Reading

Spending quality time together with your child can be very beneficial.  The simple activity of reading together can create many benefits for your child.  Your child will do better in school and you will enjoy the time spent together.  

Listed below are some helpful tips you can easily do at home to benefit your child's reading skills:

*  Continue to read to your child, even when he/she can read independently.  Read books that re too difficult or long for him/her to read alone.

*  Read 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 stories.

*  Talk with your child about favorite authors and help him/her find additional books by those authors.

*  Take turns reading a story with your child. You read a page or paragraph, and your child then reads.

*  Talk about the meanings of new words and ideas introduced in books.  

*  Talk with your child about the beginning, middle, and ending of the story they are reading.

*  Ask your child to tell why a specific character in the story, may have taken a specific action and how the action may affect the rest of the characters.  

*  Talk with your child about reading preferences they are beginning to develop.  Ask whether he/she likes adventure stories, mysteries, science fiction, animal stories, or stories about other children.  Help them locate books on their specific preference.  

*  Most of all --- enjoy yourself and have fun.  The most important thing you can do to help your child become a successful reader is to communicate that reading is valuable and enjoyable.