“Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible.”
— Barack Obama

Parents can have a significant impact on their children’s attitude about reading as well as their reading ability. Whether your student is an avid reader, excelling at or above their grade level, or your student is struggling with reading, there are lots of resources available to enrich their reading experience and improve their reading comprehension.

Reading is Fundamental

The RIF website is a goldmine of resources for teachers and parents with children of all ages. From grade-matched book recommendations and corresponding support materials, to Learn at Home resources, word games, puzzle creator and much more, there are helpful tools for all ages.

Reading Rockets

This is another feature-rich website for parents and teachers who want to improve the reading achievement of children. Reading Rockets has reading guides, videos, blogs, fun activities and more. You’ll find topics, booklists and authors, and recommendations for parents.

Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan has put together a list of 11 ways parents can help their children read. It’s a quick read and all of the tips are basic enough to help even the youngest of students. Bottom line, don’t leave the work to teachers and schools. Parents have a huge influence on their children’s attitude and ability to read and spending some time reading (and writing) with your child can make a big difference.

Scholastic Parents

Scholastic books offers a newsletter just for parents, book lists by age and category, reading resources, printables and activities, homework help and more.

Playing an active role in your child’s literary development is the best way to help them.

U.S. Department of Education

Ed.gov has a section with resources for parents who want to help their child read. You’ll find tips, guides, publications and more that are geared to parents.

National Center on Improving Literacy

Improving Literacy has resources for parents with proven methods to help their children with reading and writing. There are videos, resources, articles, experts who answer questions, and more.

For Students with ADHD or Dyslexia

Ways to Lift Up Lagging Readers offers ways to make reading less work and more fun for readers with difficulties like ADHD and dyslexia.