Read With Your Children

The single most important activity for building child's success in reading is reading aloud to children.
What families do is more important than
- Whether a family is rich or poor
- Whether parents finished high school
- Whether child is in preschool or upper grade
Pleasant experience -> motivation
Gives child background knowledge, larger vocabulary
See parents as role models
Introduce books & types of literature children might not discover on own
Lets children use imaginations

Sing songs
Read nursery rhymes
Repeat, re-read favorites
Colorful pictures - show book
Have fun
Gradually increase time- based on child's attention span
Let baby play with book
Hold baby on lap to see pictures
Encourage toddlers to turn pages
Have toddlers point to pictures, repeat words, talk about story
Ask open-ended questions throughout story (Why do you think the little pig made the house of straw?, What do you think will happen next, what would you do if you were in that situation)
Talk about book
Stop reading at suspenseful point
Summarize, adapt, or skip parts that are too far above child's level of understanding
Tell stories about family
Encourage older children to read to brothers or sisters
Be example -- read books yourself
Read with expression, vary tone of voice, use different voice for each character, pause for
Talk about books before, during, after
Connect text with real-life experiences (use book as springboard for family discussions)