Build your child’s love of readingNurture your child’s love of reading in order to help him be an eager reader. You can:• Give your child choices of

what you read together, even if it means rereading the same books over and over.

• Get into the drama! Use different voices for each character.

• Allow interruptions. Pause your reading to answer your child’s questions.

• Read together every day. When your child looks forward to your special time together, he builds positive associations with reading.

Nursery rhymes boost reading skillsNursery rhymes are great tools to enhance your child’s reading read-iness. Aside from being entertaining, reading nursery rhymes can:• Sharpen language skills. Hearing rhymes helps kids understand

that words are made of different sound patterns. This will help with writing and spelling later on.

• Teach story structure. Many rhymes have a beginning, middle and end (like “Little Miss Muffet,” for example). Although short, they get your child used to the way most stories are laid out.

• Hold your child’s attention. Remember what happened in “Three Blind Mice” or “Jack Be Nimble”? Your child certainly will! And he’ll be excited to reread the rhyme when he knows what’s coming next!

Source: “Rhymers Are Readers: The Importance of Nursery Rhymes,” KBYU Eleven, niswc.com/rhymeread.

Reading is not just about decoding the words on the

page. It also involves knowing what the words mean and

understanding the story they tell.

To move your child toward this goal:

•Stimulate mental images. Read part of a story aloud without

showing your child the pictures. Ask her to imagine what

something in the story looks like. “The kids went on a

merry-go-round. What colors do you think the horses were?”

•Look for words that are unfamiliar to your child. Point out

these words and help her understand what they mean.

•Ask your child questions about the story. Start your

questions with who, what, where, when, why or how. For

example, “What did the boy do every night after dinner?”

Source: M.H. Popkin, Ph.D. and others, Helping Your Child Succeed in School: A

Guide for Parents of 4 to 14 Year Olds, Active Parenting Publishers.

Reading Readiness • November 2015

How Families Can Help Children Get Ready to Read

Encourage your child to think about stories Help your child grasp languageThere are many ways to strengthen your child’s oral language develop-ment. You can:• Talk about the errands and

chores that you do together. Have conversations about the tasks as you complete them.

• Pause during stories to talk about the books you’re reading. During rhyming stories, encourage your child to fill in the blanks.

• Use adult language rather than baby talk to promote correct usage.

Source: “Phonics and whole language learning: a balanced approach to beginning reading,” National Association for the Education of Young Children, niswc.com/buildlanguage.

Keep books where your child will find themStash books and magazines everywhere your child will be sure to find them—in drawers, cabinets or the toy box. When she discovers them, she just may look at them!

Follow us on Twitter @BuildingReaders • Copyright © 2015, The Parent Institute®, www.parent-institute.com

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

—Dr. Seuss

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Books to delight your early reader• Perfect Square

by Michael Hall (Greenwillow Books). Over the course of a week, a perfect square is torn, shredded and snipped. Every time it is transformed, it finds a way to make something beautiful.

• If Frogs Made Weather by Marion Dane Bauer (Holiday House). Every animal, from frogs to flies, has a specific preference for how it would like the weather to be. And if a young boy made the weather, he’d have it all!

• The Things I Can Do by Jeff Mack (Roaring Brook Press). Jeff can do all kinds of things, like make his own lunch and comb his own hair. And now he’s written a book to tell your child all about it!

Follow us on Twitter @BuildingReaders • Copyright © 2015, The Parent Institute®, www.parent-institute.com

Reading Readiness • November 2015

Make the most of reading with your childThere are ways to actively involve your child in your daily reading time. When reading together: • Ask your child to tell you what happens at the

beginning of the story. What about in the middle? At the end?

• Talk about characters. Can he name his favorite characters and explain why he likes them? Which characters doesn’t he like? Why not?

• Think about what would happen if parts of the story changed. Ask your child what the story would be like if there were 10 little pigs instead of three? What if the wolf were friendly?

• Look for other stories with similar characters. Talk about what the characters do in each of the different stories. What would happen if the characters switched stories (if the Three Little Pigs visited Little Red Riding Hood, for example)?

Source: “Story Time,” Between the Lions, PBS Kids, niswc.com/mostofreading.

Q: My preschooler is begging for his own library card, but isn’t he a bit too young?

A: No! Preschool is an excellent time to get your child his own card and to explain proper library etiquette. Once he knows how to speak quietly and treat books gently, give him plenty of chances to use his brand-new card!

Do you have a question about reading? Email readingadvisor@parent-institute.com.

Building Readers®How Families Can Help Children Get Ready to Read

Publisher: John H. Wherry, Ed.D.Editor: Stacey Marin.

Copyright © 2015, The Parent Institute® (a division of NIS, Inc.)P.0. Box 7474, Fairfax Station, VA 22039-7474

1-800-756-5525, ISSN: 1531-4898www.parent-institute.com

Let mail inspire reading activitiesEveryone loves to get mail, and preschoolers are no exception! Regular notes from you will show your child the power of the written word and make her eager to read. You can also:• Turn a cardboard box into a

mailbox. Pick a special time each day for your child to get mail. Ask family members to write letters to your child, too.

• Look through old catalogs you receive in the mail with your child. Help her cut out pic-tures of different objects and glue them to blank pieces of paper. Then, help her sound out and write labels for each picture that she’s cut out.

Source: S. Bennett and R. Bennett, 365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child, Adams Media Corporation.

A writer’s toolbox makes writing funReading and writing go hand in hand—so it’s important to help your child “practice” writing, even before she can actually write. To make writing fun, have your child decorate a shoebox that will be her writer’s toolbox. Fill it with paper, crayons and other materials. Encourage your child to write notes and draw pictures. Even if all she does is scribble, she’s building the motor skills she’ll need to form letters later on.

Source: Beginning Literacy and Your Child: A Guide to Helping Your Baby or Preschooler Become a Reader, International Reading Association.

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