Reading Tip

Start a dialogue with your child as you read a book together. Ask her or him, "What do you think will happen next?" or "Why do you think the prince did that?" Asking questions and summarizing the plot will help children build reading comprehension skills as well as teach them to think creatively.

Reading Tip

Stage a play based on your child's favorite book! Use clothespins to attach a red blanket to a clothesline in a room to set the "stage" and encourage your child to enact the characters. Make sure you and the rest of your family are part of a very appreciative audience!

Homework Tips on Reading

From the United States Department of Education

• Have your child read aloud to you every night.

• Ask your child to tell you in her/his own words what happened in a story.

• Before getting to the end of a story, ask your child what he/she thinks will happen next and why.

• Choose a quiet place, free from distractions, at which your child may do her nightly reading assignments.

• To check your child's understanding of what he/she is reading, occasionally pause and ask your child questions about the characters and events in the story.

• When your child reads aloud to you and makes a mistake, point out the words he/she has missed and help her/him to read the word correctly.

• As your child reads, point out spelling and sound patterns such as pat, cat, and hat.

• Ask your child shy he/she thinks a character acted in a certain way and ask your child to support her/his answer with information from the story.

• After your child has stopped to correct a word he/she has read, have her/him go back and reread the entire sentence from the beginning to make sure he/she understands what the sentence is saying.