• Have your child read aloud to you every night.
• Choose a quiet place, free from distractions, at which your child may do his nightly reading assignments so he can focus. Children read better when they are in a calm environment with few distractions. At home, make sure your child is reading in an area with low noise and low traffic.
• To check your child’s understanding of what he is reading, occasionally pause and ask your child questions about the characters and events in the story.
• When your child is trying to sound out an unfamiliar word, give him time to do so. Remind your child to look closely at the first letter or letters of the word.
• When your child reads aloud to you and makes a mistake, point out the words he has missed and help him to read the word correctly.
• After your child has stopped to correct a word he has read, have him go back and reread the entire sentence from the beginning to make sure he understands what the sentence is saying. Often students are so busy figuring out a word they lose the meaning of what they've just read.
• As your child reads, point out spelling and sound patterns such as cat, pat, hat.
• Before getting to the end of a story, ask your child what he thinks will happen next and why.
• Ask your child to tell you in his own words what happened in a story.
• Ask your child why he thinks a character acted in a certain way, and ask your child to support his answer with information from the story.
• Encourage your child to re-read favorite books and poems. Re-reading helps children read more quickly and accurately.
• To help improve your child's reading skills, do not limit your child to only reading traditional fiction books. Read non-fiction books, as well. Buy a subscription to your child's favorite magazine for exposure to different types of reading.
• Read a more difficult book to your child out loud, modeling fluency, intonation and expression.
• Make reading an integral part of your child's life. Have him read menus, roadside signs, game directions, weather reports, movie time listings, and other practical everyday information.
• Play word games with your child. Practice blending sounds into words. Ask "Can you guess what this word is? m - o - p." Hold each sound longer than normal.
• Have your child sound out the word as you change it from mat to fat to sat; from sat to sag to sap; and from sap to sip.
• Make sure he always has something to read in his spare time when he could be waiting for appointments or riding in a car.
• Write, write, write! Ask your child to help you write out the grocery list, a thank you note to Grandma, or to keep a journal of special things that happen at home. When writing, encourage your child to use the letter and sound patterns he is learning at school.
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