Tips For Being a Successful Reader Promoting Family Literacy

Few children learn to love books by themselves. Someone has to lure them into the wonderful world of the written word; someone has to show them they way. --Orville Prescott

Parents can support early literacy practices at home by applying the Four R’s of family reading: 1. Review 2. Re-read 3. Refresh 4. Rejoice

Make reading a habit before bedtime, after lunch, or after naptime. Read everyday for at least 20 minutes. Look for books that are about things that interest your toddler. Give your child a chance to choose his own books for reading. Read with expression using different voices for different characters. Tips for Reading To Infants and Toddlers

Emphasize rhythms and rhymes in stories. Give your toddler opportunities to repeat rhyming phrases. Use pictures to build vocabulary by pointing to, identifying, and describing the objects within the illustrations. Encourage your child to also “point and say” objects in the pictures. Read stories again and again. Toddlers enjoy repetition and it helps them become familiar with the way stories are organized.

Kindergarten through Grade Two Keep reading to your child even when he can read. Read books that are too difficult or long for him to read alone. Take turns reading a story with your child. Don’t interrupt to correct mistakes that do not change the meaning. Try reading books with chapters and talk 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 books and within their own lives.

Talk about how the pictures in the book are a part of the story. Talk about the meaning of new words and ideas introduced in books. Talk with your child about stories using the concepts of beginning, middle, and end. Enjoy yourself and have fun. The most important thing you can do to help your child become a successful reader is communicate that reading is valuable and enjoyable. Kindergarten through Grade Two

Grades Third through Six Take turns reading a book with your child. Ask your child to compare a book to another familiar book. How are the characters alike or different? Do the stories take place in similar settings? How are the illustrations the same or different? Ask what part of the story or book your child liked best and why.

Grades Third through Six Ask if your child liked the ending of the story. Why or why not? How would they change it? Ask your child what type of mood the story or chapter created. Ask how the author created the mood. For example, does the author use words, events, or settings that create a particular feeling? Continue to communicate that reading is valuable and enjoyable. Be aware of what your child likes to read.