If your child is between 5 and 9, they’re living in the most important “reading window” of childhood: the years when kids go from learning how to read words to using reading to learn everything else—science, history, jokes, friendships, feelings.

And here’s the part parents don’t hear enough:

Your voice and a book—ten minutes a day—can change your child’s reading future.

What reading time does inside your child’s brain

When kids understand a story, their brains are doing three big jobs at once:

1. They are hearing the sounds in words and recognizing them quickly (this is what the school calls phonics and decoding.)
2. They are figuring out what words mean, and they need sufficient context and background knowledge to understand them.
3. Connecting everything together. Connecting the idea of the story and the sentences together. Picturing in their head what is happening and reading between the lines, like thinking about what a character is feeling or thinking.

Reading aloud is powerful because it helps your child with all three—especially #2 and #3. Your child hears richer vocabulary, more complex sentences, and more ideas than everyday conversation usually provides.

And it adds up fast: one study estimated that children who are read to frequently (about five books a day) can enter kindergarten having heard about 1.4 million more words through storybook reading than children who are never read to.

How this connects to what schools teach (and how you can help)

In early elementary, schools typically work hard on:

• phonemic awareness (hearing sounds)
  
  
• phonics/decoding (reading words)
  
  
• fluency (smooth, accurate reading)
  
  
• vocabulary and comprehension (understanding)
  
  

A simple way to think about it:

• Your child’s school does most of the work on decoding (sounding out and reading words).
  
  
• Home reading is where kids get a giant boost in language comprehension (vocabulary, knowledge, and story understanding)—the part that helps reading feel meaningful and enjoyable.
  
  

That’s why some children can “say the words” but don’t yet understand the story. Reading aloud helps build understanding.

How your child’s teacher can help:

1. Ask the teacher for decodable books (easy-to-sound-out) and read-aloud books (richer stories you read to them).
2. Have your child read a short, decodable book to you to build confidence and skills.
3. Read the richer book to your child for vocabulary, joy, and comprehension.

A simple 10-minute routine that helps your child grow as a reader and hopefully enjoy reading.

Try “Read, Talk, Love”:
Read one short book or passage from a longer book (or 5–10 pages).

Talk for one minute:

Ask your child to tell you what they liked most about the book.

Ask your child to identify something in the story, such as what was the problem the characters were trying to solve.

Ask your child to pretend they are one of the characters and say what they would have done in a situation in the story.
Love: end with warmth:

Tell your child, “I love hearing your ideas.”

Tell your child, “I’m proud of how you stuck with that.”
 
Tell your child, “It makes me happy to get to read with you.”

This routine builds skill, confidence, and the feeling that reading is safe—not a test.

If reading is hard for you, you can still give your child the gift of books.

You do not have to be a “good reader” to raise a reader.

Here are options that still build your child’s brain:

1) Audiobooks count (especially when you talk about them)

Pause and ask:

• “What just happened?”
  
  
• “Why did they do that?”
  
  
• “What do you think will happen next?”
  
  

Many libraries already support this:

• Metropolitan Library System offers Playaway audiobook devices and digital audiobooks (and describes audiobooks as an accessibility support).
• Tulsa City-County Library notes digital audiobooks and Playaway options.
• Other libraries and some school libraries also offer these devices.
  
  

2) “Read-along” formats are a bridge

Find a platform where you can both follow along in print while the book is read aloud.

Look for:

• Audiobook + print book together
  
  
• Books where the audio “turns the page” or highlights words (many apps do this). For example, Kindle Fires.

What the research says (Don’t just take my word for it.)

Reading to kids isn’t just “nice.” It’s measurably linked to stronger language and reading outcomes.

• A classic meta-analysis found that shared book reading is associated with meaningful gains in language, emergent literacy, and reading achievement (effect sizes of d. 55–.67, depending on the skill).
  
  
• Programs that coach and support parent-child reading (like Reach Out and Read) show higher child language scores for kids who get the intervention—for example, higher receptive language scores in one reported study summary.
  
  

If you’re already doing this, here’s how you can help

Poverty and low literacy levels make this more challenging, so you need to request additional resources.

In Oklahoma, poverty and adult literacy challenges can make “just read more at home” feel unrealistic for some families.

• The U.S. Census Bureau reported Oklahoma’s 2024 poverty rate at 14.9% (ACS 1-year estimates).
  
  
• The National Center for Education Statistics PIAAC Skills Map estimates about 20% of adults in Oklahoma are at or below Literacy Level 1, and 36% at Level 2—levels where reading longer texts and using written information can be difficult.
  
  
• On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 4th graders eligible for the National School Lunch Program scored 28 points lower than those not eligible (nationwide, 2022).
  
  

So yes—reading at home matters. But support systems matter too, especially for families facing time, stress, limited literacy, language barriers, or learning differences. This isn’t about blaming parents. It’s about saying: if reading is the gateway skill, then helping families access stories is a public good. 

Oklahoma should go big: fund family literacy like we mean it

If we want higher reading scores, higher graduation rates, and a stronger workforce, we can’t place the entire burden on schools or parents alone.

What Oklahoma should invest in:

• More audiobooks, read-alongs, and kid-friendly eBooks in public libraries statewide
  
  
• Device-lending programs (e-readers/tablets with read-aloud features) for home use
  
  
• Family literacy “starter kits” (book + audiobook + tips in simple language + bilingual supports)
  
  
• Adult literacy and ESL supports connected to schools and libraries—because when adults gain literacy, kids gain readers at home.
  
  
• Parent-friendly training: short videos/texts in multiple languages showing how to read aloud, ask questions, and build vocabulary

Works Cited

Early Literacy & Development

• Logan, J. A. R., Justice, L. M., Yumus, M., & Chaparro-Moreno, L. J. (2019). “When Children Are Not Read to at Home: The Million Word Gap.” Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 40(5), 383-386.
  (Found that children who are read to five times a day enter kindergarten having heard approximately 1.4 million more words than those who are never read to.)
• Bus, A. G., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). “Joint Book Reading Makes for Success in Learning to Read: A Meta-Analysis on Intergenerational Transmission of Literacy.” Review of Educational Research, 65(1), 1-21.
  (A foundational meta-analysis establishing the effect size of shared reading on literacy outcomes as $d \approx .55$ to $.67$.)
• Reach Out and Read. (n.d.). “The Evidence.” Reach Out and Read National Center.
  (Cites internal and external studies demonstrating higher receptive language scores in children receiving the intervention.)

National & State Statistics

• National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2022). “NAEP 2022 Reading Assessments.” The Nation’s Report Card. U.S. Department of Education.
  (Source for 4th-grade proficiency rates and the 28-point score gap between students eligible/ineligible for the National School Lunch Program.)
• U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). “2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.”
  (Source for the 14.9% poverty rate statistic for Oklahoma.)
• National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2020). “U.S. PIAAC Skills Map: State and County Indicators of Adult Literacy and Numeracy.” U.S. Department of Education.
  (Source for the estimate that ~20% of Oklahoma adults are at Literacy Level 1 and ~36% at Level 2.)