much out of it and you are not going to see much improvement, in any subject.”
Huff said writing your child a letter, as archaic as it sounds, may be a great way to jumpstart reading and writing, especially for older students.
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“Get up in the morning and write them a letter and leave it for them. It may take a while, but I bet they will write you back. If they are writing, they are reading, processing and learning,” Huff said.
