Family Reading Resources

Please enjoy a selection of resources parents can use to help students improve their reading skills at home. All resources listed are sourced from trusted organizations and have been vetted by the Saint Paul Public Schools literacy department.

10 Ways To Support Reading at Home

Describe aloud the activities you are doing with your child.
Talk about the things you see in your neighborhood, on trips around the city, or on television.
Use descriptive, interesting, and new words with your child.
Tell family stories about you, your parents and grandparents, or about others who are special to you and your family.
Ask your child to tell stories about things they have experienced or using their imagination.
Encourage your child to read daily at home.
Ask your child to retell the stories they are reading or to share something new they learned while reading (or translate what they are reading into the language you share with them).
Ensure deep understanding by asking your child open-ended questions about what they are reading.
Help your child make connections to what they are reading, including drawing connections to their own lives and experiences, to previous learning, and to other content areas and courses they’ve taken.
Explore the SPPS Virtual Library or visit the Saint Paul Public Library and let your child decide which books they want to read.

SPPS Virtual Library

SPPS Library Catalogs- A catalog of the books available to students in our school libraries.
SPPS MackinVIA- Collection of eBooks for each of our schools to supplement our physical library collections. Students login to their school's collection using their active directory credentials S###### and password).
Library Go is the partnership between Saint Paul Public Library and SPPS to provide public library cards to all SPPS students. Students can access online reading and information resources and up to 10 physical books at a time using the SPPL Virtual Library Go card.