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Parent tips for reading

• Read to your child or have your child read to you at least 20 minutes every day. This will allow your  child to hear one million more words a year!
• Let your child know that reading time is special. What a great time to cuddle up with your child!
• Read books that you loved when you were a child and talk to your child about why you loved them.
• Read a book over and over. Children love repetition and learn from it.
• The more animated you are when you read, the better your child will follow the story.
• Use props when you read. This makes the story more interesting for everyone.
• Ask your child to supply sound effects while you read.
• Pause periodically to see if you child understands what you are reading.
• Ask you child to picture what is happening while you read. Ask what sounds and smells might be in the  story.
• After you finish reading a book together, encourage your child to retell the story, make up a new ending, write or draw pictures about the story.
• Have your child tell the story by using the illustrations before you read the book. Then discuss how the characters feel and relate the event to her own experiences.
• After reading a story, relate the plot or theme to a more complex subject. For example, a story about an adventurous trip to a foreign land can lead to a discussion about traveling
• Don't leave reading to the schools. Children who read outside of school are more likely to succeed than those who don't.
• To create reading environments around the house, have books, magazines and newspapers available in  many rooms; kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc.
• Let your children see you read something—the newspaper, books, recipes, maps, phone books or  instructional manuals—every day.
• Have your children help you shop for groceries. Give each child two or three labels from canned or  packaged items and ask them to match the words and pictures on their labels to item on the store shelves.
• Put a few magnetic letters on the refrigerator. Start with the letters in your child's name, and help your child make other words using these letters.
• Make regular trips to the library and attend storytelling sessions. Make sure your children have  their own library cards.
• Create a special shelf, one your child can reach, for all the books you borrow from the library or own.
• Take books wherever you go; in the car, on the bus, to the doctor, to the market, anywhere.
• Play the alphabet game while riding in the car. Encourage your child to find objects for each letter of the alphabet. Have them write each letter down and draw the object they have found.
• Encourage children to find words within words. For example, "it," "in," "with," or "thin" are in within. This teaches your child to focus on words.
• Don't let children watch TV unless they have read something that day.
• Make reading fun! If your child is just learning how to read and asks you for help reading a word, give a hint, or even the answer. Children need lots of support and encouragement when they are first starting out.