| Keep reading to your child even when he can read. Read books that are too difficult or long for him to read alone.
Try talking about what is happening in the story. Encourage your child to make predictions about what will happen next and connect characters or events to those in other stories or to thier lives (text-to-text and text-to-self connections). Talk about story elements such as characters, setting, problem and solution, and the author's message (big idea).
Talk with your child about reading preferences that are beginning to develop. Ask whether she likes adventure stories, mysteries, science fiction, animal stories or stories about other children.
Talk with your child about favorite authors and help him find additional books by those authors.
Take turns reading a story with your child. Don't interrupt to correct mistakes that do not change the meaning.
Talk about the meaning of new words and ideas introduced in books. Talk with your child about stories using the notions of the beginning, middle and end of the story to organize thinking and discussion.
Give children extra opportunities to read. Let them read the directions for that new game or for putting model airplanes together. Ask them to "help you" by reading the cookie recipe or traffic signs.
Introduce the pleasures of the public library. Let him browse. Get a library card for her. Let him choose books that he wants, rather than books you feel he should read. Buy books for children, too, as the basis for a home library of their own.
Set a good example as a reader — read every day at home even if it is a magazine or newspaper.
Make reading fun — a time that you both look forward to spending together.
some ideas adapted from the National Institute for Literacy |