Here are a dozen tips for nurturing your growing readers:
Read with your children
at least once every day.
Make sure they have
plenty to read. Take them to the library regularly, and keep books
and other reading materials in their reach.
Notice what interests
your child, then help find books about those things.
Respect your child's
choices. There's nothing wrong with series fiction if that's what
keeps a young reader turning the pages.
Praise your children's
efforts and newly acquired skills.
Help your child build a
personal library. Children's books, new or used, make great gifts
and appropriate rewards for reading. Designate a bookcase, shelf or
box where your children can keep their books.
Check up on your
children's progress. Listen to them read aloud, read what they
write and ask teachers how they're doing in school.
Go places and do things
with your children to build their background knowledge and
vocabulary, and to give them a basis for understanding what they read.
Tell stories. It's
a fun way to teach values, pass on family history and build your
children's listening and thinking skills.
Be a reading role
model. Let your children see you read, and share some interesting
things with them that you have read about in books, newspapers or
magazines.
Continue reading aloud
to older children even after they have learned to read by
themselves.
Encourage writing along with reading. Ask children to sign their artwork, add to your shopping list, take messages and make their own books and cards as gifts.
Source: Reading is Fundamental
