Repetition in Reading

By ENHE Board Member Jennifer Weinberg

Since our children were born, we’ve made it a habit to read a story at bedtime. It’s a wonderful time to slow down, snuggle, and expose our kids to the love of reading. After a week or two, we try to change the book. And the kids go ballistic. They want the same book over and over and over again. It can drive us crazy!

Here’s the good news: repetitive reading is good for our kids. There is an abundance of studies that show us repetition helps develop vocabulary and word recognition, enhances fluency, increases comprehension, and builds confidence.

So how can we get through one more night of “Goodnight Moon”? Here are some tips on how to change it up when reading the same book for the 1,000th time:

1. Ask Questions. Pause in the book and ask a question about the story. Now, my kids don’t particularly like when I don’t follow the script, but it does create an opportunity to work on reading comprehension.
2. Point out a detail in the illustrations. Kids like talking about the pictures. This will give them a chance to examine the pictures more closely.

 
Check out these articles for more information and to assure you that it’s okay to read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” one more time.

• https://www.todaysparent.com/toddler/toddler-behaviour/why-toddlers-want-to-read-the-same-book/
• https://www.mother.ly/child/its-science-reading-the-same-books-to-your-child-over-and-over-makes-them-smarter
• https://www.readbrightly.com/why-reading-the-same-book-repeatedly-is-good-for-kids/