Reading With Your Child

Reading with your child every day is the best way to encourage them and help them become an independent reader. I love reading with my children every day. I am watching my childrens love for books grow daily. My 4 year old retells stories and makes up stories based on the pictures she looks at in the books. She will sit with her nose in a book for over 30 minutes. My 17 month old has books with pictures of animals, which he loves! He chooses his favorite books and brings them to me. We look at the pictures and name the animals. He will sit still for 10 minutes at a time. Books are important to them and reading has become an enjoyable daily activity! No, my children are not reading yet. But they love books and choose to spend time surrounded by literature.

Before the read

So, how do you get started. First pick an easy book, lots of pictures and few words that say exactly what is happening in the picture. Hand your child the book. The book should be a simple text that has a few words or 1 or 2 sentences on a page. Have you child "discover" the book.
1. Look at and identify the front and back cover.
2. Point to the title and discuss how they know it is the title.
3. Name the author and illustrator and talk about their job.
4. Look at the cover and have your child make predications about characters and what will happen in the story.
5. Take a picture walk and talk with your child. Look at the pictures and talk about what is happening. Ask questions like: Who do you think the characters are? Where does this story take place (setting)?
6. Now you are ready to close the book, predict what happens in the book, and begin reading!