Practice Reading by Getting Into Character!

What You Need:

• Your child’s independent reading book
• Optional: video camera

What You Do:

1. Ask your child what book they are reading independently. Ask them to tell about the characters in the story. Have them explain which character is their favorite and why.
2. Now volunteer to read a section aloud with your child--especially if they're struggling to understand what's going on. When you get to a section with dialogue, stop and point it out to your child. Read it once together, and take a minute to talk it over yourselves. How are the characters feeling? What clues lead us to understand this character better? This is where you can point out ways in which we better understand character: how a character says something and what the character is doing (body language, for example).
3. Once you’ve pinpointed these clues with your child, practice reading the scene together (your child will read one character’s lines, and you will read the other). As you read, omit the parts that describe how a character is saying something or what they might be doing. Getting rid of this extraneous information will force your child to really think about the text clues and act like the character, using their voice and body language to emulate this person.
4. As you read, give your character a particular tone and manner of speaking. Have some fun here! Does the character have an accent? Like to bob their head? Invite your child to do the same with their character, too.
5. After practicing your dialogue together, present your reader’s theater to the rest of the family. When you’re finished, see if your audience can explain how each character was feeling based on your performance. This can lead to a wonderful family book talk. Don't forget to take a bow! Or, if you've got a video camera and a few minutes of free time, try filming yourselves for a performance that everyone can enjoy again and again. This approach has yet another added benefit: you will be boosting your child's confidence in presentation skills, another key part of fourth grade.