The Importance Of Reading Skills For School Success

The importance of reading skills for a child’s success cannot be emphasized enough. As a teacher who has worked extensively with children within the 5-11 year old age group, I have personally witnessed the importance of reading skills on a daily basis in the following areas:
• Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Science
• Mathematics
• Social Skills

As you can see, the importance of reading skills filters into all aspects of school.
If you are like many parents, you probably think the importance of reading skills is only evident in language arts. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Of course, your child does need to have adequate reading skills to do well in language arts, but the importance of reading skills is noticeable in other subject areas, as well.

Let’s take a look at social studies, for example. Whether your child is learning about his neighborhood in kindergarten, or learning about other countries in the sixth grade, he needs to be able to read in order to have a rich learning experience. Even basics of social studies, such as map reading, emphasize the importance of reading. To further illustrate the importance of reading in social studies, let’s look at a real life situation. Let’s say Mrs. Smith has just introduced the state of Maine to the class. Your child has never heard of this state. Mrs. Smith then asks the class to locate the state of Maine on a labeled map of the United States. If your child does not have basic sound-symbol recognition skills, he will have a terrible time finding Maine. If, however, your child does have these skills, he will know that the state he is looking for starts with the letter M and has the letters A and N in it.

Now, he has a far greater chance of locating the state successfully.Rather than searching frantically for the state of Maine on a map, and likely becoming frustrated, your child can locate the state and pay attention to the rest of Mrs. Smith’s lesson. Having just basic reading skills has helped your child be more successful in Mrs. Smith’s social studies class.The importance of reading skills is also obvious is science. Scientific exploration and discovery are at the core of learning this subject. The hands-on nature of science often makes it a favorite subject of children ages 5-11. But, the ability to follow lab procedures correctly is important in science. Often, the procedures are very precise. If they are not followed correctly, the experiment will not work.If your child has solid reading skills, she will be able to successfully follow lab procedures. If she doesn’t, she is likely to be unsuccessful at completing science experiments. This will be both frustrating and disappointing for your child. It can even result your child disliking science, because she sees it as a subject in which she can’t be successful. Most parents don’t think the importance of reading is illustrated in math. But, poor reading skills can be a huge obstacle for students in math. As a teacher, I have witnessed students who excel in mathematical concepts fail because of poor reading skills.Most parents of children who are 5-11 years old remember math as just a number crunching subject. This is no longer the case. Nowadays, more emphasis is being place on the problem solving aspect of math. Therefore, math now includes many story problems, which require reading skills.A student with a strong math mind, but poor reading skills, can’t possibly do well in today’s math classes. The importance of reading skills is so high now that it is nearly impossible to pass a math class without being able to read.In addition, students are more and more being asked to review math material on their own. If your child has poor reading skills, he is unlikely to be able to review math material successfully.Believe it or not, the importance of reading is also shown in social skills. For example, many teachers at younger grade levels select reading material that teaches social skills. If your child can’t read these stories and participate in these discussions, she is likely to miss out on important social skills.Less obviously, the importance of reading in socialization is seen in the self-esteem of your child. A child who goes to school every day, unable to read, will experience self-esteem problems. It is human nature to compare ourselves to others. If your child can’t read, but everyone else around her can, she will begin to see herself as less adequate.Furthermore, a child who struggles with reading often develops a poor attitude about school – and understandably so. To illustrate this point, let’s pretend you had to go to a school where everyone speaks and reads only German. Let’s further pretend you are supposed to take social studies, science, and math at this German-speaking school. And, you need to try to make friends here, too. After doing this for a couple of months, you are likely to want to give up. If your child can’t read, he feels this way, too.The importance of reading skills for school success is immense. To give your child the best chance of excelling in school, be sure to provide him with a strong reading basis and to encourage reading at home.