HOW TO MAKE YOUR CHILD INTO A READER – PART TWO

In part one of this article, I wrote about the reading environment you should create to help your child become a better reader. But what about how you should actually be reading?
First, some good news, DON’T WORRY, you cannot do it wrong. As long as you read to your child, it’s good. You cannot mess this up.

Once your child starts talking, you might discuss the book while reading. Think about it for a moment – when is reading most interesting for you? When you are interacting with the reading. For example, I am now reading a David Baldacci novel. Every time I put the book down, I am wondering what will happen next. I can hardly help myself. In teacher jargon we call that “anticipating” what will happen next. So what can you do? Let’s say you are reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Every day the caterpillar eats something else, before you turn the page have your child guess what the caterpillar will eat the next day. Or if you are reading The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss, have your child guess what the cat will do next.

Also, one of the first reading skills is recognizing letters. And one of the first letters your child will recognize is the first letter of their name. So if your child’s name is Alice or Allan or Alicia, have them find the A’s on the page.

If your child is anything like my kids, you will be reading the same book about 10,000 times. When your child starts to memorize the book, allow them to finish the sentence. And if the book is written in rhyme, you can sing-song the reading to help your child anticipate the end of each page.

Now, again, don’t get bent out of shape. You really can’t mess this up. Just have fun with it and use it as a way to have fun with your child.