Encourage Reading at Home

• Invite your child to read with you every day if possible.

• When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help your child learn that reading goes from left to right and understand that the word he or she says is the word he or she sees.

• Read many stories with rhyming words and lines that repeat. Invite your child to join in on these parts. Point, word by word, as he or she reads along with you.

• Discuss new words. For example, "This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?"

• Stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening in the story.

• Read from a variety of children's books, including fairy tales, song books, poems, and information books.

• If watching TV, or videos online, turn on closed captioning/subtitles! This is the process of displaying text on a screen to provide additional or interpretive information. Children will associate images/sounds with the words on the screen.

• Provide varied reading material — some for reading enjoyment and some with information about hobbies and interests.

• Encourage activities that require reading — for example, cooking (reading a recipe), constructing a kite (reading directions), or identifying an interesting bird's nest or a shell collected at the beach (using a reference book).